
Class 



HISTOKICAL 



MEMOIKS 



MY OA¥N TIME. 



BY 



SIR N. W. WRAXALL, BART., 



AUTHOR OF " POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS.' 



Igitur iibi Animus requievit, non fuit Consilium Socnrdia atqiie Desidia bonum Otium conterere; 
neque vero Agrum colendo, aut venando, servilibiis Officiis intentum, /Etatem agere. Sed a quo 
incepto Studio me Ambitio mala detinuerat, eodem resressus, statui Res gestas carptim, ut 
qua;que Meiiioria digna videbaiitur, perscribere : eo magis, quod milii a Spe, Metu, Partibus Rei- 
publics, Animus liber erat. Sallust. 



PHILADELPHIA : 
LEA AND BLANCHARD. 

18 45. 



V > V » * .• 



* • '• '\s »*. ^<^» 



.o\a 



^z^%^ 



PEEFACE. 



Having been sent to the King's Bench Prison, in May, 1816, for a most 
unintentional act of inadvertence committed in the first edition of these 
Memoirs, I immediately stopped the sale, which has been suspended nearly 
two years. During that period of time, I have endeavoured, by very atten- 
tively revising and correcting the present edition, to avoid a similar error. 
While making those corrections, I have added a vast variety of new matter 
which suggested itself to me, and remodelled the whole work. 

I have prefixed to this edition, my " Three Letters in Answer to the Re- 
viewers." Not from the slightest consideration or respect for their calum- 
nious criticisms ; but, as the best vouchers that I can offer to posterity, for 
my general impartiality, accuracy, and veracity. To posterity I look for my 
reward, perfectly satisfied if I can secure their approbation. 



N. WM. WRAXALL. 



Charlton, near Cheltenham, 
2d May, 1818. 



AN 

ANSWER 



THE CALUMISIOUS MISREPRESENTATIONS OF THE "QUARTERLY REVIEW," 
THE " BRITISH CRITIC," AND THE " EDINBURGH REVIEW," 

CONTAINED 

In their Observations on Sir A''. William WraxalPs Historical Memoirs of 

His Own Time. 



After the very severe personal at- 
tack made upon the author of these 
'' Memoirs," and upon the work itself, 
by the writers of the " Quarterly Re- 
view;" — an attack in which they have 
been followed, though wilh somewhat 
diminished asperity, by the " British 
Critic ;" — it might appear like conscious 
acquiescence, if I left it wholly without 
reply. Yet, as I am intimately persuaded 
that no panegyric can permanently ele- 
vate a mean work, and that no censures 
can long depress a book of merit, I should 
perhaps have left those strictures to their 
own intrinsic weight, if the editors of 
the " Quarterly Review" had not wan- 
tonly made Sir Jolin Macpherson the 
object of their illiberal and pointed sar- 
casms. Independent of the high cha- 
racter, the public services, the financial 
resources, and recognised disinterested- 
ness, whicli Sir John displayed when 
Governor-General of Bengal; — facts 
too well established in the memory of 
h-is countrymen to stand in need of my 
testimony; — I shoidd have imagined, 
that if any portions of the present work 
could have challenged respect. Sir John's 
communications would have been en- 
titled to it. Can they consider the par- 
1* 



ticulars given relative to the Emperor 
Leopold the Second; a prince who was 
known to have honoured Sir Jolin Mac- 
pherson with his confidence and friend- 
ship; as destitute of interest? The 
title of these facts to belief is irresistible, 
and they develope the secret policy, feel- 
ings, as well as character of tliat sove- 
reign. From what information more 
authentic, can contemporary history be 
generally drawn ? The anecdote of his 
present majesty and William, Duke of 
Cumberland, that of Hyder Ally, and 
many others, derived from the same 
source, which are scattered over the two 
volumes, speak for themselves. Contu- 
melious irony and insulting epithets 
should be well weighed before they are 
applied ; and when applied without ob- 
vious or apparent reason, they lead us to 
suspect some concealed motives for their 
adoption. Can any such have been of- 
fered and accepted in the case before 
us ? Tne world will judge for them- 
selves. To have censured inc with se- 
verity, is explicable, perhaps deserved, 
in all cases natural, and in the common 
order of things. But, it is more diflScult 
to account on ordinary principles, for the 
fact of honourable men exercising the 



ANSWER, ETC. 



function of literary censors, incapable 
therefore of prostiliiling or selling iheir 
suffrage; heaping contemptuous expres- 
sions on a distinguislied individual, mere- 
ly for having contributed some passages 
to the work under their examination. 
When one reflects on these circum- 
stances, one is almost led to imagine 
that the article in question was madeybr 
them, not by them ; and though it is 
impossible to form even a conjecture of 
the quarter from whence such acrimo- 
nious comments could originate, yet is 
one tempted to exclaim with Faulcon- 
bridge in " King John," applying the 
words to the literary fathers of the 
" Quarterly Review," 

" Sir Robert mi^ht have eat his part in me, 
Upon Good Friday, and ne'er broke his fast. — 
— Sir Robert never hoip to make this leg" 

The charges made against myself may 
be reduced to three ; namely, my want 
of ability, and utter inaptitude for ex- 
ecuting the work, that I have under- 
taken ; my immorality, and lastly, my 
deviations from truth, sometimes re- 
sulting from gross ignorance, sometimes 
destitute even of that apology. Heavier 
imputations can hardly be aflixed on an 
author. Let us see how they are sus- 
tained. 

The " Quarterly Review," after stating 
that I have " egregiously mistaken the 
amount of my resources and of my 
ability," compares me, for incapacity and 
self-importance, to " P. P. Clerk of this 
Parish," whose " Memoirs" furnish so 
much ludicrous entertainment in the 
works of Pope: while the " British 
Critic" chaiacterizes the book as " mere 
gossip, and languid imbecility." It 
would not become me to appreciate the 
rank which my own understanding holds 
in the scale of intellect: but, either the 
public does not think so meanly of the 
'' Historical Memoirs," and their author, 
or they manifest a most incorrigible ob- 
stinacy and inattention to the friendly 
admonitions reiterated by their literary 
fruides, who exert every endeavour to 
prevent their readers from throwing 
away "eighteen shillinafs on a new edi- 
tion in octavo of the daily advertiser." 
Now I can assure these gentlemen, that 
the first edition of this imbecile vvork, 



consisting of one thousand copies, was 
sold in thirty-three days, between the 
14th of Aprd and the 17th of May of 
the present year; though the jirice was, 
not eighteen, but six and twenty shil- 
lings. No efforts of the press could 
bring out a second edition betore the mid- 
dle of June : but, of theit edition, very 
nearly as many have been already sold. 
How are we to account for this fact? — 
"Audacious charges against distinguished 
persons," — " stories resting on no basis 
of truth or probability," — " flippant and 
offensive reports," — followed by "pom- 
pous gossip, and inflated trash ;" — how 
could men be found so weak as to pur- 
chase such a compilation of absurdity, 
plagiarism, and matter already belter 
fjiven in the Annual Register, or the 
Court Calendar? I leave the solution 
of this pecuniary enigma to the gentle- 
men reviewers, who will doubtless ex- 
pose the juggle that has evidently been 
practised on the understandings and on 
the pockets of the British public. 

Nor is it merely my defect of natural 
capacity, but, my utter unacquaintance 
with the sources, from which alone 
authentic materials for composing " Me- 
moirs of My Own Time" could have 
been drawn, that disqualify me, as they 
assert, for so delicate a task. " It is 
very clear," says the Quarterly Review, 
" lliat Sir Nathaniel was not at all in the 
secret of any party, and the face of the 
political world was to him like the town 
clock. He saw the hand move, and 
heard the bell strike ; but, observed 
nothing of the springs which impelled, 
and knew nothing of the principles that 
regulated the machine." The " British 
Cniii;" observes, " in fact Sir William 
Wraxill is not qualified as the author of 
Historical Memoirs of My Own Time. 
He has not been behind the curtain, and 
seen the wires of the puppets worked. 
To write Memoirs, so that they may 
form legitimate materials for history, it 
is necessary for men to be able to say, 
Quoratn Pars magna fui.^'' On reading 
these aninnidversions, one is almost 
templed to doubt whether the reviewers 
had perused the work which they so 
severely criticise. It will not be disputed 
that I lived in daily and intimate friend- 
ship with the late Lord Sackviile, then 
Lord George Germain, who continued 



ANSWER, ETC. 



to be Secretary of State, down to January, 
1782. From him I surely might have 
known much of the secret of the time ; 
and that I actually did know some par- 
ticulars not unimportant, may be seen 
in the " Memoirs" themselves. From 
the Duke of Dorset, who was appointed 
embassador to the Court of Versailles, 
in December, 1783, and whose confi- 
dence, as well as correspondence I en- 
joyed during the whole period of his 
embassy, 1 might have derived similar 
information. As I lived almost always 



had been entrusted by the Queen Ma- 
tilda. Every fact here enumerated can 
be authenticated by persons who are still 
living, some of whom are of very high 
rank. But, though above forty years 
have elapsed since the decease of that 
amiable and unfortunate princess, I have 
never alluded in any of my publications 
to the negotiation in which 1 was con- 
sulted and employed by her majesty. 
Yet, if disclosed, it would excite great 
interest; — for it resembled, in many 
particulars, a story of romance ; and ao- 



in London, and attended the House of cording to the principle laid down by the 



Commons regularly ; unless I laboured 
under insurmountable stupidity, I 7nust 
have caught some warmth from the mate- 
rials and persons that 1 approached. 

But I differ on another point from 
the reviewers. For, I think, that if I 
had been '• in the secret of any party ;" 
if I had "been behind the curtain, and 
seen the wires of the puppets worked ;" 
if I had been ofHcially entrusted with 
facts or documents of stale, I could not 
have divulged them during the life of 
George the Third, My very ability to 
compose Memoirs of My Own Time 
would have constituted my disqualifica- 
tion. Lord Clarendon, Burnet, Doding- 
ton, Horace Walpole, were all dead, 
before their Memoirs or reminiscences 
were given to the world. I am, in my 



reviewers, it would " form legitimate ma- 
terials for history."" But, those worthy 
gentlemen and I see objects through op- 
posite ends of the telescope. 

I come next to the charge of immo- 
rality and indecency, respecting which 
the " British Critic," after severely ar- 
raigning the work on this ground, says, 
" To the other sex, and the youth of our 
own, it is a sealed book, on account of its 
gross indecencies." It is to be regret- 
ted that the reviewers should not have 
glanced at the passages to which allusion 
is thus made. Such general and sweep- 
ing censures, without specifying any 
particular stories or parts, must be con- 
sidered as very unfair. On what foun- 
dation are they preferred ? Is it on the 
anecdote rehited of Marshal Saxe and 



own person, an instance and a proof ofj Mailemi''' de Chantilly ? — But, it will 



the position that I here maintain. Dur- 
ing the years 1774 and 1775, I had the 
honour to be employed most confiden- 
tially by the late Queen of Denmark, 
Caroline Matilda, who then resided in 
the Hanoverian dominions, at the Castle 
of Zell. By that princess I was re- 
peatedly sent over to his present majesty, 
charged with despatches of a very in- 
teresting nature, with whose contents I 
was intimately acquainted. So strong a 
sense did ilie king entertain of my ser- 
vices rendtM-ed to his sister, that he was 
graciously pleased, through the meilium 
ofLord Noi ih himself, then first minister, 
to send uk; a present of a thousand 
guineas, accompanied with assurances of 
employment. Lord North delivered the 
message lo me at Bushy Park, to which 
place he honoured me with an invitation 
for the express purpose. That nobleman 
knew from his majesty's own lips the 
nature of the negotiation with which I 



not be contended that in relating the 
marshal's conduct, I have spared the 
strongest epithets of abhorrence and 
indignation, which are so justly excited 
by his depraved treatment of a^i unpro- 
tected female. If it is meant to insinu- 
ate, that I convey improper information 
to the other sex, then, the works of 
Shakspeare, Otway, and Congreve, must 
be interdicted ; and still more, the pro- 
ductions of Pope, of Swift, and of Prior. 
Nay, every newspaper must be careful- 
ly removed: — for, they disclose far more 
than can be found in my two volumes. 
But, there remains still a minor imputa- 
tion, whicli the " Quarterly Review" 
qualifies with the terms " of filthy and 
indecent garbage." Probably they have 
in view the series of facts mentioned 
after the account given of Ferdinand the 
Fourth, King of Naples, which are illus- 
trative of Neapolitan and of French man- 
ners. But, are these fastidious critics 



8 



ANSWER, ETC. 



aware, or are they ignorant, that in De 
Tliou, Sully, Davila, and D'Aubigne 
similar " garbage" is found ? Are not 
Smollett, Gibbon, and Hawkesworth, 
full of such details? Sir John Dalrym- 
ple, by express permission, nay, under 
the sanction of his present majesty, has 
published letters far more exceptionable 
in point of delicacy (as, for instance, the 
memorableletter of Charles the Second to 
his sister, Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans, 
dated " Whiihall, 27th Feb., 10G9," 
relative to which, Dalrymple himself 
says, that " it could hardly have been 
expected from a royal hand"), than any 
thing to be met with in ray " IVlemoirs." 
It remains to meet and repel the at- 
tack made on my veracity : which im- 
putation, the "Quarterly Review" en- 
deavours to sustain by selecting out of 
the two volumes about fourteen promi- 
nent instances of error, or as he denomi- 
nates them, falsity. That my work is 
not exempt from many mistakes, I readi- 
ly admit : but the reviewers, while cen- 
suring me, should have been careful not 
to fall into the very predicament which 
they reprobate. Great triun)ph is as- 
sumed, because I have named the Duke 
of Dorset as having informed me of the 
circumstance attending Lord Camden's 
being invested with the order of the 
garter. No doubt I erred in thinking 
that I received the account from the 
Duke. But even tlie reviewers dare 
not assert that the anecdote itself is false. 
They "never read," they say, " a more 
impertinent story-" Impertinent sto- 
ries may liowever be true stories. In 
fact, though the duke of Dorset could 
not have related it to me, there are ten 
persons now living who know and are 
ready to depose to its truth. How, in- 
deed, could 1 invent it? I did not even 
know that Lord Camden's christian 
names were John Jiffertys, except in 
consequence of the King's remark. 
Here then, though 1 was partially mis- 
taken, 1 vvas radically accurate. 

In a-notlier assertion, namely, that I 
met Mr. Pitt in company with Mr. Rose, 
on his way to Piris, ut Antwerp, in Au- 
gust, 1783, I have likewise erred. On 
appealing, as 1 did, to Mr. Rose himself, 
a few weeks ago, for the truth of the 
fact, he wrote me, " I vvas at Antwerp 
in, or about the month of August, 1783, 



with Lord Thurlow, on a tour though a 
part of the continent. Mr. Pitt was 
not with me ; but I met him, 1 ihfnk, in 
October, at Paris, where he went after a 
short stay at Rheiras." — It appears 
therefore that in this matter likewise I 
fell into a partial mistake. In all the 
other instances brought to prove my de- 
viation from fact, the reviewers are either 
mistaken, or ignorant, or they substitute 
their own narration as more worthy of 
credit than mine, though without addu- 
cing any proof. But, what shall we say 
to men, who are so utterly unacquainted 
with the very matters on which they 
presume to decide and to accuse, as to 
assert that " Robinson's counter-sign- 
ing, as secretary of the treasury, on the 
refusal of Lord Weymouth, the secre- 
tary of stale, an order for the attack on 
Pondicherry, in 1778, is a perfect impos- 
sibility :'^" 

Mr. Robinson, writing to Sir John 
Maopherson, from " Wyke House, Isle- 
worth, " 23d May, 1800," in a letter, 
which has been long since printed, ex- 
pressly says, " My correspondence with 
the Nabob (of Arcol) shall be produced, 
if desired, which it fell to my lot (though 
not within my province) to carry on : 
as also, in concert with the chairman and 
deputy chairman, as a special com7nit- 
tee, to write out orders to the governor 
and council of Madras for the capture of 
Pondicherry, which was eflected so ex- 
peditiously, ivhen his majesty's secre- 
tary of state would not sign such or- 
ders.''^ I leave this letter to be denied, 
or contradicted, by the reviewers.* 

With similar boldness, but with as ill 
success, they pronounce on Mr. Eraser's 
presenting to King George the Second, 
when under secretary of state, a paper 
for his majesty's signature : — "A duly," 
say they, " which never by any chance, 
could have devolved on Mr. Fraser, or 
any other person in his situation." 
What ! Not in case of the secretary of 
state's illness, or necessary absence, or 
dismission, or under pressing circum- 
stances, in order to expedite the despatch 
of public business ? Do these gentle- 
men reviewers know or recollect, that 



* The printed letter has been left with 
jMessrs. Cadell and Davies for general inspec- 
tion, ever since August, 1815. It still remains 
in their possession. 



ANSWER, ETC. 



on the 18th of December, 1783, this 
same Mr. Fraser, and Mr. Nepeaii 
(now Sir Evati), us under secretaries of 
state, by command of his present 
majesty, brought and delivered up into 
the king's liand, not merely papers, 
but the seals of Lord Norlli's and Mr, 
Fox's departments, on their dismission 
from ollice I It is evident that the 
editors of the " Quarterly Revievi'" 
have either got out of their depth, or 
have hoodwinked their own judgment, 
and modulated their own opinions in 
submission toothers. 

Alter garbling, not citing, the ac- 
count that I have given of the late Lord 
Liverpool ; and omitting, for reasons 
which will be obvious to every reader, 
some of the most discriminating circum- 
stances of that nobleman's ordinary de- 
meanour described by me ; the " Quar- 
terly Review" says, " In this character of 
Lord Liverpool, though it may be in the 
main tolerably correct, there are some 
errors which prove that Sir Nathaniel 
had no personal acquaintance with the 
person whose portrait he draws. For 
instance, nothing can be less accurate 
than th^ statement, that his lordship's 
education was narrow, and that he was 
more read in men than in books." I 
not only was knovvn to Mr. Jenkinson 
with great familiarity, from 1781 down 
to 1780, when he went up to the 
House of Peers ; but I was in constant 
habits of meeting and conversing with 
him. I have dined at his country seat, 
Addiscombe Place, near Croydon in 
1784 ; as, probably, the Dowager Coun- 
tess of Liverpool, and the present 
Duchess of Dorset, who were both 
there, may remember. Even down to a 
much later period of his life, he con- 
tinued to honour me with his regard ; 
and as late as 1797, he presented me, 
himself, in the queen's drawing room at 
St. James's, to the Princess of Orange. 
So much for my " personal acquaint- 
ance" with the Earl of Liverpool. As 
to his "university education," and his 
having " continued all his life, what is 
called a bookish man," which the re- 
viewers assert ; I can only repeat, that 
though he might be " a classical 
scholar," and might " have possessed a 
great variety of reading," yet his whole 
life, his speeches in parliament, and his 



9 

he 



elevation, sufficiently prove, that 
had read men more tlian books." 

If I do not descend to answer and 
refute the other instances adduced of 
pretended error or falsehood, it is, be- 
cause the examples cited are either in 
themselves of little moment, or must rest 
on the degree of credibility due to the 
reviewers, as opposed to my own testi- 
mony. Let the public decide between 
us. It is not of very material conse- 
quence, whether " the Royal George" 
went down in the midst of Portsmouth 
Harbour or at Spilhead. Nor is it 
very important, whether Lord Bute sold 
his house in Berkeley Square to Lord 
Shelburne, before he inhabited it, or 
afterwards. The " Royal George" 
perished in an instant, by the effect of 
fatal negligence ; and the Earl of Bute 
constructed the magnificent mansion 
which was purchased by Lord Shel- 
burne. These constitute the leading 
facts in both cases. There are other 
passages, where the reviewers have, 
either wilfully or unintentionally, mis- 
stated and misinterpreted my meaning. 
1 have never asserted, as they affect to 
suppose and to assume, that " the 
cabinet of 1801 considered peace 
with France as impolitic, unsafe, and 
unwise:" but, that his majesty was 
known so to regard it ; and therefore 
that "Lord Hawksbury affixed his sig- 
nature to the articles, not only without 
the king^s consent or approbation, but 
without his knowledge." The cUffer- 
ence between the two statements is ob- 
vious. 

The "Quarterly Review" arraigns 
severely the details into which I have 
entered when discussing the characters 
or public merits of eminent men. " He 
seems to consider it necessary," say 
they, " to write a professed reviev*^ of 
the manners, morals, talents, and Ees 
gestx of each. In this way, Lord 
North and Lord Sackville are spread 
over forty pages ; and Pitt and Fox 
have, each, near thirty to their respec- 
tive shares." On reading this charge, 
one is tempted almost to doubt whe- 
ther it can be serious. Do not me- 
moirs necessarily include biograpliy in 
their range ? What constitutes the pe- 
culiar charm of Plutarch, except the 
very circumstance, that he enters mi- 



10 



ANSWER, ETC. 



nutely into the domestic and private becoming apology. If decency and 
life, as well as into the official acts of liberality of mind did not restrain the 
his heroes? Even Suetonius, a writer pens of these critics, or moderate their 
of very inferior merit in m^iny points of: virtuous indignation, other considerations 
view, yet awakens attention by the ^ might and ought to have imposed limits 
anecdotes that he recounts of the on them, Are they aware, that by 
Caesars, because he conducts us into attempting, through the medium of the 
their apartments, and renders us fa- press, to influence the public mind, and 
miliar with them. De Thou and to anticipate the supposed judgment of 
D'Aubigne descend to similar details, a court of criminal law on a matter 
Even Grammont, St. Simon, and pending and not yet come to hearing ; 
Horace Walpole, interest us on the they are guilty of a far more heinous 
same principle. If Fox and Pitt, if oflence than the one which it is falsely 
Lord North and Lord Sackville, if affected to attribute to me? For the 
Burke and Dunning do not challenge purity and majesty of English jurispru- 
minute investigation, who can deserve dence discountenances, reprobates, and 
it? Lord Clarendon and Burnet are punishes every appeal to the passions of 
liable to the same accusation, which i the multitude, as subversive of the first 
constitutes indeed their greatest claim principles of equity and justice, 
♦o be read by posterity. It will not, I Having now so far finished my de- 
hope, be said that I am comparing my- fence at the bar of literary criticism, I 
self to these distinguished writers, be- will candidly confess the inherent, in- 
cause, like Z'rincz/Zo in " the Tempest," delible, and inexpiable faults which 
I attempt to " creep under their gabar- pervade every page of the " Historical 
dine," in order to avoid the storm. I Memoirs," and of which I own myself 
only endeavour to justify my attempt, culpable: nay, from which I principally 
by setting up their precedent. | claim for the work any tide to be read 

The "British Critic" is indeed at I either by the present or by the future 
variance nn this point with the '' Quar- ; age. They are, 
terly Review;" — for, the former of j 

these publications, when speaking of! Its freedom, impartiality, and truth. 

" the characters of the principal political 

leaders of the day," adds, " these we I am well aware that these qualities 
esteem by far the best part of his work." never yet did recommend, and never 
They retract, it is true, their approbation will recommend, to the favour of princes, 
in the next sentence, by subjoining that ministers, or of the great. They de- 
ihe characters " are written in a loose, precate all disclosures ; hardly ap- 
prolix, ivordy style." But, can we proving even panegyric, unless re- 
annex any value to the praise, or any strained within cautious, humble, and 
importance to the blame of men, who, guarded limits. Party, and party only, 
arrogating to decide on literary merit, can, in this country, support the man 
are not even exempt from errors of orlho- j who ventures to spurn these prudent 
graphy ? Of men who write Vullois, for ! boundaries. But I have not secured 
Valois ; Luzinska, for Leczinska, j that protection. Though nine years 
Malgrida for Malagrida, Haydue for have scarcely elapsed since Pitt and 
Heyduc, Vintrimille for Vintimille; Fox, both, paid the debt to nature; 
and many others ? I forbear to make 1 though the first officers of the state, and 
any comment on the manner in which I the benches in either House of Parlia- 
both these reviews have mentioned the ^ ment, are still filled with their respective 
prosecution commenced against me by | enemies, relatives, and adherents; I 
Count Woronzow, for having inadver- ' have (most imprudently I own) spoken 



tently mentioned his name in a way 
hurtful to his feelings; — a circum- 
stance wiiich could not have arisen 
from any intention to injure or off'end, 
which I regret, and for which, as soon 
as 1 was apprised of it, I made him every 



of them, as I would do of the ministers 
of Queen Anne ; of Lord Godolphin, 
and Lord Bolingbroke. So have I 
done of George the Third, as if I 
were writing of William the Third, or 
of Elizabeth. All the affectionate ve- 



ANSWER, ETC. 



11 



Deration necessarily inspired by his 
virtues, all the admiration excited by 
the rectitude of his intentions, has not 
induced me to attempt to conceal or to 
deny, that almost from the period of 
his accession down to the termin.^tion 
of the American war, his present ma- 
jesty did not enjoy popularity. He 
might have merited it, but he did not 
possess it. AVhere then, 1 would ask, 
can this work lind protectors, except 
in those who respect truth as the only 
quality that can render history valuable ? 
1 well know tliat I have neither con- 
ciliated the followers of Pitt, of Fox, 
or of Lord North. Of course, in the 
spirit of parly, I can hope for no asy- 
lum. I look beyond the present gene- 
ration for my reward, namely, public 
approval. That liope, whether falla- 
cious or not, has hitherto sustained 
me under literary and legal attacks. 
It will animate me in the future pro- 
gress of these Memoirs ; which, what- 
ever may be their errors or defects, 
and whatever treatment their author 
may experience from the age in which 
he lives, will, he confidently trusts, be 
favourably received by posterity. 

N. WiLLM. Wraxall. 

Charlton, near Clieltenham, 
'Z'id August, 1815. 



I had scarcely finished my Answer to 
the " Quarterly Review" and " British 
Critic" when 1 find myself attacked by a 
still more formidable, because a more 
voluminous, and, if possible, a more 
acrimonious antagonist, in the pages of 
the " Edinburgh Review." Though, 
as coming after the two former, he can 
only glean the field which they have 
reaped, and has only repeated the 
same charges or accusations which 
they had already preferred ; yet hav- 
ing thought it necessary to bestow on 
my work, in order, as he says, " to ex- 
pose its worthlessness," near two and 
forty pages of his loyal and high prin- 
cipled review, he claims from me a sepa- 
rate and appropriate reply. He begins 
by animadverting on my account of 
Catherine the Second. His words are, 
speaking of the second edition, " The 



deaths of the Emperor Peter, of Prince 
Ivan, of the supposed Princess Tarra- 
kanofT, of the Grand Duchess the first 
wife of Paul, and indeed, that of the 
Princess of Wirleniberg, are still laid to 
the charge of the empress. Such a 
series of murders, including that of a 
husband, of a boy, and of three young 
women, one of whom was a daughter 
in-law, has not been charged on any in- 
dividual, at least in the modern history 
of Europe." 

Now, in order to expose the injustice 
and falsity of the two first of these ac- 
cusations, namely, that of Peter the 
Third and of Ivan (which latter prince, 
though he was born in 1740, and killed 
by his guards in 1764, the " Edinburgh 
Review" no doubt from ignorance, de- 
nominates a hoy), I have only to cite 
my own account. No man disputes 
that Catherine ascended or assumed the 
Russian throne by the deposition of 
her husband, which was followed, a few 
days afterwards, by his death. I have 
said, when mentioning him and Ivan, 
" Sir Thomas Wroughton always spoke 
to me of Catherine's participation or 
acquiescence in the death of Peter the 
Third as involuntary, reluctant, and 
the result of an insurmountable neces- 
sity. He even considered her knoio- 
ledge of the destruction of the unfortu- 
nate Emperor Ivan, who was stabbed 
by his own guards at Schlusselbourg in 
1764, with a view to prevent his beino- 
liberated by Mirovitsch, as exceedingly 
problematical.'''' This is almost tlie 
only mention that I have made either of 
one or of the other of those princes 
throughout the whole work ; except 
that I elsewhere say, " Peter the Third 
disappeared in 1762, as the unfortunate 
Emperor Ivan did in 1764." What re- 
ply can these worthy Scotch reviewers 
set up, after such an exposal of their 
calumnious misrepresentation ? Their 
zeal to rescue Catherine's memory from 
imputation, even at the expense of truth, 
would indeed be ludicrous, if it did not 
excite indignatfon. One would almost 
imagine that it was " the great Napo- 
leon,'" or the virtuous Carnot, in whose 
defence they had drawn their pen. 
While I am speaking on this subject, I 
will further add, that all the information 
which I ever received at Petersburgh 



12 



ANSWER, ETC. 



ill 1774, when Ivan had been dead only 
ten years, and Peter the Third scarcely 
twelve ; went to confirm Sir Thomas 
Wroughton's opinion, of Catherine's 
repugnance to sanction or permit any 
violence being used towards the deposed 
emperor, her husband. She long re- 
fused, even with tears, to authorize mea- 
sures of rigour, and he fell a victim to 
revolutionary military necessity, sus- i 
tained by the fears of the conspirators I 
who had placed Catherine on the throne, I 
She was only a passive agent in the ' 
business. Nor is it in any manner 
proved that she was acquainted with 
Mirovitsch's attempt to liberate Ivan. 
The empress received the intelligence of 
that tragical event while in public com- 
pany at Riga ; and opinions were great- 
ly divided on the subject at the time. 
But, whether she was guilty or inno- j 
cent, 1 have no where given even an } 
opinion throughout this whole work. 
Yet, these constitute two out of the 
" series of murders," which '• the Edin- 
burgh Review" says, I have " laid to 
the charge of the empress." 

Relative to the death of the supposed 
Princess Tarrakanoff, it is not necessary 
for me to make any defence, having only 
alluded briefly to Castera's account of 
that event, published in 1797 ; and 
having given, at some length. Sir John 
Dick's explanation of his share in the 
transaction; leaving the judgment to be 
formed respecting it, to the reader. 
Far from aggravating Catherine's cul- 
pability in the part which she acted to- 
ward the female in question, I have ra- 
ther defended her conduct. My words 
are, " It is even very diflricnlt altogether 
to condemn the Empress Catherine for 
endeavouring to gel possession of her 
person." And I have stated my reason 
for so thinking, namely, that impostors 
were nearly as dangerous to a czarina 
placed on the throne of Muscovy by a 
revolution, as a rightful pretender to the 
crown. " These considerations," I 
have added, " must, at least in a politi- 
cal point of \\ew,jiisfify Catherine for 
taking measures to prevent the lady in 
question from being made an instru- 
ment in the hands of vindictive or am- 
bitious individuals, to accomplish their 
projects of vengeance against herself." 
/ have neither asserted nor denied, that 



the pretended Princess Tarrakanoff was 
drowned by the waters of the Neyi 
entering her prison. Castera says that 
she did so perish. Sir John Dick ad- 
mits that she died in prison: but he as- 
serts, her end was produced by chagrin. 
Let the reader judge between the two 
accounts. And now I would calmly 
ask the " Edinburgh reviewers," how 
they can so disgrace their own charac- 
ters and profession, as to lend themselves 
to such attacks as these ? Their own 
feelings, and the public condemnation, 
will amply avenge me, by exposing 
them to general censure. 

I come to the fourth charge against 
me, that of the death of the grand duch- 
ess, first wife of Paul: — a charge drawn 
up with elaborate malevolence, and sup- 
ported with no ordinary degree of histo- 
rical and critical ability. " No murder 
recorded in civilized history," say the 
Edinburgh reviewers, " approaches this. 
Paul is involved in it, as much as his 
mother ; for it varies the atrocity very 
slightly, whetlier he acted from subser- 
viency to the empress, from adoption 
of her flagitious policy, or from resent- 
ment at the supposed gallantries of his 
wife." — They add, " to publish such 
stories lightly, is no small offence." — 
Who, on perusing these passages, would 
not be led to imagine, that 1 had now 
for the first time revealed to the world 
this story ; or at least first published it 
through the medium of the press? But, 
unfortunately for the reviewers, as they 
themselves are obliged to admit, the 
whole narration has been given in print, 
eighteen years ago, in French ; a lan- 
guage much more universally read than 
English ; printed at Paris, in 1797, im- 
mediately after the empress Catherine's 
decease, and circulated all over Europe. 
Paul had then newly ascended the Rus- 
sian throne, and scarcely twenty-one 
years had elapsed since his first wife's 
death. Neither he, nor his ministers, 
could be ignorant of the existence of the 
work in question ; and the lapse of time 
was not sufficiently great to have carried 
off all the individuals who might have 
elucidated the nature of the grand duch- 
ess's end. Even Levesque, who men- 
tions the event, though more doubtfully, 
and in a manner that leaves his own 
opinion of it uncertain, published his 



ANSWER, ETC. 



13 



work in 1800. Yet Paul never attempt- 
ed to answer these calumnious niisre- 
presentalions, tlioiigli he reigned down 
to 1801. It has been truly said that 
"an injudicious friend is the worst of 
enemies." 'I'lie Edinburgh reviewers 
stand in this predicament. For, tliey 
must either be compelled to admit that 
Paul, linowing iiiniself and the empress 
liis mother lo be innocent, yet calmly 
acquiesced in the accusation ; not parii- 
cipating the anxiety manifested by his 
present advocates, and utterly regard- 
less of his reputation; or they must be 
reduced lo suppose that he had reasons 
for not stirring the business of his first 
consort's death. I leave them to choose 
between the two alternatives. They 
cannot pretend to believe that Paul, even 
though he had been actually implicated 
in the grand duchess's end, could have 
wanted venal and prostitute pens to have 
undertaken his defence. The historic, 
as weJI as the poetic muse, frequently 
indeed succeeds best in fiction. The 
application of these remarks will be 
easily made by the Edinburgh review- 
ers. 

Let us now advert to my own account 
of the event under discussion. It is 
given on the testimony of two princes of 
Hesse Philipstahl who were at Vienna 
in 1778, and seemed to derive some pro- 
bability or confirmation, from the cir- 
cumstance of the person named as the 
grand duchess's lover being then resi- 
dent in the Austrian capital. Bull have 
contented myself with relating the story, 
without asserting that I believed the 
empress or Paul to have committed the 
act attributed to them. It is true that I 
have added, " When we contemplate the 
history of the imperial family of Russia, 
from the reign of Peter the first inclu- 
sive, down to the present time, we shall 
find iiotliing in the story above related, 
either improbable in itself, or inconsist- 
ent with the measures to which the so- 
vereigns of that empire have continually 
had recourse, under similar circum- 
stances, in various instances." Do not 
the reviewers know that the wife of the 
Czarowilz Alexis, only son of Peter the 
Great, perished or disappeared in 1715, 



cious treatment of her husband ? She 
was in the fiower of youth, beautiful, 
virtuous, and at least as much an object 
of compassion, as the first wife of Paul, 
Did not Alexis himself disappear in 
1719, under circumstances which have 
no parallel in modern history, except 
Philip the Second's execution of Don 
Carlos ? Contemplate the arbitrary acts 
of barbarous power, exercised under 
Elizabeth, Catherine's predecessor ; 
when women of quality, siripl, were 
exposed to the lash of the executioner, 
and expired under the punishment of 
the kaoitt, on a public scafi^old. They 
excite horror, and may justify us in sup 
posing that events, which never could 
be credited, if the scene lay at Stock- 
holm, at Berlin, or at Madrid, might 
possibly have been true at Petersburgh. 
If, nevertheless, 1 were called on to state 
my own opinion respecting the death of 
the grand duchess in question, I owe it 
to my love of truth to say, that 1 believe 
it resulted from natural causes, and was 
not accelerated by any violence. But, 
as no measures were ever adopted either 
by Catherine or by Paul, to disprove the 
reports circulated under the former, and 
printed under the latter sovereign, ac- 
cusing them of having accelerated her 
end, the subject must remain matter 
of historical doubt and discussion. 

It is a duty incuinbent on the " Edin- 
burgh reviewers," not merely as calling 
themselves impartial and honorable lite- 
rary censors, but, from rei^ard lo their 
moral character as men; to explain on 
what ground they have thought proper 
to accuse me of laying to Catherine's 
charge the last of this " series of mur- 
ders." I mean, that of the Princess of 
VVirlemberg. They must either have 
done it from a systematic sacrifice of 
truth, to oilier motives best known to 
themselves; or they never can have read 
the remarks rnaile by me on the event 
in que-tion : — for my opinion and obser- 
vations are altogether favourable to the 
empress, and lend to acquit her of any 
participation in that princess's death, 
even on the supposition that it was not 
natural: — a supposition whicii I by no 
means sanction. That the illustrious 



precisely like Wilhelmina, princess of and unfortunate lady was confined in the 
Hesse Darmstadt, in childbed; — an interior of Muscovy, for some asserted 
event wliich was produced by the fero- errors of conduct ; that she there expired 



14 



ANSWER, ETC. 



at the end of about eighteen months; 
that her body was refused to be deliver- 
ed up to her parents ; that no proces 
verbal, or authenticated account of her 
disorder and decease, was ever publish- 
ed by the court of Pelersburgh, or of 
Stiitgard; that injurious reports respect- 
ing her end were circulated throughout 
Europe, and obtained considerable belief 
even in this country; — on all these 
points, there is no difference of opinion. 
They are universally admitted. Now, 
■what have 1 said? — After stating t!ie 
suspicions entertained of poison, or other 
means having been resorted to, I add, 
" It is natural to ask, why did Catherine 
cause the princess to be imprisoned or 
poisoned? Her gallantries, however 
culpable or notorious they might be, yet 
constituted no crime against the empress 
of Russia; who exhibited in her own 
conduct an example of emancipation 
from all restraint and decorum on the 
article of female irregularities of deport- 
ment." — "In the case of the two 
emperors, Peter the Third and Ivan ; as 
■well as in the instances of the pretended 
Princess Tarrakanoff, and of the first 
grand Duchess of Russia; the motives 
for her commission of a crime, by de- 
priving them of life, are obvious. But 
none siirh appear in the instance before 
«s." — What answer can the review- 
ers make to this charge of wilful misre- 
presentation and false accusation, which 
I bring against them ? 

Having thus vindicated myself, as I 
trust, satisfactorily, from the five im- 
putations of the Edinburgh reviewers, 
respecting the Emjjress of Russia, and 
retorted on theiTiselves the calumnious 
accusations with which they have loaded 1 
me ; 1 will only add that I perfectly 
acquiesce in the conclusion to which 
they come at last. They say, " the 
probability seems to be, that this prin- 
cess, at tne oesire of her husband, for 
real or supposed indiscretions, was re- 
legated to a provincial prison, in a coun- 
try wiiere the secret death of an illustri- 
ous prisoner, though really natural, miglit 
be plausibly imputed to assassination." 
That the present king of Wirtemberg 
proved to George the Third, by docu- 
ments and papers the most authentic, 
that he had not any knowledge of, or 
participation in, his first wife's death, is 



incontestable. His majesty, as I have 
stated, "after a full inspection of them, 
became perfectly convinced of his having 
had no part in that dark and melancholy 
transaction." This fact I have given on 
the authoiity of a gentleman who well 
knew, and liad seen, those proofs. He 
is the same individual whom the Edin- 
burgh reviewers contemptuously call 
my " Informer," and of whose interest- 
ing recital they speak, as " a long and 
very dull story." These reviewers are 
inconsciously treading on verv delicate 
ground, and should be reminded of Ham- 
let's advice to the players, " not to say 
more than is set down for them." " His 
majesty's reluctance and " hesitation" to 
conclude the union of the prince of Wir- 
temberg with his eldest daughter, to 
which I allude, probably arose only 
from parental attachment. And, without 
having recourse to any supposition of 
violence, we may easily conceive that 
the decease of the first princess might 
have been caused by her own situation, 
shut up in a Muscovite castle, deprived 
of her German attendants, male and fe- 
male, a prey to solitude and chagrin. 
Such circumstances are usually of them- 
selves sufficient to abbreviate the term of 
human life. 

I shall now endeavour with calmness, 
— for truth is a powerful buckler ; — to 
repel some of the minor calumnies or 
distortions of fact, in which the review- 
ers indulge themselves. Joseph, king of 
Portugal, they represent me to have de- 
sciibed " as a drunken old Moor." My 
words are these. " In his checks he 
had a high scorbutic humor, attributed 
commonly to excesses of wine ; though 
it might partly arise from violent exer- 
cise constantly taken under a burning 
sun. His face, indeed, was nearly as 
dusky as that of a Moor." With simi- 
lar regard to veracity, these gentlemen 
say, " Sir Nathaniel's hero, among the 
sovereigns of the eighteenth century, is 
Louis the Fifteenth :" — an assertion 
contradicted by the Memoirs under our 
review. I have, indeed, spoken of a 
portion of Louis's reign with the warm- 
est approbation. So I shouhl have done, 
when writing of the " Quinquennium 
Neronis,'''' the first five years of Nero, if 
I had composed the history of that exe- 
crable monster's life. Bht, I have de- 



ANSWER, ETC. 



15 



pictured Louis the Fifteenth during the 
concluding years of his government, as 
a man sunk in every degrading gratifica- 
tion or pursuit. Afier staling that 
" Louis, during his last years, excites 
disgust, unqualified by any sentiment of 
pily, or of respect ;'" I add, " his deaili, 
which took place under these circum- 
stances, was hailed by the French as 
the aera of their iiberaiion from a yoke 
equally di«ijraceful and severe." Re- 
viewers, who thus unbhishingly trample 
on truth, must set little value on charac- 
ter, or must hold the understandings of 
mankind in great contempt. I have else- 
where said, when mentioning Louis the 
Fifteenth, " Unquestionably, the four last 
years of his reign were passed in a man- 
ner worthy of Sardanapalus ; oblivious 
to his public duties, insensible to na- 
tional glory, and lost to every sentiment 
of private virtue, or even of deco- 
rum." And this is the king whom I 
am represented as having made my 
*' hero." 

Nor have they less misrepresented my 
assertion, that " Louis covered himself 
and his country With military glory." 
The paragraph in question is as follows 



noticed it. Indeed, no details, however 
minute, seem to have been considered by 
them as beneath their notice, whicii 
might, as they hoped, cover me with 
confusion. 1 would nevertheless ask, 
on what ground they presume to assert 
that 1 have made " a horrible insinua- 
tion against the late stadlholder." 
JVkere, and what is it ? They are bound 
to speak out. I have said of the Prince 
of Orange, that, " after arriving in this 
country, under a dark political cloud, and 
after residing here mapy years, without 
acquiring the public esteem, or redeem- 
ing his public character, he finally and 
precipitately quitted England under a 
still darker cloud." What " horrible in- 
sinuation" is couched under these words ? 
" Honi soit, qui rnal y yjen.ve." 

I pass over the coarse and vulgar ac- 
cusations of " nastiness, obscenity, im- 
purity," &c., these being, as I before ob- 
served, only " the gleanings of the 
field ;" and having already answered 
their predecessors, the " Quarterly Re- 
view" and " British Critic," on all these 
points. But I cannot allow their ani- 
madversions on the fate of John and 
Cornelius de Witt to remain unnoticed. 



*' If Louis the Fii'teenth, by the peace of i If the Edinburgh reviewers had looked 



1736, acquired Lorrain for France ; he 
covered himself and his country with 
military glory during the war that com- 
menced in 1741, on the death of the 
emperor Charles the Sixth.''^ Can this 
fact be disputed ? Did not Marsiial Saxe 
defeat us and our allies in repeated bat- 
tles ; overrun the whole Netherlands, 
break down the Dutch barrier, and threat- 
en the total overthrow of the balance of 
Europe, as much as France did in 1793 ? 
At the peace of Aix la Chapelle, in 
1748, Louis had attained to a very ele- 
vated point of glory, cemented by mo- 
deration. But he lived to become the 
scorn of his subjects and of Europe, 
While, however, I thus expose the wanton 
or inexcusable inattention to fact in the 
reviewers, I must with equal candour 
admit that they have pointed out an er- 
ror in this part of my work, which I 
gladly correct. It is where I have said 
that Henry the Fourth conquered the 
counties of ^ojirg- and Bresse. It should 
have been Bugey and Bresse. 'I'he 
mistake was a mere inadvertence of the 
pen, but I return them thanks for having , 



into the second edition of my work, 
which lay before them, they would there 
have seen, that in order to guarti against 
malignant representations respecting the 
death of the two de Witts, which, I was 
sensible, might be made, from the brief 
manner in which I had alluded to their 
tragical end ; I have said, " Van Berkel 
merited the fate \\\wA\ unjustly bff el the 
two de ffltts, and only escaped it by the 
inert and incapable conduct of the Stadt- 
holder." Yet, this is the passage for 
which the reviewers assert, " I should 
be punished by the general execration of 
mankind," as exhibiting "symptoms of 
unmanly ferocity," and " degrading the 
English language into a vehicle of co- 
wardly and sanguinary maxims." Per- 
haps, however, I ought not to be sur- 
prised at this exquisite sensibility of the 
Edinburgh reviewers, when engaged in 
the pious office of rescuing from odium 
the name of Van Berkel; an enemy of 
England and of the House of Orange, 
devoted to the interests of France and of 
A.merica. He was a natural and [)roper 
object of their admiration, in proportion 



16 



ANSWER, ETC. 



as he excites opposite sensations in every 
loval orpalrioiic bosom. 
"Wiiellier Thiebault or I are most in 



But we come now to " the coalition of 
Lord JNorih and Fox ;" a siibjeci on 
wliich their feelintjs overcomiiiii their 






the right, as to the cause of Prince Fer- | judgment, have ^carried lliem far beyond 
dinand of Briinswic's dismission trom 
the Prussian service, is a matter of very 
little moment. I am most ready to al 



the sober bounds of reason ur of deco- 
rum. While liiey accuse me of "atro- 
ciously libelling the memory of Lord 



low and believe, that Thiebuuft, who North ;" because I assign motives to 
resided long al Berlin, is mure likely to ! justify or palliate his union with Fox, 



have given the true reason than myself, 
The unworthy motives assumed by the 
reviewers, as dictating the manner in 
whicli I have mentioned the regent; fol- 
lowed by their comments on my asser- 
tion, that " his present majesty resembles 
the Anlonines in the leading features of 
his character;" — such animadversions 
neither admit reply, nor merit an answer. 
But, wlien they pass the line of truth 
in order to oppress me, I shall always 
flatly contradict them. How are they 
warranted in asserting that I have said, 
" George tiie Second eagerly told the 
countess of Yarmouth, as a piece of 
good neivs, ' Freddy is dead.' " My 
account runs thus. "His majesty ha.i 
just sat down to play, and was en- 
gaged at cards, wlien a page, de- 
spatched from Leicester House, arrived, 
bringing information that the prince 
was no more. He received the intelli- 
gence ivithout testifying either emotion 
or surprise, 'i'hen rising, he crossed 
the room to Lady Yarmouth's table, 
who was likewise oecu[Me(l at play: 
and leaning over her chair said to her in 
a low lone of voice, in German, ' Fritz 
is dode.' Freddy is dead. Having 
communicated it to her, he instantly 
withdrew." — Where is ihe eagerness 
or ihe joy, as at apiece of good news, 
here manifested? It exists only in the 
pages of these Scotch Munckhaiisens, 
who exaggerate or twist every fact to 
their own purposes. That George the 
Second did not particularly love his 
eldest son, nor perhaps had any great 
reason so to do, is matter of notoriety : 
but he did not disgrace himself before 
spectators, by displaying his satisfaction 
at the prince's decease. How hard run 
must these reviewers have been, to find 
rca/ mailer of censure or of condemna- 
tion in my work, when they are re- 
duced to iyivent circumstances, to suit 
the humiliating task which they have 
undertaken to perform. 



drawn from prudence, and from his poli- 
tical situation at tlie close of the American 
war ; they suppose me to be animated 
by " rancour" against Mr. Fox, which 
sentiment they ingeniously ascribe to 
" sycopliancy." 'I'o whom, I would 
ask, could 1 make my court in 1815, by 
descending systematically to calumniate 
Mr. Fox, if 1 were capable of such base- 
ness ? It would be thrown away on the 
king, and no man doubts that it would 
awaken sentiments of mingled aversion 
and resentment in the bosom of ihe re- 
gent. Lord Liverpool, I fancy, will not 
suspect me of meaning to render myself 
acceptable to him, by traducing an illus- 
trious adversary, long since dead. " But, 
it requires," say the reviewers, " the 
fullest operation of the composing power 
of contempt, to preserve the mind from 
some indignation, at reading in such a 
writer as this, that Mr. Fox's claims on 
office were unsustained by moral quali- 
ties." Did these gentlemen never hear 
the answer of Father O'Leary to the 
Bishop of Waterford, when discussing 
the doctrine of purgatory ! " Your lord- 
ship," said he, " may go farther, and 
fare worse.''' I have spoken of Mr. Fox, 
as I thought of him, with admiration, 
bui, with freedom ; and I believe, even 
his friends admit, with candour and im- 
partiality, though I generally diflered 
from him on political subjects, and pe- 
culiarly disapproved of the part that he 
look after the commencement of ihe 
French revolution. 

It is, however, only by unfairly se- 
lecting a few detached words of a long 
sentence, and reasoning on so fallacious 
a basis, calculated for low purposes of 
deception, that the reviewers can pre- 
tend even to accuse me of diminishing 
Mr. Fox's claim to moral esteem and 
approbation. 1 regret the necessity of 
citing from my own work, but it is ne- 
cessary to my honour, to expose the ma- 
lignant and uncandid nature of liie at- 



ANSWER, ETC. 



17 



tacks made on me. In summing up Mr. 
Fox's character, I have s-aitl, '* If energy 
of mind, enlargement of views, firmness 
of character, amenity of manners, ac- 
quaintance with foreign courts and lan- 
guages, facility in conducting business, 
and prodigious intellectual powers, com- 
bining eloquence, application, as well as 
discernmeiil; — if tliese endowments are 
considered as forming an inttontestable 
claim to public employment, unsustained 
by moral qualities, or by property ; we 
must condemn the sentence of exclusion 
passed upon him. Tliose persons, on the 
other hand, who consider all talent, how- 
ever eminent, as radically defective, un- 
less sustained by decorum, arul a regard 
for opinion ; as well as all who prefer 
sobriety of conduct, regularity of de- 
portment, and the virtues of private life, 
above any ability which nature can be- 
stow on man ; — lastly, all who regard 
judgment, under the control of strict 
principle, as the most indispensable re- 
quisite of a minister, to whom the public 
honour and felicity are in some measure 
necessarily entrusted ; — such persons 
will probably hesitate before they decide 
too hastily on the degree of censure or 
of commendation whicii the king's con- 
duct towards Fox ought to excite in our 
minds," Now, after perusing this de- 
scription, any unprejudiced mind may 
pass sentence. Let it be remembered 
too, that the portrait here drawn is not 
the Mr. Fox oi fifty, such as we remem- 
ber him, residing at St. Anne's Hdl, a 
married man, leading a domestic life, in 
the bosom of letters and researches of 
taste : but it is Mr. Fox at thirty-two, 
as he was in 1781, living in St. James's 
street, close to Brookes's ; and still de- 
voted to those gratifications by which he 
had impaired his health, ruined his for- 
tune, and diminished his brilliant repu- 
tation. 

The reviewers dilate, with a sort of ex- 
ultation, on the circumstances of Mr. 
Fox's having passed three nights at Lord 
Rockingham's house, armed, during the 
riots of June, 1780 ; and on his having 
collared one of the rioters, whom he 
brought prisoner to Grosvenor Square. 
No man ever questioned his attachment 
to the head of his own party, or his ab- 
horrence of the excesses of a ferocious 
rxjob, which manifested as much antipa- 
2^ 



thy to the members of opposition as to 
the government. But, the question is, 
did Mr. Fox, " when pressed in the 
House of Commons to co-operate for 
the extricatM)n of the capital, lend any 
support to administration in that moment 
of national distress," as Burke did ? — I 
shall not descend to answer the accusa- 
tion of '* slandering Lord Elfingham,' 
or " insinuating that the opposition were 
conne(!ted with the rioters ;" because, 
only determined malignity can lay such 
absurd imputations to my charge, after 
perusing the passages where those sub 
ji'Cts are mentioned in the Memoirs. On 
General Fiiz[)atrick, I am necessitated to 
say a few words, though reluctanllv, as 
I am charged with " falsehood," in 
speaking of the decay of his talents, pre- 
vious to his decease. The last time that 
I ever met that distinguished person in 
company, was, one morning, at Chol- 
mondeley House, a short lime before his 
death ; when, not only his faculties, but 
even his articulation seemed to me to 
have sustained a diminution, or a shock ; 
though probably, as Prior said of 
Charles, Earl of Dorset, he might still 
" drivel better sense than other men 
spoke." Dining at the same house, 
either on that day, or soon afterwards, 
and mention being accidentally made of 
General Fitzpatrick ; some decline of his 
intellectual fire and vigour of mind 
seemed to be generally admitted by all 
present. But, even on a supposition that 
I erred in so imagining, how do I de- 
serve to have it asserted, that " I seek a 
disgraceful popularity, by exposing the 
decay of men of genius, to mjke sport 
for the rabble ?" The reviewers ought 
to be well remunerated for these sacri- 
fices of decorum, truth, and character. I 
have spoken of General Fitzpatrick with 
delicacy and concern. Does Johnsoa 
" seek disgraceful popularity, or make 
sport for the rabble," when in his trans- 
lation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, he 
observes, 

" From Marlbro's eyes the tears of dotage flow, 
And Swift expires a driv'ler, and a show V 

I leave Dr. Musgrave's information 
and evidence to its own intrinsic weight; 
only reminding the reviewers, that whea 
they rashly, as well as ignorantly assert, 



18- 



ANSWER. ETC. 



ihat " the tale was patronized by no 
one in or out of Parliament, vviili the 
single excepiion of the unscrupulous 
Jwiius,'" ihey probably have never read 
PFilkea's Letter to tbe Electors of Ayles- 
bury, dated " Paris, 22d October, 1764;" 
or ilie memorable " North Briton," No. 
45 Whether either, or both these pro- 
ductions, constitute authority, 1 will not 
venture to say : but they unquestionably 
tend 10 corroborate Ross ftlackay's ac- 
count of the venality of Parliament in 
1763. Anxious as 1 am to take leave of 
my Scotch accusers, I must yet notice 
the m;inner in wliich tliey inculpate my 
mention of the calumnious reports re- 
specting Lord Shelburne's having pur- 
chased into the funds, previous to the 
peace of 1783. If there be a part- of 
these Memoirs, in which, contrary to my 
ordinary practice, 1 have used the great- 
est caution ; leaning throughout the 
whole narration to a disbeliel' of the act 
imputed, and attributing the report itself 
to "the active malignity of the first 
minister's enemies," it is on the point in 
question. 1 have even tiled Mr. Pitt's 
gpeech in the House of Commons, of 
the 2 1 St February, 1783, in which he 
alluded to " the arts of defamation 
adopted by Lord Shelburne's opponents, 
for the purpose of degrading him in the 
national esiimation." At the same time, 
truth compelled me to add, that " either 
he subsequently altered his opinion, or 
his actions contradicted his professions." 
And who, I would ask, were Lord Shel- 
burne's most inveterate enemies, whose 
arts Mr. Pitt characterized as "deserv- 
ing his scorn ?" Were they not fhe ad- 
herents of Mr. Fox? Diti these well- 
informed reviewers never hear of a peri- 
odical paper called " 'J'he Jesuit," which 
appeared during Lord Shelburne's ad- 
minisiraiion, in 1782? And are they so 
ignorant as not to know who was its 
principd autlior ? Let the reviewers 
peruse the speeches of Hurke, and of 
Lee. llien Solicitor General, prontMinced 
in Parliament, between Jul) , 1782, and 
March, 1783. It seems impossible for 
languaije to accumulate more severe mo- 
ral ch;ii<Jes than they respectively iieaped 
upon the first Lord of the Treasury. 
Lee described him " as deficient in pro- 
bity, iiiteiiriiy, and every estimable quali- 
ty." And am I now, in 1815, to be held 



up to universal reprobation, for only 
mentioning that injurious reports were 
circulated relative to the Earl of Shel- 
burne ? If history be sunk so low, and 
if reviewers are with impunity, from 
their retreat on the banks of the Firth of 
Forth, or hid in the icyndes of Edinburgh, 
to exhaust their impotent rage on any 
man who presumes to write with free- 
dom on public men and public events, it 
is time to have done with historical re- 
search. 

' Frange leves Caiamos, et scinile, Thalia, Li- 
bellosl" 

Only one word more on this subject. 
" ll would not be fit," says the review- 
ers, " to lay open the circumstances 
which occasioned the political difference 
of Lord Shel burne and Mr. Piti, for so 
trifling a purpose as that of confuting 
Sir N. Wraxall." Yet, as two and 
thirty years have now elapsed since it 
took place, one should have thought the 
secret might have safely been divulged, 
especially as it would tend altogether to 
rescue Lord Shelburne's public character 
from any possible misrepresentation. 
But, it seems, Mr. Pitt did not confer 
the Marquisate of Lansdown on that no- 
bleman ; which title, we are now told, 
" was requested and obtained directly 
from the king, by the Duke of Rut- 
land, on his accepting the Lord Lieu- 
tenancy of Ireland." I do not presume 
to contradict this affirmation of the re- 
viewers ; simply remarking, that if the 
Duke of Rutland could thus dispose of 
the liighest honours of the crown, with- 
out the participation or intervention of 
the first minister, in favour of a person 
with whom he was at variance, or with 
whom, at least, he had a " political dif- 
ference ; the duke was more powerful 
than the first lord of the treasury. But 
there occurs another apparent difficulty 
respecting it: — for, the Duke of Rut- 
land went over to Dublin, early in 
March, 1783, whereas Lord Shelburne 
was not raised to the marquisate before 
the end of the following November. 
1 leave these little knots to be untied by 
the leviewers. 

For all the insulting personal abuse 
with which they iiave honoured me, for 
the reflections on what they are pleased 
to denominate ray " public morality," 



ANSWER, ETC. 



19 



for the generous solicitude that they 
demonsuate to prevent llie miscliief 
whicli mu^t arise lo society, from llie 
ditiusioM ot" a worli. so malignant, immo- 
ral, and liceniious, as llie " Historical 
IMemoiro," 1 ihaiik the Edmburgli re- 
viewers. 'I'heir list of "Gallicisms, 
Scotticisms, Hiber-iicisms, barbarisms, 
vulgarisms, incoherent metaphors, bad 
English, and absolute nonsense," to be 
found in the work; and which the)' 
kindly piiiit out to the world, as literary 
rocks and quicksands, lo be avoided by 
succeeding writers ; claim the |)ublic 
gratitude. There is great philanthropy 
in such disinterested allenliun to prevent 
so pernicious a book, of which two thou- 
sand have bceaalready sold, Irom pene- 
trating any further, and corrupting the 
whole inhabitants of the United King- 
dom. 1 trust the " Society lor the 
Suppression of Vice" will notice, as be- 
comes theui, these general eliorts of 
men, who can have no motive except 
virtuous indignation lo propel their en- 
deavours ; and who find the reward of 
their labours in iheir own conscious 
rectitude. Such men are rare on this 
side of the 'J\veed, and should be en- 
couraged wherever they are found. Yet, 
with their zeal, it would be as well if 
they mixed a little knowledge and mo- 
deration. Fur instance, when, towards 
the conclusion of iheir philipj)ic, speak- 
ing of me, they say, " He is so perfectly 
regardless of truth, that we are con- 
vinced there is not a single anecdote 
in the book which can be safely be- 
lieved on his testimony," they compel 
me to stand on my defence. Not a 
single anecdote ! What ! not the ac- 
count given of Lord Sackville's recep- 
tion ot the news of the surrender of 
the British army at York Town ! The 
Earl of Glandore, and Mr. Herbert of 
Muckruss, his iwo sons-in-law, as well 
as Lord Walsingham, who were all pre- 
sent, are still alive, and could contradict 
it, if not true.* Do the reviewers mean 
to doubt my having sent t!ie first intelli- 
gence over to India of the pe;ice of 
178y ; for not doing which, the late 
Lord Sydney, then secretary of state, 
narrowly escaped, as 1 know, being 

* Since this answer was composed, 1 have 
lost the first and the last of those three old 
friends. 



called on to make his defence in the 
House of Peers? — Will these gentle- 
men venture to question my account of 
Sir Fletcher Norton's elevation to the 
peerage by Lord Rockingham ; and of 
his kissing the king's hand at the 
queen's drawing room, on his being 
raised to that dignity ? Which of the 
numeruus particulars recounted, — of 
George the Third, of Lord North, or 
of Mr. Pitt, do ihey presume to deny ? 
Is it llie king's interview and conver- 
sation with Lord George Germain, pre- 
vious to his being created a viscount ; 
or is it the story of Sir Eyre (Boole's 
red ribband, which covered Fox with no 
little ridicule, in November, 1783, just 
before the fall of the '' coalition" 1 
riiis Pyrrhonism is excessive. The 
mi.-^i determined sceptic might believe 
something, out of such a mass of anec- 
dote, between 1772 and 1784, as are 
contained in the " Historical Memoirs." 
'I'tie contradictions and coiiflicdng 
opinions of these "same learned The- 
baiis," the eviewers, form not the least 
ridiculous rfeature of their criticisms; 
and prove that, though they have all 
been " screwed up lo the sticking place," 
namely, extinguishing the ivork, yet 
they differ tolo ccelo,on the main points 
of their judgment. For insla!u;e, the . 
British Critic" says (page 27), " The 
materials of his second part are much 
snperior-to those of ihe Jirst.'" Now 
hear ihe " Edinburgh Review" (page 
188), — "On the whole, it must be 
owned that the part of the book which 
relates to the continent is much more 
tolerable than that which regards Eng- 
land.''^ Again, upon the sul)ject of Mr. 
Fox, the " Quarterly" and the '* Edin- 
burgh," are (as might indeed be expect- 
ed), completely opposed to each other* 
The first of tliese worthy reviews says, 
" The friends of the late Mr. F'ox will 
allege that Sir Nathaniel has been un- 
just to that eminent man : but we think 
that on this delicate subject, the opinion 
of Sir N. is not only sincere, but jus- 
tified by the circumstances of Mr, 
Fox''s life.'" After very warmly inveigh- 
ing against that great statesman, for 
the mischief of his public conduct, and 
liis sacrifices to ambition," they add, 
'• we say nothing of his conduct in latter 
times. On that subject we confess we 



20 



ANSWER, ETC. 



ourselves could scarcely write impar- 
tially. But, vvilh rPi^ard to the transac- 
tions that Sir N. Wraxall relates, we 
must do him the justice to say, that we 
think his bias airaiiist the politics of Mr. 
Fox is not only just and reasonable, 
but that similar senlimenis are common 
to the great majority of mankind." 
(See Quart. Review, pages 206 and 207.) 
These opinions are wormwood to the 
advocates of Fox, who indignantly ex- 
claim, " To apply such language as Sir 
Nathaniel applies to Mr. Fox, is, in- 
deed, to libel all his' eminent contem- 
poraries ; and through them, the age and 
nation of wiiich they were the orna- 
ments." Their pious rage, excited by 
the comments which I have made upon 
their great idol, makes them strike at 
random, and heap upon me at once 
accusations o{ sycophancy and of falsity, 
blended with rancour, which entitle me 
at once to their indignation and their 
contempt. (See " Edinburgh Review," 
pages 204—206, and 207.) But it 
would lead me too far, if I were to at- 
tempt to point out the inconsistencies of 
men, w!io seem to be agreed only on 
one point, that of earning llie reward of 
their virulent attack on the book, and on 
its author. 

All the thunders of the Scottish Vati- 
can are concentred in their concluding 
sentence, which, though long, yet as 
containing the quintessence of their 
critical acumen, and displaying a speci- 
men of impartial literary justice, I must 
transcribe. Speaking of the work be- 
fore us, they say, " By the disgusting 
or indecent character of his private 
anecdotes ; by his belief in stories which 
were always incredible; by his attempt 
to perpetuate weaknesses, which ought 
to be forgotten ; by the shameless pro- 
fligacy, or atrocious criminality of the 
acts, which he imputes coolly and 
groundlessly to public men, with no other 
distinction than that inspired by a pretty 
constant, though not a very judicious 
attention, to the wishes of the power- 
ful ; he has done his utmost to blacken the 
character of his ao;e and country, to ex- 
tinguish all confidence in political ho- 
nesty, and thus to destroy that public 
esteem, which is the only outward re- 
ward of those who do not court royal 
favour." Why, what a nefarious book 



must this be ! It ought to be burnt by 
the common hangman, opposite the 
tolbooth of Edinburgh, under the imme- 
diate direction of the Scotch reviewers, 
habited as Spanish inquisitors. The 
" Essay on Woman" fell short of it in 
indecency. Aretine and Machiavel were 
not so subversive of public morality. 
Boccace,LaRochefoucault, or Brantome, 
could not compete in profligacy with 
such a work. John Knox himself, their 
countryman, in his holy rage against 
the whore of Babylon, against popery 
and monarchy, scarcely surpassed the 
virulence of these reviewers. Methinks 
I behold them, perched on the sacred 
mausoleum of David Hume, from the 
summit of the Carlton Hill, darling their 
black liglitnings on my devoted head! 
I am nevertheless, I assure them, unap- 
palled and undismayed. These are not 
the arrows of Teucer : they are the im- 
becile and harmless darts of Priam. 
" Telum imbelle, sine ictu,''^ which in- 
flict no wound, and leave no cicatrice. 
The rumbling of their thunder, only 
reminds us of the brazen-hoofed horses 
of Salmoneus, and never can imitate the 
bolts of Jove. 

But, let me calmly ask these worthy 
guardians of the chastity and purity of 
the British press, what is their object in 
thus letting loose their rage on me ? Is 
it in the hope or expectation of at once 
putting down the book,-And extinguishing 
it under invectives ? Do they fancy that 
the English people will give them 
credit for immaculate criticism, and 
for unbought censure? or do they con- 
sider themselves as the dictators of 
literature, 

"Knights of tlie polar star, by learning placed, 
To shine the cynosure of British laste 1" 

If these are their expectations, I 
trust they will be speedily undeceived, 
and they egregiously mistake the limits 
of their power. 

" Non illis imperium calamo !" 

Neither their praise nor their satire 
can operate beyond the moment, unless 
it be sustained by truth, candour, and 
impartiality. In the violent, as well as 
indecent attack which they have now 
made, we trace the inherent proof of 



ANSWER, ETC. 



21 



some foul interference. Else, how shall 
we account for the " Qiiarlerly and 
Edinburgh Reviews" forming a literary 
coalition, like that so famous poliiical 
union of 1783, which, as they may 
remember, covered both parties with 
disgrace and shame ? It is lime, how- 
ever, that I should take final leave of 
these reviewers, which I do by paro- 
dying the words of Stern, addressed to 
the venerable doctors of the Sorbonne, 
when he hopes that they rested well 
after their consultation. I trust in like 
manner, that the conductors of the 
'J Edinburgh Review" will receive from 
the public the merited reward of their 



laborious and malevolent attack on a 
work, which, however great or numer- 
ous, as I admit, may be its defects, is 
characterized in every paire by qualities 
vainly to be sought in /Aeir productions, 
namely, loyalty to the sovereisrn, detes- 
tation of French principles, abhorrence 
of Bonaparte and all his fallen Jacobin 
jransj, attachment to the crown, and re- 
verence for the British constitution. 

N. WILLIAM WRAXALL. 

Charlton, near Cheltenham, 
Wednesday, bth Sei>teinber, 1815. 



SECOiXD ANSWEE 



THE CALUMxMOUS ATTACIvS OF THE "EDINBURGH REVIEW." 



Paris, No 21, Quai Voltaire, 
27th January, 1816. 

When I last answered the attack of the 
"Quarterly Review;" — for 1 held the 
" British Critic" in too much contempt 
loo have ever given that publication any 
separate reply ; nor should I probably 
have attempted to repel the calumnies 
of the " Quarterly Review," if the un- 
provoked and apparently inexplicable 
abuse directed against Sir John Mai'|)her- 
son had not roused me ; — I confidently 
believed the editors of that review could 
never notice it. So strong is the inter- 
nal evidence of the article " having been 
made for them, not by them ;" and so 
palpably is the demonstration of this dis- 
graceful fact impressed on every page, 
that its ostensible authors had no shelter 
from public shame exci'pt in silence. 
Hid, and in some measure lost in the 
immensity of the English metropolis ; 
terrified at the idea of my disclosing the 
means which had been used to enyaae 
their services ; and the name of the per- 



son employed; — in the lapse of near five 
months, thev have exhibited no sign of 
life. Not so the " Edinhurah Review." 
Tliough London might conceal the dis- 
grace of the " Quarterly," no wynde of 
the " ancient capital" of Scotland could 
be found (lark enough to shield from the 
sneers and contempt of their country- 
men these Miinckhausens of the North. 
We may easily perceive how they 
writhe and twist under the chastisement 
inflicted on them, and how deeply they 
feel the applicalif)n of the " metaphors" 
which they affect to despise. Sir Fretful 
Plagiary did not betray n)ore distress, 
nor smile more ruefully, than does the 
" Idle Advocate," who, 'generously ex- 
tending his shield over his associates in 
humiliation, " throws away an hour" in 
exposing the errors of my work. In that 
sliort sjjace of time he has, as he asserts, 
actually written an article containing 
above fourteen small, closely printed 
paues, nearly equalliuii' in magnitude my 
' Answer," which certainly cost me 



22 



ANSWER, ETC. 



some days to compose: indeed, the arti- 
cle cannot be perused in an hour, nor 
copied in six hours. Why, his counlry- 
raan, the " admirable Creighlon," never 
wrote with such facdiiy as this " Idle 
Advocate ;" ami Justus Lipsius's work, 
of which Tristram Shandy says, that 
♦'they sliouhi have wiped it up, and said 
no more about it," cannot be placed in 
any competition with the production be- 
fore us. If, however, Icannot rival him 
in rapidity of composition, I trust that 1 
shall exceed him in the more essential 
branches of solidity, truth, and every 
quality that can enforce conviction on an 
unprejudiced mind. 

After this short exordium, I will en- 
deavour, with all the brevity of which 
the subject is susceptible ; — for, my tirsi 
object is a wide circulation ; — to answer 
pointedly the accusations and calumnies 
either repeated or invented in tiiis 
"Edinburgh Review;" not even omit- 
ting the personalities, which, in violation 
of liberality or decency, have been intro- 
duced into it. And in order to fix the 
writer to his " charges," 1 will take the 
series as he has enumerated them, be- 
ginning with those to which he says " I 
have made no answer." They amount to 
six in number, if, after all, such allega- 
tions can deserve to be entitled chnrs^es, 
or are susceptible of any specific reply. 

The first is, that " I impute cowardice 
to Louis the Sixteenth." 

The second, that " I accuse Mr. Pitt, 
Mr. Fox, and Mr. Burke, of being 
ready to bring Lord North to the 
block." 

The third, that " I accuse Lord North of 
having coalesced with Mr. Fox, from 
prudential motives." 

The fourth (if it means any thing) ar- 
raigns me for attributing to Lord Thur- 
low the reply which he made to his 
majesty when the king entertained 
ideas of visiting his Hanoverian do- 
minions. 

The fifth and sixth form a complicated 
charge; namely, that I first " impute to 
the king duplicity to his ministers;" 
and next, that "1 excuse or approve his 
conduct." 

These heavy accusations, the " Idle 
Advocate" says, " are all passed over in 
profound and prudent silence." I will 



endeavour at least to remove that ground 
of censure. 

To the Jirst charge, I reply that I ne- 
ver did impute cmvardice to Louis the 
Sixteenth. I have indeed said that " his 
personal courage was problematical, and 
that he did not comport himself with the 
serenity and self-possession of t3liarles 
the First and Mary Queen of Scots, 
when laying down their heads on the 
block." But, so far have I been from en- 
deavouring to prove that he was a coward, 
I add (after remarking on the nature of 
the guillotine, as " bereaving death of all 
its grace and dignity"), " I have likewise 
seen and read very strong attestations to 
the firmness displayed by the king of 
France in his last moments." Nay, I 
have produced one proof addressed to the 
Duke of Dorset, which declares that he 
died with the most heroic courage." His 
attempt to resist or impede the execution- 
ers," to which I allude, might, and pro- 
bably did arise from other motives and 
feelings, than personal fear. Even Marie 
Antoinette turned pale at sight of the guil- 
lotine. And, after all, what sort of a 
charge is this ? — The courage of Louis 
the Fifteenth, nay, of Louis the Four- 
teenth, was problematical. So was that 
of Charles the Second, and even of .lames 
the Second : while Charles the First and 
William the Third manifested the great- 
est intrepidity in the field. I retract not 
one word, nor recede from one expres- 
sion that I have used, relative to Louis 
the Sixteenth. Let the Edinburgh re- 
viewers make the most of it. 

To the second charge I answer, that 
both Fox and Burke did n)any times 
menace Lord North with the scaffold, 
between 1779 and 1782. Ifanymancaa 
doubt it, he has only to read " Woodfall's 
Parliamentary Register." But I have no 
where said that Mr. Pitt, thou;jh he ex- 
pressed his abhorrence of the American 
war, and of the administration who con- 
ducted it, threatened the first minister 
with the block. These Scotch review- 
ers mingle truth with falsehood; but it is 
easy to detect and expose their arts of 
deception. 

I adhere to, and maintain the justice of 
every word or sentiment which consti- 
tutes the object of the t/iird chaPire; name- 
ly, that " Lord North's junction with the 
1 party which had so long opposed him, has 



ANSWER, ETC. 



23 



always appeared to me to admit of much 
more palliation tlian the conduct of Fox 
and his adiierents." Tliese are my ex- 
pressions, when speaking of tlie " coah- 
tion." Unquestionably, in my opinion, 
Lord North acted \\i[.h prudence, in meet- 
ing Fox's overtures for a reconcilia- 
tion and union, I do not say that he 
acted with magnanimity or elevation of 
mind. 

Without being affected in the smallest 
degree by the comments of the Edinburgh 
reviewers, I believe on good authority, 
that Lord Thurlow made the answer to 
his majesty, commemorated in the pre- 
sent edition; which forms ihe'ir fourth 
accusation. 

I deny that /attribute to his majesty 
"duplicity towards his ministers." Let 
the world judge. My words are — "There 
were nevertheless, it must be admitted, 
many individuals who thought that the 
royal disapprobation shoidd have been 
earlier signified ; and who inclined to 
accuse the kijig of something like dupli- 
city or deception, in his treatment of ad- 
ministration " But, I fully admit that 
his majesty's line of action is by me 
exculpated ?nu\ justified for the reasons 
assigned; which conduct of the king I 
approve at this time, as much as I did 
in 1783. I think I cannot give a more 
specific answer to the Jifth and sixth 
points. The reviewers must now con- 
fess that I do not " stand mule on my 
arraignment." 

Having met and silenced these minor 
objects of impotent and malignant accu- 
sation, I come to the great charge re- 
specting Dr. Musgrave's assertion, that 
•' the Princess Dowager of Wales and 
Lord Bute received money from the 
French court, for aiding to effect the 
peace." 'J'he " Edinburgh Review," 
with that audacity which commonly ac- 
companies, and sometimes shelters ig- 
norance, rashly ventured in their Jirst 
criticism on the '■'Memoirs," to say that 
the tale was patronized by no one, in or 
out of Parliament, with the single excep- 
tion of the unscrupulous Junius.'''' And 
now, when I have exposed their unac- 
quaintanre with Wilkes's Letter to the 
Electors of Aylesbur_v, as well as their 
inattention to the «' North Briton," No. 
45; what is their reply? — Do they 
venture to impugn or to deny those cor- 



roborations ? No — they say, " we are 
disposed by charity, " to leave him 
undisputed possession of Wilkes's Ad- 
dress to the Electors of Aylesbury. It 
is aiisolulely his best historical autho- 
rity." — What more authentic testi- 
mony or proof can well be produced in 
confirmation of any public fact, than a 
letter written by a member of the very 
Parliament accused by him of venality; 
dated in 1764, the year subsequent to the 
peace in question ; addressed to his own 
constituents ; printed and circulated at the 
time througiiout the kingdom? Such a 
document outweighs twenty pages of vul- 
gar abuse. The "Idle Advocate" would 
do well to remember that charity begins 
at home. He and his associates will stand 
in need ctf much indulgence for their de- 
viations from liberality, truth, and deco- 
rum. 

The public might with reason censure 
me, if I obtruded my own private affairs 
on their notice, while repelling the calum- 
nies thrown on my literary character. 
Nor can it be necessary for me to give 
any answer to the scurrilous personalities 
which the reviewers obscurely sustain by 
allusions to "Benfidd's Ledger," the 
" Memoirs of Ossian," or the stories of 
" six members of the House of Commons 
sent to thai assembly, by the fair or frau- 
dulent cretlitors of the nabob of the Car- 
natic." But, when they presume to 
assert, that " in a judicial examination" 
(no doubt, before ihe Carnalic commis- 
sioners,) " I pretty intelligibly assigned 
the interest of those creditors, as the 
motive of my vote against the " India 
Bill, on the 1st of December, 1783," the 
reviewers, or their informers, are guilty 
of a gross violation of truth. It is in- 
deed the engine to which they systema- 
tically have recourse, and by which alone 
they can attempt to colour their next 
charge; namely, that when I say, "the 
consciousness of all India being subjected 
to the rapacious hands of Fox's ad- 
herents, by no means tended to tranquil- 
lize the public mind." I n)ean to throw 
a stigma on " the commissioners for In- 
dian Affairs, Lord Fitzwilliam, the late 
Lord Dartmouth, the late Lord Guild- 
ford, and the late Lord Minlo." Un- 
fortunately for the Edinburgh review- 
ers, they have mistaken the time when 
my observation is made, which was 



24 



ANSWER, ETC. 



in November, 1783, whereas the com- 
missioners above-meiilioiied were not 
then in existence; llie " East India Bill" 
in which they were named, not having 
even passed»the House of Commons be- 
fore the 9th of December. It now re- 
mains therefore for these worthy and 
candid, but ignorant reviewers, to ex- 
plain, how I could by possibility mean 
^lo assert or to imply, that commissioners 
who were not themselves yet appointed, 
had nevertheless already " promised or 
filled up " the first employments In In- 
dia." My remark applies to t!ie personal 
promises or eugagements made by ad- 
ministration., previous to the passage of 
the "East India Bill" through the lower 
House. This impotent attempt to mis- 
lead, and to implicate the little passions 
of human nature in the cause of calumny, 
by naming four noblemen of high and 
unspotted character, as the objects of my 
animadversion, will only revert on its 
authors. Tlie public mind will judge 
between them and me. 

In the first criticism of my work, the 
reviewers accused me of " making Louis 
the I5lh my hero,"" and of asserting that 
he "had covered himself with glory." 
When I exposed the falsehood of this 
imputation, by citations from the book 
itself, provinsr the direct contrary ; in- 
stead of confessing their fault, and asking 
pardon for such shameful misrepresenta- 
tion, what do they now say ? — " We 
hurry over small matters. He said that 
Louis the 15ih had covered himself with 
glory. This we thought the height of 
ridicule, t^ill Sir N. employed two pages 
of what he calls his Answer to prove it, — 
which we think more ridiculous still." 
And is this their excuse for a wanton per- 
version of truth, when silting in judgiiient 
on a literary work, after beinij exposed 
in all their deformity, as twisting every 
fact to their own purposes ? With similar 
audacity they invent, where they cannot 
Jind, subject for accusation. I had al- 
ready proved, by quoting my own words, 
that I never represented the King of Por- 
tugal " as a drunken old Moor." They 
now assert that I have said, "he had a 
a face carbuncled by hard drinking." 
Where, \n what page, are these words, 
or any synonymous expressions to be 
found? The facility which, Hamlet says, 
accompanies the act of violating truth, 



may tempt these systematic Munckhau- 
sens to have recourse to the expedient: 
but they may be assured it will eventually 
cover tliem with shame. Though slow, 
the verdict of the public will overtake 
them. My erudition informs me, and 
will prove to them before the close of 
1816, that 

" Karo anteceJentem scelestum 
Deseruit pede Fcena claudo." 

But we come now to what they de- 
nominate "high matter:" — for these 
men see nothing in created nature so high 
as their idol. They employ two long 
pages in demanding proof that "Fox re- 
fused to lend any personal support to go- 
vernment during the riots of June, 1780, 
though Burke in the House of Commons 
loudly expressed his wish for unanimity." 
What proof would they have? — I was 
not then in parliament, myself, not hav- 
ing been elected till September of that 
year. I cannot therefore assert it from 
my own recollection. And if I could 
have done it they would have disputed 
my accuracy or veracity. The fact is 
now of near thirty-six years ago. Wit- 
nesses, therefore, such as the reviewer^ 
call for, are not to be found every day. 
But Burke's more pronounced and une- 
quivocal support given to government on 
that trying occasion was matter of noto- 
riety at the time. It grew out of the 
characters of the two individuals, which 
were most dissimilar, though then fight- 
ing under the same banner. I have re- 
marked it, when delineating ihe character 
of Burke. Speakinjj of him and of 
Fox, I observe that " even in their near- 
est approximations, there were always 
essential and striking distinctions between 
the two opposition leaders." The case in 
question was one of them. In 1793 they 
diverged with inconceivable violence in 
opposite directions, never more to be re- 
united. And what was 'the cause of that 
separation ? Was it not because Burke 
"lent his person;d support to government,'* 
against insurrection, jacol)inism, regicide, 
andnnarchy; all which Fox took under 
his protection, though he denominated 
them liberty ? This is my answer to the 
reviewers. 

They return the charge of my having, 
as they unfairly assert, declared that "Mr. 



ANSWER, ETC. 



25 



Fox's claims to office, were unsustained 
by moral qualities." I cannot more com- 
pletely answer or refute ih-at mis-state- 
ment, tlian I have already done in my 
last reply : a inis-staiement " only calcu- 
lated lor low purposes of deception." 
The reviewers are pleased to denominate 
my justification ** a huhble-bubble of 
words, with which they do not choose to 
encumber their pages." 1 adhere fully 
to my opinion of Mr. Fox, as contained 
in that " hubble-bubble of words ;" and if 
they were his enlightened friends, instead 
of his servile admirers, they would be 
satisfied with the terms in which I have 
spoken of him. I have nothing to retract 
or alter in the character that I have drawn 
of Fox. It is impartial, just and candid ; 
neither dictated by flattery, nor tinctured 
in any feature by enmity. I respect my- 
self too much, to lend my pen to the base 
degradation of parly or to the vile arts of 
misrepresentation. The only recommen- 
dation of my work is its truth. 

As little have I to retract any part of 
my remarks on General Fitzpatrick, and 
the explanation that I gave on the sub- 
ject; except to put the reviewers right, 
when, with their accustomed regard to 
truth, they make me '■'admit that 1 might 
have erred" in supposing his mental pow- 
ers to have sustained some diminution 
in brilliancy before his decease. I made 
no such admission. My words are, 
" But, even on a supposition that I erred 
in so imagining, how do I deserve to 
have it asserted, that I seek a disgraceful 
popularity, by exposing the decay of men 
of genius, to make spf»rt for the rabble?" 
The reviewers ought to know that an 
hypothesis is not an admission. Every 
writer to the Signet can tell them that 
fact. 

I leave the " Tdle Advocate" and his 
associates to the undisturbed enjoyment 
of any triumph that they may decree to 
themselves, for their laboured hypercrili- 
cism on my explanation relative to i!ie De 
Witts and Van Berkel. 1 hope it may 
console them for the mortifications to 
which they must submit from all those 
who apj)reciale the value of moral cha- 
racter. 

There exists not the slightest contradic- 
tion between my assertion that " George 
the Second considered his son's recovery, 
if it should take place, as an object of the 



utmost regret;" and his nevertheless 
communicjating the intelligence of Frede- 
ric's decease to Lady Yarmouth, " with- 
out testifying either emotion or surprise." 
The reviewers affect to suppose, that a 
man may not regard an event as in itself, 
under certain points of view, rather be- 
neficial than calamitous, without eao-er/y 
divulging, as a piece of good news,'" the 
accomplishment of that event: but, as I 
observed in my former answer, " the king 
did not disgrace himself before spectators, 
by displaying his satisfaction at the 
prince's decease. 

If the Edinburgh reviewers display 
equal ignorance and incapacity in their 
legal characters, as advocates at the bar 
of the court of session, as they have de- 
monstrated in their literary capacity, by 
their attacks on my work, their clients 
may be justly considered as objects of 
compassion. Never could this observa- 
tion have been more forcibly exemplified 
than in Uieir defence of the Earl of Shei- 
burne. While relating the circumstances 
that accompanied his resignation as first 
minister, in February, 1783, I could not 
pass over in silence the injurious reports 
circulated relative to that nobleman; — 
reports which Mr. Pitt characterized in 
P.irliament, as " the arts of defamation, 
adopted by Lord Shelburne's opponents, 
and as deserving his scorn:" — reports 
propagated by Fox's followers, and which 
were not long afterwards (as was com- 
monly supposed), embodied, if 1 may use 
the expression, by General Burgoyne, in 
his comedy of " the Heiress," where not 
only " Allscrip" forms the principal cha- 
racter; but, as we all remember, the very 
scenery was rendered subservient to the 
same effect. I believe, if my memory 
does not fail me, General Fitzpatrick 
wrote the prologue to this dramatic piece, 
which was supported on the shoulders of 
the party. 

Now let us see the justification of Lord 
Shelburne, set up by the reviewers. Af- 
ter their usual preface of invective against 
myself, for having presumed even to men- 
tion the existence of such reports, they 
add, speaking of me, " his logic is on a 
level with his morals. Because Mr. 
Burke and Mr. Lee perhaps abused the 
liberty of debate in 1782, in general in- 
vective against Lord Shelburne, this wri- 
ter thinks himself at liberty to impute to 



26 



ANSWER, ETC. 



him, without proof, a particular crime of 
the basest character. They in all the in- 
temperance of invective which the heat 
of debate may excuse, abstained from any 
allusion to a specific accusation. The 
natural inference is, tliat even in that 
heated and disturbed state of mind, they 
disbelieved all such accusations." 

Who would not suppose, on reading 
this defence, that Fox's, Burke's, and 
Lee's speeches in the House of Com- 
mons, above alluded to, were made sub- 
sequent to the imputations thrown on 
Lord Shelburne? No doubt, the review- 
ers so thought, by producing them on the 
present occasion, as negative attestations 
in favour of that nobleman. And what 
will the world think of tliese ignorant ad- 
vocates, when the truth is, that the tiiree 
violent harangues in question were all 
pronounced between tlie 6//* and 11/A of 
July, 1782; — whereas the pretended 
purchases in the funds were not, and 
could not have been made before Novem- 
ber or December, 1782, or January, 
1783, previous to the conclusion of peace? 
So that Lord Shelburne's innocence is 
to result from the silence of his enemies 
respecting a fact which could not have 
been even contemplated by him, or by 
them, till several months after the speeches 
were ■delivered. 

" O medici, mediam pertundite venam !" 

Unfortunate Lord Shelburne, to have met 
with such defenders ! All the abuse 
which they heap on me is kindness, com- 
pared with such exculpation. Pope 
somewhere exclaims, 

" Bless'd be the gods for what they took away, 
And what they left me !" 

I have only to hope from Providence, 
that whoever are my friends, the Edin- 
burgh reviewers may always remain my 
enemies. 

1 now come to the "five Russian mur- 
ders;" an article of accnsaiinn against 
me so prominent and so labonred in their 
first criticism on my Memoirs, on which 
\,\\e present <w\.\^\e exhibits a new proof 
of shameless tergiversation. I will cite 
their own words, which must constitute 
the most severe chastisement, to men not 
lost to the value of character. Last Au- 



gust, after enumerating " the deaths of 
the Emperor Peter, of Prince Ivan, of the 
supposed Princess Tarrakanoff, of the 
Grand Duchess the first wife of Paul, and 
that of the Princess of Wirtemberg," 
they add, "such a series of murders, in- 
cluding that of a husband, of a boy 
(which boy was twenty-four years old), 
and of three young women, one of whom 
was a daughter in law, has not been 
charged on any individual, at least in the 
modern history of Europe." And now 
what is their language ? — '■'We were far 
from blaming him for having, in com- 
mon loith Europe, attributed to that 
princess a participation in the murders 
of her husband, of Ivan, and of the sup- 
posed Princess Tarrakanoff.'''' By what 
logic will the reviewers reconcile these 
contradictions? 

Relative to the death of the Grand 
Duchess, and that of the Princess of 
Wirtemberg, I have not a word to alter 
in my account of those events : but, when 
the reviewers add, " Count Woronzow 
offered, as ive read in the newspapers, to 
desist from the persecution against our 
author, if the latter would name the agent 
of the court of Wirtemberg," I must 
flatly contradict this supposed fact, as 
ivholly destitute of truth, or of any foun- 
dation. 1 have not the least reluctance 
or hesitation to repeal, as I now do for 
the third time in print, that I regret 
having very inadvertently mentioned 
Count Woronzow's name, in a manner 
painful or injurious to his feelings. But, 
the Duke de Sorrentino, of whom Lord 
Blaney expressed himself in the most 
severe terms, was contented to receive 
an apolotry from him, only a few weeks 
ago, in the court of King's Bench, upon 
Lord Blanev's expressing his concern 
and sorrow for the offence. 

I have still to notice one more gross 
deviation from fict on the part of the re- 
viewers : — a deviation wliich must have 
been intentional, unless they never read 
my " Answer" to their calumnies, which 
thev so severelv criticise. 'I'hey assert- 
ed in ihe'\t first review of my work, that 
" not a siiiirle anecdote contained in it, 
could be believed on niy testimony." 
When I cited various specific facts, and 
called on them to contradict me if they 
dared ; what is their reply ? — '* We only 
said that ive thought it safest to believe 



ANSWER, ETC. 



27 



nothing, merely because he says it. And 
in this lie evidently concurs : for, he in 
this very jiiace enumerates \.\\>?.few trust- 
worthy passas(ps of his book, which ore 
all altoited by oilier ivitnesses, and may 
therefore undoubtedly be believed, not- 
withstanding tlie negative power of liis 
testimony." — But, besides ihe particit- 
lar circumstances to which I rel'erred, [ 
added, " which of the numerous parti- 
culars recounted of George the Third, 
of Lord North, or of Mr. Pitt, do they 
presume to deny?" — Here was a sweep- 
ing challenge thrown out to the re- 
viewers, comprehending probablyybt<r- 
score or more anecdotes, scattered through 



made against me, without omitting, as 
far as I am able, even tiie slightest in- 
sinuation contained in the " Edinburgh 
Review." 'J'hose worthy gentlemen, 
towards the conclusion say, " We hope 
not again to be obliged to notice this wri- 
ter. But we shall think " ourselves 
bound to watch him." As I have in 
this answer given them some subject on 
which to exercise their wholesome vigi- 
lance ; after such a promise made to the 
public, there can be no doubt of our 
hearing again soon from tiiem. Besides, 
since the eighteenth of June last, that 
day of liumiliation and dismay to all 
worthy Jacobins, the Edinburgh review- 



the two volumes, not attested by other \ ers have probably more leisure and less 
witnesses. — Really, the " Idle Advocate" , occupation for their precious time. I 
and his associates must either hold the; have been assured from respectable au- 
understanding of their readers in great! thority, that the number of their loyal 
contempt, or can set little value on the Review, in which they did me the honour 
opinions of mankind, when they tlius first to notice and to criticise my " Me- 
wantonly sacritic^e truth, impartiality, and raoirs," was considerably delayed on ac- 
every quality that can render them esti- count of the propriety and necessil}'- of 
mable as men and as reviewers, to the ■ cancelling and finally suppressing a long 
gratification of unworthy feelings. Their' elaborate article written in favour of the 
conduct will carry with it its own I Corsico-imperial dynasty, which the un- 
punishment. fortunate battle of Waterloo ruined for 

It cannot be expected that I should at- 1 ever. .In the preceding number, they 
tempt to answer tlie vulgar reflections had displayed their indecent joy and 
which they make on the sale of my work, j ridiculous logic, in favor of the ephemeral 
when in one place they say, " It is no, success of the Corsican ; thus judicious- 
sort of wonder that with such allure- ; ly preparing the public mind, as they 
ments his sale should have rivalled that hoped, for his permanent resumption of 
of the Jockey Club, or the Crimes of , power. But, as that " blessing of a bet- 
Cabineis :''' while elsewhere they ob- j ter time," that '■'■ Auspicium melioris 
serve, alluding to the number sold, " In j JEvi,^'' to the unspeakable regret of all 
almost any former period, St. Giles's his faithful followers on both sides of the 
would have polled more than two thou- \ Tweed, is now removed to a rock in the 



sand.''^ They conclude with an epigram, 
which, though ascribed to a " young 
gentleman of Oxford," smells strongly of 
the North Loch. I have only one re 



other hemisphere ; and as his Memoirs, 
which, we are told, he is composing, 
cannot be yet ready for the revision of 
his literary friends, I trust the Scottish 



mark to make upon it, namely, that as it j reviewers will lower themselves to my 
accuses me of misdating facts, I will level. If they do not, fhey will fall in 



venture to defy both Oxford and Edin- 
burgh, though both are seats of learning. 



the public estimation, even below the 
level of the writers of the " Quarterly 



to point owifour errors of that nature in Review," who never threatened io watch 
my two volumes, which contain twelve \ me. With the expression of this senti- 
hundred pages. Now here I have afford- ment, and expecting to see it acconi- 
ed subject at once of occupation and plished by the time I reach London, a 



of triumph to the reviewers, if they mean 
or dare to abide by their own accusation. 
If they are silent, let them look to it. 
Guilt and shame find their only refuge in 
silence. 

1 have now answered every charge 



few weeks hence, I take my leave, for 
the present, of the Edinburgh reviewers. 



N. WILLM. WRAXALL. 



HISTOEICAL MEMOIES 



MY OWN TIME. 



PART THE FIRST. 



Having loiisi meditated to compose 
some account of the national events whicli 
I have witnessed during a part of my life, 
1 have postponed the publication of the 
work, till nearly all those persons of 
whom 1 must have occasion to speak, 
were removed from the scene. In fact, 
with the exception of a very small num- 
ber of individuals, respecting whom I 
have been silent; scarcely any of the 
leading characters now survive, who sup- 
ported or opposed Lord North, the 
Marquis of Rockingham, the Earl of 
Shelburne, or the coalition administra- 
tion. The lapse of more than thirty 
years has removed every objection of 
that nature ; and the respect that 1 owe 
to myself, has impelled me to dismiss 
from my mind, before I undertook these 
Memoirs, every species of bias or par- 
tiality. Not that in point of fact, it is 
possible to s[)eak of recent or contempo- 
rary events, as we would write of trans- 
actions that took place under Henry the 
Eighth ; nor to contemplate Fox and Pitt 
witii tlie degree of abstraction and com- 
posure, that we regard Mirius and Sylla. 
Such philosophic superiority to passion, 
whatever [)retensions to it may be set 
up. is not given to man. 

Tacitus, who wrote of events recently 
performed, and who intended, as he him- 
self assures us, if he should attain to old 
age, to compose the history of his own 
times ; says, »' Dignitatem nostram a 
Vespasiano inchoatam, a Tito auctam, a 
3* 



Domitiano longius provectam, nunquam 
abnuerim : sed incorruptam fidem pro- 
fessis, nee amore quisquam, et sine odio 
dicendus est." If I might be allowed 
to parody the words of that historian, 
applying them to myself, I should say, — 
"'riiat I consider George the Third, 
notwiihstanding the many errors of his 
government, which were most conspicu- 
ous in the beginning of his reign, as one 
of the best princes who ever governed 
this country, I readily confess ; neither 
will I deny that I cannot recall the idea 
of Lord North, unconnected with those 
engaging or elevated qualities of mind 
and of deportment, which conciliated the 
affection even of his opponents. Lastly, 
that Lord Sackville honoured me with 
his friendship, and showed me marks of 
confidence, I avow with pride and satis- 
faction. But, none of these circumstances 
would induce me to conceal or to misre- 
present any fact, for the purpose of 
drawing a veil over their errors or politi- 
cal transgressions. I may further add, 
that never having held any employment, 
under anv minister, at any period of my 
life, I neither can be accused of divulijintj 
official secrets ; nor am I linked, in how- 
ever humble a degree, with any of those 
ephemeral administrations, which took 
place with such rapidity between 1782 
and 1784. I relate the events that I 
either witnessed, or of which I received 
the accounts from respectable testimony. 
How imperfect a light, these sources of 



30 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



information enable me to throw on the 
period of lime that I attempt to elucidate, 
I am fully aware : but, unfortunately, 
those individuals wiio, from their rank 
and situation, know most of the secrets 
of affairs, will generally divuljje least ; 
and even imperfect light is preferable to 
darkness. 

I cannot indeed boast of having enjoy- 
ed the same advantage as Dr. Burnet, 
Bishop of Salisbury, who, in tiie " His- 
tory of his Own Time," says, "I have 
had the honour to be admitted to much 
free conversation with five of our sove- 
reigns, King Charles the Second, King 
James the Second, King William the 
Third, Queen Mary, and Queen Anne." 
But, between 1780 and 1794, during all 
which period I sat in parliament, I pos- 
' sessed many means and opportunities of 
knowing various facts, from high autho- 
rity; and, in some instances, of ascertain- 
ing their secret causes or springs. Lord 
Clarendon and Burnet are almost the 
only persons of eminence among us, who 
have commemorated with ability, and at 
considerable length, the events of their 
own time. We cannot sufficiently regret 
that Prior did not live to accomplish ihe 
same task. That he meditated and in- 
tended it, is evident from the words of 
his epitaph in Westminster Abbey : — 

'' Siii temporis Historiam meditanti, 

Paiil<atim obrepens febris 
Operis simul et vitiE, filum abrupit. 

tSep. 18. An. Dom. 1721." 

The work which was actually published 
under that name in 1740, contained only 
some of the materials collected for it. If 
we consider the official or diplomalic 
situations tliat Prtyr occupied from 1690 
down to 1714; and the intimate friend- 
ship in which he livi^d with Charles, 
Earl of Dorset, the Lord Treasurer Har- 
ley, and Lord Bolinabroke ; we must 
admit that few men could have been more 
competent to elucidate the reigns of Wil- 
liam the Third, and of Anne. 

How much have we to lament that the 
late Mr. Fox, during his long exclusion 
from public em|)loyment, between 1790 
and 1805, while in retirement at St. 
Anne's Hill, did not occupy himself in 
composing tlie history of his own time ! 
Aspiring, as he did, not only to the 



fame of a statesman and an orator, but to 
the praise of an historian; how infinitely 
more valuable a legacy might he have 
bequeathed to his countrymen, how 
much more durable a monument might 
he have erected to himself, by such an 
exertion of his talents, than he has done 
by exhausting his efibrls on the reign of 
James the Second! Not that I would be 
understood to express any sentiment al- 
lied to disrespect, relative to the work 
which Lord Holland, with pious venera- 
tion for his uncle's memory, has given 
to the world. Every page of that short 
and unfinished proiluction is worthy of 
its author, and raises him in my estima- 
tion. The " Introductory Chapter" can 
hardly be exceeded for profound reflec- 
tion, elucidated by a severe and philoso- 
phic cast of thought, as well as by the 
most accurate and laborious disquisition 
of facts. Impartial, ardent for freedom, 
and indignant against tyrants, the writer 
is nevertheless exempt from the spirit of 
republicanism. The small portion of 
James's reign which follows, including 
Argyle's and Monmouth's invasions, 
may in a great measure be characterized 
by similar epithets ; and excites regret, 
from presenting only a fragment. But 
if, instead of collating Rapin, Hume, 
and Burnet ; or employing his time on 
the inspection of documents in the Depot 
des Jirchives at Pauls ; he had dedicated 
it to a delineation, however simple, of 
the great pcditical scenes in which he had 
acted so distinguished a part; with what 
avidity should we not have perused the 
work ! We might then have beheld as 
in a mirror, the secret history of the 
Rockingham and the coalition adminis- 
trations, drawn by a master hand, which 
had propelled the ostensible ministers of 
the lu'o periods. It was thus that Claren- 
don beguiled the hours of unmerited dis- 
grace and exile, when he wrote his 
" History of the great Rebellion." The 
Cardinal de Retz, a man to whom Mr, 
Fox bore some analogy in certain fea- 
tures of his political life, of his character 
and fortune ; made the best atonement 
to his country, and to posterity, for the 
irregularities and agitations which mark- 
ed the zenith of his career, by tracing 
with his own hand, in his decline, the 
outline of those transactions which he 
had guided or produced. We forget his 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



31 



deviations from prudence, his faction, 
and his ambition, in the elegance of his 
genius, and the ingenuous disclosure of 
liis errors. 

Perhaps no portion of lime in the 
course of the two last centuries, offers, 
proportinnably to its duration, so few of 
those interesting- anecdotes where the 
sovereign comes personally forward to 
our inspection, as the reign of George 
the 'J'liird. The reason is obvious, and 
arose out of the king's character. Charles 
the Second and Lewis the Fourteenth, 
aurrounded by mistresses, and all thedis 
sipation of a court, presented to Burnet, 
to Grammont, or to Voltaire, perpetual 
matter of entertaining recital. Even 
George the First and Second offered 
some rt'sources of a sin)ilar nature, to 
Lord iMelcoinb, for his " Diary;" and to 
Horace Walpole, for his " Reminis- 
cences." But his present majesty's whole 
life, from the age of twenty-two, down 
to the lamented period at which he 
ceased to reign, was passed either in the 
severe and exemplary discharge of his 
public duties of every description ; or in 
the bosom of his family, amidst domes- 
tic sources of amusement. In his agri- 
cultural occupations, or when engaged 
in the diversions of the field, he was 
only seen by a few individuals who from 
their official situations or dignity, had 
access to his person. No splendid as- 
semblies of both sexes, or festive enter- 
tainments, to which beauty, raidc and 
pleasure in a comprehensive sense, must 
have conlribnled ; by levelling iiim in 
some measure with his guests, present- 
ed him to view, divested of the forms of 
royalty. Unlike his predecessor, who, 
even at an advanced age, still preserved 
a relish for those enjoyments; equally 
unlike hi.s son, the present regent, whose 
graceful manners, dignified affaliility, and 
splendid taste, have rendered his palace 
the centre of pleasures; George the 
Third, while a yumg man, neither fre- 
quented masquerades, nor^ ever engaged 
at play, nor protracted the hours of con- 
vivial enjoyment, nor passed his even- 
ings in so(!iety calculated to unbend his 
mind from the fatigues of business, and 
the vexation of state. 

All the splendour of a court was laid 
aside, or only exhibited for a few hours 
on a birth-day. Rarely, during the first 



twenty years after his accession, did he 
join in any scene of public amusement, 
if we except the diversion of the theatre. 
Still more rarely did he sit down at table 
with any of his courtiers or nobility. 
Mis repasts, private, short and temperate, 
never led to the slightest excess. Hence 
his enemies endeavoured to represent 
him, most unjusdy, as affecting the state 
of an Asiatic prince; scarcely ever visi- 
ble except on the terrace at Windsor, or 
in the circle at a levee. " Junius," who 
saw him through the most \infavourable 
medium, and who converted his very vir- 
tues into subjects of accusation, or^of re- 
proach; depictures St. James's as a court, 
" where prayers are morality, and kneel- 
ing is religion." It was not till a period 
later than the point of time at which these 
Memoirs slop, that the king began to mix 
in a select company, and occasionally to 
indulge in the pleasures of society. Pre- 
vious to the year 1784, it is only in the 
foreign or domestic transactions of his 
reign, often only within the walls of one 
or of the other House of Parliament, that 
the materials can generally be found for 
writing the internal history of the time. 
These remarks, I am sensible, apply- 
principally, though not exclusively, to 
the portion of the present work where 
the scene lies wholly in England ; where- 
as the first part traverses the continent, 
through different countries, from Portu- 
gal round to Naples and 'I'uscany. 

Soon after I had completed my twen- 
ty-first year, 1772, I went by sea over 
to Portugal ; in the capital of which king- 
dom, or in its vicinity, I staid a consid- 
erable time. Joseph, son and successor 
of John the Fifth, then occupied the 
throne; but the kingdom was governed 
by the celebrated Count d'CEyras, who 
had been recently created Marquis de 
Pombal. Few first ministers, during, 
the course of the last century, displayed 
greater talent for administration, or exer- 
cised more unlimited authority. The 
kiiiff, th(Migh only one third in order of 
descent, was fourth in succession from 
the Duke of Braganza, denominated John 
the Fourth, who in 1610 recovered Por- 
tugal from the Spanish dominion ; and 
at the time of which 1 speak, he had 
passed his fifty-seventh year. He was 
of a good s-tature, but inclined to corpu- 
lency : his features regular, his eyes 



32 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



quick and lively, if a habit of holding his 
mouth somewhat open had not diminish- 
ed the ex[)ression of inlellioence which 
his counieiianee would otherwise have 
conveyed. In his cheeks he had a high 
scorbutic humour, aitrihuled commonly 
to excesses of wine; though it might 
partly arise from violent exercise con- 
stantly taken under a burning sun. Mis 
face, indeed, was nearly as dusky as that 
of a Moor; and at Fez or Mequinez, 
habited in the Turkish dress, with a tur- 
ban on his head, he might easily have 
passed for Muley Isniaei, the sovereiirn 
of Morocco. Never had any Lusitanian 
peasant coarser and darker hands. One 
could not look at him, without recollect- 
ing how near are the shores, and how 
similar are the climates of Portugal and 
of Africa. 

Two passions or pursuits, hunting and 
music, principally occupied his time, ab- 
sorbed his thoughts, and divided his af- 
fections: nor was it easy to decide which 
of them possessed the strongest ascend- 
ant over him. In the former diversion 
he passed the far greater part of the day : 
to the latter amusement his evenings were 
principally or wholly dedicated, either 
in public, when at the opera; or in pri- 
vate wiili his family. No royal house in 
Europe was then so musical as that of 
Portugal. Joseph himself performed 
with considerable execution on the voi- 
lin ; and the three princesses, his daugh- 
ters, all were proticient in a greater or in 
a less degree, on different instruments. 
If he was prevented by the weather from 
going out to the chase, the king had re- 
course for occupation to iiis Manege. 
On Sundays, he seldom or never missed 
attending the Italian opera at Lisbon ; 
but he likewise maintained another opera 
at Belem, his residence near the capital. 
I have been present at this latter perform- 
ance, to which only foreign ministers, 
officers, persons belonging to the citurt, 
and foreigners of condition were admit- 
ted ; all of them gratuitously. The 
house itself was of very contracted di- 
mensions ; the pit not being calculated 
to contain more than about one humlred 
and thirty individuals. Boxes, indeed, 
ill the proper acceptation of the term, 
there were none ; the king, queen, and 
royal family, beini{ seated in a gallery 
fronting the stage elevated considerably 



above the body of the house. One small 
box was constructed on each side; that 
on the right hantl being appropriated to 
the patriarch, or head of the Portuguese 
church, whom I have seen present at the 
performance. Tlie other usually remain- 
ed vacant, being reserved for any stran- 
ger of high rank who might visit Por- 
tug'il. 

The circumstances which distinguished 
this entertainment from any other of the 
same kind which I ever witnessed, and 
which may appear so extraordinary as 
hardly to obtain credit, consisted in the 
total exclusion of women, not only from 
the pit, but from the stage; either as 
spectators, or as actresses. No female 
could obtain admission. The reason 
commonly assigned by the court, for pro- 
scribing the whole sex from any partici- 
pation in an amusement, of which, in all 
other European countries, they constitute 
the principal ornament and the soul ; 
was, that there were no proper places 
for ladies. But, it might have been 
answered, that nothing could be easier 
than to construct side-boxes for their re- 
ception. Even this reason could not 
explain their exclusion from the stage, 
on which none except Italian Castrati 
were ever admitted to sing, or to perform 
any part. Battislini, who filled with 
great distinction the first female charac- 
ters, was selected and engaged, not only 
for his superior vocal excellence, but for 
his feminine appearance and adtnirable 
resemblance to a woman, when he was 
dressed in feniale attire. So complete 
indeed was the deception, that I think it 
never would have occurred to anv unin- 
forined person, to doubt, for an iistant, 
of his being what he personated. Even 
the ballets were all performed by men or 
boys, habited in the costume of nymphs, 
shepherdesses, and goddesses. 'I'liis ex- 
clusion of all females, except the Queen 
and princesses, rendered the spectacle, 
though otherwise magnificent in ma- 
chinery and de.corations, as well as scien- 
tific in point of musical execution, com- 
paratively insipid, dull, and destitute of 
interest or animation. Incredible as it 
may seem, the passion of jealousy con- 
stituted the cause of so singular a prohi- 
bition. The Queen of Portuiral, tliough 
at this time she was considerably ad- 
vanced towards her sixtieth year, yet 



LI 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

♦ 



33 



watched every motion of lier husband, 
with all ilie vigilant anxiety of a young 
woman. And in order the better to se- 
cure his personal fidelity, she wisely 
took care to remove from before his eyes, 
as much as possible, every temptation to 
inconstancy. The ladies in wailing, and 
maids of honour, who attended their ma- 
jesties in pui)lic, must certainly have 
been selected for their want of all attrac- 
tions; and they were, besides, loo far 
advanced in years, to be longer capable 
of inspiring any sentiment except respect. 
The PortUL'uese females who accom- 
panied Callierine of Braganza in 1G02, 
when she came over to England, in order 
to espouse Charles the Second ; whose 
total deficiency in personal charms is so 
eloquently described in the " Memoires 
de Grammont;" could not possibly ex- 
ceed in that particular the attendants on 
Marianna Victoria, wife of Joseph the 
First, 

Nor was her vigilance by any means 
confined to the opera. She displayed 
the same apprehensions, and took similar 
precautions, against any rival or intruder 
in the king's affections, whenever lie 
went out to the chace. Whether the 
diversion was hunting, or shooting, or 
falconing, she was constantly at his side. 
No woman in Europe indeed rode bolder, 
or with more skill. Her figure almost 
defied the powers of description on these 
occasions. She sat astride, as was the 
universal custom in Portugal, and wore 
English leather breeches ; frequently 
black ; over which she threw a petticoat 
which did not always conceal her legs. 
A jacket of cloth, or of stufT, and a cock- 
ed hat, sometimes laced, at other times 
without ornament, completed the mascu- 
line singidarity of her appearance. When, 
after having let loose the falcon, she fol- 
lowed him with her eye in his flight, she 
always threw tlie reins on her horse's 
neck ; allowing him to carry her wherever 
he pleased, fearless of accidents. She 
was admitted to be an excellent shot, 
seldom missing the bird at which she 
fired, even when flying: but this diver- 
sion had nearly produced a most tragical 
result; as, a few years before I visited 
Portugal, she very narrowly missed kill- 
ing the king with a ball, which actually 
grazed his temple. Few princes, in 



modern times, have had more hair- be present incognito. The only devia 



breadth escapes from danger or assassina- 
tion, than Joseph tlie First experienced ; 
on which subject T shall have occasion 
to say much in the course of these ob- 
servations. 

In the year 1772, the court of Lisbon 
offered scarcely any sources of amuse- 
ment to a foreigner. Neither levees, nor 
drawing-rooms were ever held, except 
on birth-days, and on a few particular 
festivals. The king, queen, his brother 
Don Pedro, his three daughters, and the 
young prince of Beyra, lived all under 
the same roof, and inhabited a long 
wooden range of ajjarlments at Belem, 
lower down the bank of the Tagus than 
Lisbon. The terrors and recollection of 
the earthquake of 1755, were so deeply 
impressed on their minds, that they pre- 
ferred residing in a wooden building, 
however mean in its fabrication, or in- 
convenient, rather than encounter the 
perils annexed to a stone edifice. Joseph 
had never slept under a house, properly 
so denominated, during near seventeen 
years. Wherever he moved, either 
wooden barracks or tents were provided 
for his accommodation. I have seen tents 
pitched for liis reception in the fields ad- 
joining the palace of Mafl'ra, while that 
immense and costly edifice was totally 
abandoned, neglected, and unfurnished. 
These precautions, however singular, 
and almost pusillanimous, they may at 
first sight seem, were nevertheless ne- 
cessary in Portugal. Experience had 
fully demonstrated, that the most solid, 
massy, and well-constructed buildings of 
stone, only exposed the inhabitant to 
greater, and more inevitable destruction, 
in the event of an earthquake; because 
the resistance made by such materials 
to the undulation or shock, produced 
their overthrow. On the contrary, any 
structure composed of wood, supported, 
like the barracks inhabited by the royal 
family, on pillars of the same materials ; 
yielding to the concussion of the earth, 
rocked and waved with the convulsion, 
thus escaping its worst eff'ects. 

No splendour or exhibition of state was 
maintained by the King of Portugal, who, 
though he scarcely ever failed to attend, 
wiili the royal family, every week, at 
the bull feasts, and at the Italian opera 
in Lisbon, yet was always understood to 



34 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



tion from this practice or etiquette, took 
place when the court went annually, as 
was tlie invariable custom in lime of 
carnival, about the middle of January, to 
the palace of Salva Tierra, situated 
several leagues higher up theTagus than 
the metropolis. The king remained 
there till the month of March, and all 
the foreign ministers usually attended 
him. Hunting parties, to which strangers 
of condition were admitted, constituted 
the occupation of the day ; followed in 
the evening by an opera, like that of 
Belem, open gratuitously to all such per- 
sons as had been presented to tlie sove- 
reign. I was assured that Joseph 
expended no less a sum than forty thou- 
sand pounds sterling annually on the 
diversion of the opera. Yet he was 
likewise fond of play, and passed much 
time at the card table. Previous to the 
memorable earthquake of 1755, he was 
considered a? temperate, drinking usually 
water at his meals : but, such was the 
effect produced on his mind, and so 
severe the dejection of spirits which he 
experienced, after that awful visitation of 
Providence, that it was a[)prehended his 
health would be seriously afTected by it. 
His physicians prescribed the use of 
wine as necessary to restore his constitu- 
tion ; a prescription which proved so 
agreeable to the patient, that it was com- 
monly believed, his majesty indulged 
himself loo freely in its use. At an 
earlier period of his life, he was supposed 
to have been guilty of excesses of another 
kind, and to have given the queen fre- 
quent occasion for jealousy: nor had 
the partiality of Joseph towards the sex, 
by any means become extinct with the 
decline of years. But his atlarhment or 
amours were always secret, decorous, 
and conducted with a becoming regard to 
public opinion, as well as with a due at- 
tention In his domestic and conjugal feli- 
city. No mistress, like Madame de 
Pompadour, or Madame du Barry in 
France, under Louis the Fifteenth ; or 
Madame Chevalier at Petersburg!), under 
Paul the First, dishonoured and dis- 
graced the court of Portugal. 

Joseph, considered in his kingly cha- 
racter and capacity, though not to be 
ranked among the first princes in vigour 
and ability, who then reigned in Europe, 
was not deficient in talents or qualities 



befitting the throne. If he felt his own 
inability to govern, he demonstrated no 
coniinon discernment and force of mind, 
in the selection of a minister, to whom 
he delegated that office. The Marquis 
de Pombal exercised in fact, all the func- 
tions of the monarchy. He possessed 
nearly as unlimited an ascendant over his 
master, as the cardinal of Lerma did over 
Philip the Third, or the Conde d'Oliva- 
rez over Philip the Fourth, kingof Spain; 
and was accustomed to transact public bu- 
siness with his sovereign, at hours and sea- 
st)ns usually dctlicaied to pleasure or lost 
in sleep. The king very frequently sign- 
ed papers of the greatest consequence 
after midnight, before he retired to rest ; 
at which time the marquis commonly 
wailed on him for the purpose. The he- 
reditary superstition which cliaraclerized 
the house of Braganza, and in the prac- 
tice of which Joseph himself had been 
educated ; which distinguished his father 
John the Fifth, and which survived in 
the present reigning queen, till she be- 
came alienated in mind; by no means 
existed in him. The seizure and expul- 
sion of the Jesuits, a measure of great en- 
ergy, and not unaccompanied with danger, 
sufficiently manifested his superiority to 
the bigotted veneration felt for that order 
of men, among the majority of liis sub- 
jects. If he possessed, himself, no taste 
lor the fine arts, nor evinced any passion 
for learning and polite letters, he at least 
extended protection to their professors. 
During the period of two and twenty 
years that he had then reigned since the 
deceased of John the Fifth, a great and 
salutary change had taken place among 
the Portuguese in all the attainments of 
a civilized people. Establishments for 
ihe education of the young nobility and 
gentry had been founded, which would 
have done honour to Great Britain; and 
which, though originating with the mi- 
nister, yet could only have been fully ac- 
complished by the consent of the sove- 
reign. 

These laudable acts of government 
were nevertheless contrasted with corres- 
ponding defects of administration ; some 
of which might be justly attributed to 
the Marquis de Pombal, while others 
seemed personally to reproach the king. 
The people universally and loudly com- 
plained of oppression. In the royal 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



35 



household, mismanagement prevailed to 
such a degree, thai almost ail the domes- 
tic servants and menial attendants of the 
court, having been unpaid for several 
years, were in the lowest stage of dis- 
tress. The reverse had been the case 
under his predecessor John the Fifth. 
Josepli's revenues were commonly sup- 
ptised to anioiini to two millions sterling, 
while the national expenditure did not 
tisually exceed a moiety of that sum. 
Yet the footmen who followed the royal 
carriages in public were left almost with- 
out the means of even procuring suste- 
nance. I never saw the king and queen 
in any carriage, except a sort of caleche 
or chaise, drawn by two mules of no un- 
common beauty. In this equipage, 
which was nothing less than royal, 
they always attended the bull feasts. 
When her majesty accompanied the prin- 
cesses her daughters, to hear mass, or to 
perform her devotions, at some church in 
the vicinity of Lisi)on, she was drawn in 
a coach, with only a pair of horses of a 
very inferior description, and such a sett 
of harness as we should scarcely consi- 
der to be good enough for a hackney 
coach. About forty horse-guards accom- 
panied them, and they generally distri- 
bute some money to the populace or ra- 
ther the beggars, who assemble in groups 
at the door of the church. 

I went one day to look at the royal 
carriages, kept at Alcantara, about a mile 
out of Lisbon. There were at least thir- 
ty ; some of which had cost, as the peo- 
ple assured me, two hundred thousand 
criisadoes, or twenty thousand pounds 
sterling. They were very magnificent, 
and had all been built either in Rome or 
at Paris. London had not then begun 
to supply the continent with that article 
of luxury. Among the royal carriages, 
I was struck with the coach in which 



modern acceptation of the term, as it was 
capable of containing ten or twelve per- 
sons with the utmost convenience. The 
sides were open ; the windows resem- 
bling the lattices of our farm-houses, di- 
vided into small panes, with casements 
for the admission of air. It was preserv- 
ed with pious veneration, as a monu- 
ment of the emancipation of the king- 
ilom by the first prince of the house of 
Braganza. Henry the Fourth was seated 
in just such another coach when he was 
stabbed by Ravaillac, in the year 1610, 
in the Rue de la Ferronerie, at Paris. 

Joseph the First had twice escaped 
from a similar faie to that of Henry : the 
first time, in 1758 ; and the last, only 
two years before I visited Lisbon. The 
former attempt, which occupies a memo- 
rable place among the tragical events of 
the eighteenth century, may rank with 
Damien's attempt on Louis the Fif- 
teenth's life, in 1755; and with the at- 
tack made in 1771, on Stanislaus, King 
of Poland. I allude to the conspiracy of 
the Duke d'Aveiro, and the Marquis de 
Tavora, in 1758; all the leading particu- 
lars of which I have often heard recount- 
ed by contemporary witnesses. The 
Duke d'Aveiro, whose family name 
was Mascarenhas, descended from Don 
George, a natural son of John the Second, 
King of Portugal, one of the most illus- 
trious princes who has reigned in modern 
ages ; the contemporary of our Henry 
the Seventh ; and to whose exertions we 
owe, in an eminent degree, the discovery 
of a passage to India, round the Cape of 
Good Hope. D'Aveiro's talents appear 
to have been very moderate, and his 
courage very equivocal : but, his temper, 
ferocious, as well as vindictive, rendered 
him capable of embracing the most flagi- 
tious measures for the gratification of his 
revenge. The King of Portugal's escape, 



John the Fourth made his public entry which was altogether fortuitous, resulted 



into the capital, after recovering Portu 
gal from the Spaniards. It nearly real- 
ized the descriptions given us of those 
vehicles, soon after their first appearance 
or invention in the sixteenth century. 
The carriage in question, winch had 
been constructed in 1641, was conse- 
quently above a hundred and thirty years 
old at the lime when I saw it; and 
might more properly be denominated a 
chamber on wheels, than a coach in the 



from the coolness or presence of mind 
manifested by the coachman who drove 
the royal carriage. For, ihis man, find- 
ing that several shots or balls had passed 
through it behind, and not doubling that 
Joseph was wounded ; instead of pro- 
ceeding forward, immediately turned 
round his mules, and took the road that 
led to the house of the king's surgeon. 
By this sudden and unexpected manoeuvre, 
Joseph avoided falling into the hands 



36 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



of four other armed parlies of conspira- 
tors, who were posted at different places, 
where it was known he mnslpass in his 
way to the palace. 

A woman, the old Marchioness of 
Tavora, formed the soul of this sanofui- 
nary enterprise, whicli conducted the 
principal persons engaged in it to a cruel 
and ignominious death. Revenge, lieight- 
ened by personal enmity towards the 
king and the first minister, who had re- 
fused to raise the Marquis of Tavora to 
the dignity of a duke ; rather than any 
well ascertained intention, or expectation 
of subvening the government, and de- 
throning the Braganza family ; seem to 
have stimulated the con-piralors to so 
atrocious an undertaking. Precisely 
similar motives impelled the late Duke of 
Orleans, to produce those cofu motions, 
which eventually overturned the French 
throne, and led to the horrors of the re- 
volution. It was not, in the first instance, 
ambition, or the hope of reigning, so 
much as personal hatred and revenge. 
The late Duke of Dorset, who, from the 
situation that he occupied during several 
years, as embassador to the court of Ver- 
sailles, had opportunities of obtaining the 
most authentic information, has many 
times assured me of this fact. He knew 
it from Marie Antoinette herself. She 
constituted the principal object of the 
Duke of Orleans's detestation, whose ma- 
lignity was not so much levelled against 
Louis the Sixteenth, as against the 
Queen. That princess had given him 
many causes of aversion ; one of which 
consisted in endeavouring successfully to 
prevent tlie marriage of his daughter, 
Mademoiselle d'Orleans, with the Duke 
d'Angouleme. Marie Antoinette natu- 
rally wished to unite her own daughter 
in marriage with the yoing prince, as she 
thereby secured to her the succession to 
the throne of France, in case Louis the 
Sixteenth should not leave behind him 
any son. Tlie Duke of Dorset told me, 
that, as early as 17S6, or 1787, tlie 
Queen has said to him, on her seeing 
the Duke of Orleans at Versailles, " Mon- 
sieur le Due, rogardez ceite homme la. 
II me (letesle, et il a jure ma perle. J(; 
la vols dans ses yeux, toutes les fois 
qu'il me fixe. II ne sera jamiis content, 
jusqu'a ce qu'il me voii etendue morte a 
ses pieds." He lived in fact to witness 



her tragical end. but he survived her 
only a very short time. I return from 
this digression to the Portuguese conspi- 
rators. They executed their attempt, 
like inen destitute of courage : for, if the 
first band, who intercepted tlie king on 
his return from Belem, had fired into the 
carriage as he advanced, instead of wait- 
ing, as they did, till he had passed, be- 
fore they discharged their pieces, he 
must have fallen. The ball with which 
he was wounded, passed between his 
side and his arm, tearing the fiesh of 
both, but without inflicting any severe 
wound. 

The consternation excited by the at- 
tempt, was augmented by the obscurity 
in which it was studiously enveloped; 
the court remaining for some weeks in 
total ignorance of the authors of the con- 
spiracy ; as the conspirators did, on the 
other hand, in equal uncertainty respect- 
ing the nature and consequence of the 
king's wounds. It is a fact, that the 
Duke d'Aveiro and the Marquis of Ta- 
vora repaired almost daily to the king's 
apartment, to make their inquiries in per- 
son after his health, expressing the utmost 
abhorrence at the treason. They were 
even admitted to his presence; but in a 
chamber intentionally kept so dark as 
to render it impossible for them to as- 
certain the probability of his recovery. 
Meanwhile the vigilance of the Marquis 
de Ponibil, aided, as is said, by some im- 
prudentex[)rcssions of the Duke d'Aveiro, 
enabled the ministers to trace, and ascer- 
tain, the guilt of the conspirators. They 
were then arrested and brought to trial. 
The Duke d'Aveiro, the Marquis of 
Tavora, and his two sons, were broken 
on the wheel; while the old marchioness 
who, in consideration of her sex, was 
sentenced lo be beheaded, ascended the 
scaffold with a firm step, betraying nei- 
ther fear nor coiurilion, and laid down 
her head on the block, as she would have 
done on a pillow. 

Haughty and imperious in her charac- 
ter, she was restrained by no considera- 
tions of pity or of humanity, when her 
vengeance, her ambition, or her interest * 
impelled her. (he meetings of the con- ; 
spirators were frequently held in a sum- 
mer house, situate in the garden of the 
Marquis of Tavora's palace at Lisbon, 
with which it was connected by a long ; 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



37 



wooden galler)^ II happened lliat a 
young Porliigiiese lady, of noble exlrac- 
lion, but ol' lediiced circumstances, wlio 
lived in the marchioness's family, as her 
companion ; surprised at observing lights 
one evening in lliis summer house, and 
although wiiliout suspicion of the cause 
was attracted by curiosity to approach 
the place. As she advanced along the 
gallery that led to it, she heard voices in 
earnest conversation; and on coming 
nearer, soon distinguished that of the 
marchioness, who seemed to be anima- 
ted by some cause, to a pilch of uncom- 
mon violence. She listened for a few se- 
conds; and tiien apprehensiveof being dis- 
covered in sui.'h a situation, she was about 
to return from whence she came, when 
the door sutldcnly opening, the marchio- 
ness herself appeared, 'i'heir surprise 
was mutual ; and the latter demanded, 
with much agitation, what cause had 
brought her to liiat place? She answer- 
ed that her astonishment at observing 
lights in the summer house, had led her 
to ascertain the reason. " You have 
then, no doubt," said the marchioness, 
"overheard our conversation?" The 
young lady protested that she was per- 
fectly ignoranl of any part of it ; and that 
as soon as she distinguished the marchio- 
ness's voice, her respect led her to re- 
turn to the pjlace, which she was about 
to do at the moment when the door open- 
ed. But the n)an:hioness, who had too 
much at slake to be so easily satisfied or 
deceived, assuming a tranquil air, and af- 
fecting to repose a confidence in her, 
"The marquis and I," rejoined she, 
*' have had a serious and a violent quar- 
rel, during the course of which, he had 
the rudeness lo contradict me in the most 
insulting manner; and he even carried 
his audacity to such a point, as to give 
me the lie. 1 burst out of .the room, un- 
able to restrain my indignation, and no 
longer mistress of my emotions. Did 
you not hear him give me the lie at the 
time I opened the door?" " I did, ma- 
dam," imprudently replied the unfortu- 
nate lady. Aware from that instant, that 
the nature of their meeting, and of the 
subjects agilalctl at it, was now in some 
measure discovered, she instantly deter- 
mined lo prevent the possibility of its 
being further divulL'^ed. Next morning, 
the bodv of the uiiiurlunate listener was 



found in one of" the streets of Lisbon, 
wrapt in a sheet, scarcely cold, and the 
blof)d still oozing from various wounds 
indicted on her with a dagger. It was 
universally believed at the time, that she 
had been put lo death by secret directions 
issued from the palace of Tuvora ; but 
the power of that great family, and the 
frequency of similar spectacles in the 
Portuguese capital, silenced all judicial 
inquiry into the causes of her tragical end. 
The marchioness expiated her crime on 
the scaffold. Her daughter-in-law, the 
young marchioness of Tavorn alone, who 
was daughter to ihe Duke d'Aveiro; ex- 
empted from the general destruction of 
her family, either on account of her pre- 
sumed innocence, or as was pretended 
by others, from motives of private par- 
tiality on the part of the king, was im- 
mured in a convent. She was, I believe, 
still living in 1772, under confinement. 

The second altempt made on Joseph's 
life, arose from the irritated feelings of a 
poor Portuguese peasant. This man, 
driven to despair by the conduct of the 
king's domestic servants, who had forci- 
bly seized on his carts and cattle ; rush- 
ed furiously on his majesty as he was 
going out to hunt, and aimed a blow with 
a long pole at his head, which narrowly 
missed him. It happened at the palace 
of Villa Viciosa, the ancient patrimonial 
residence of the Dukes of Braganza, 
where the king used sometimes to repair 
for a short time. The peasant was not 
executed, but still remained, as common 
rumour asserted, in a dungeon at Belem, 
when I was in Portugal. Two such at- 
tacks, though of very opposite kinds, 
yet had rendered Joseph timid, and in- 
duced him 10 take many precautions for 
his preservation against similar efforts of 
private vengeance, or of treason. Even 
at the Italian opera in Lisbon, which he 
scarcely ever failed to attend, yet when 
he went, as was his custom between the 
acts, from the royal box in front of the 
stage, to a Side box, from whicii he view- 
ed tlie bullets, he always passed through 
a close passage, well secured, construct- 
ed on purpose, with a view to protect his 
person I'rom any act of violence. 

Marianna Victoria, Queen of Portugal 
and wife of Joseph, was a daughter of 
Philip the Fifdi, Kingof Spain, by. Eliza- 
beth Farnese, his second wife, heiress of 



38 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



that celebrated family, antl herself a wo- 
man of no ordinary talents. Tiie princess 
in question had been, as is well known, 
betrothed, when a child, to Louis the Fif- 
teenth ; was sent to France, and resided 
in that country durina; several years : but 
on the death of the Recent Duke of Or- 
leans, in December, 1723, wiien the go- 
vernment fell into the hands of the Duke 
(!e Bourbon; one of the earliest acts of 
his admiuisiration was to dissolve lite 
unfinished marriage, and to send the 
princess h-ic.k to Madrid. In the year 
1729, when she was not more than eleven, 
she was carried by her father Philip, to 
Badajoz, and there married to Joseph, 
then heredilary Prince of Portugal, who 
himself had not attained his fourteenth 
year, 'i'he nuptials were immediately 
solemnized; the bride and bridegroom 
being put into the same bed together, in 
presence of tiie great officers of the court ; 
but it was near six years afterwards, in 
December, 1734, before she brought 
into the world a daughter, the present 
queen 

Marianna Victoria was said to have 
been very agreeable in her person, when 
young ; hut in 1772, no traces remained 
of that beauty. Her figure was short 
and thick, her face red, her nose large, 
and her manner destitute of softness or 
elegance. There was indeed nothing 
feminine in her appearance or demeanour. 
Nevertheless, her eyes, which were dark, 
lively and piercing, retained their origi- 
nal lustre. Slie wore a profusion of rouge; 
her neck and shoulders, whether at 
church, at ihe opera, or at a btdl feast, 
being always bare; and slie seemed to 
be not only in possession of health, but 
capable of supporting the roughest cxer- 
<!i3e, or most severe latigue. Her arm? 
were brown and sun-burnt, from her per- 
petually following the chase. Tho.-e 
persons who knew her majesty well, al- 
ways assured me tfiat she neither want- 
ed spirit nor ability, though she never at- 
tempted to possess power, rmr had ever 
altained ai'.y pidilical influence. All her 
anxiety seemed to be confined to the per- 
son of her royal partner, and did not ex- 
tend to the guidance of state affairs. If 
any opinion might be formed of her re- 
ligion, froin her behaviour at mass, she 
vvas assuri'dly no biifot. I was accus- 
tomed to frcqaer.t, from motives of curi- 



osity, the church of the Necessidadas, 
and that of St. Francisco da Paola, where 
she constantly attended, with the prin- 
cesses, her daughters ; and I may truly 
assert, that I never saw any woman vvho 
manifested so little attention while at her 
devotions. 

Of a widely different character from 
her mother in that respect, was the Prin- 
cess of Brazil, Maria, eldest of the three 
daughters of Joseph, and presumptive 
heiress to tiie crown of Portugal. In 
her, a gloomy and severe spirit of super- 
stition formed the predominant feature. 
Her mind was said to be deeply impress- 
ed with the tragical catastrophe of the 
Duke d'Aveiro and his associates, whose 
fate she was believed to lament, as hav- 
ing been unmerited or unjust. To her 
reflections upon those terrible executions 
heightened by the remonstrances or re- 
proaches of her confessor, has been in- 
deed generally attributed the subsequent 
alienation of her understanding. In her 
person, she was taller than either of her 
sisters, as well as thinner ; of a pale and 
wan complexion, that seemed to indicate 
melancholy ; her features prominent^ 
strong and altogether destitute of any at- 
tractions. In all the duties and depart- 
ments of private life, she was exemplary. 
Married to her uncle, only brother to the 
king, they exhibited a model of nuptial 
felicity. The union, however repugnant 
to our modes of thinking, and in some 
measure contrary to nature, yet had been 
fruitful : tliey had then two sons and a 
daughter living. Tiie desire of prevent- 
ing :iny possibility of a disputed succes- 
sion, between the collateral male heir to 
the throne, and the female in direct de- 
scent, dictated this species of incestuous 
marriage ; which, whatever sanction it 
may derive from antiquity, among the 
Ptolemies, or the Seleucidcc, and even 
among the Caosars, can plead no parallel 
among the other royal houses of modern 
Europe. It forms not the least singular 
circumstance of the transaction, that st> 
far from any compulsion having been 
used to accoiuplish it, the princess, from 
her early youth, entertained a strong 
partiality and attachment towards Don 
Pedro, her future hus'iand. She was 
near thirty-eight years old when 1 visited 
Portugal. 

All the talents of the female pari of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



39 



iheBraganza family, were said to be 
concenlraled in Donna Maria Anna, se- 
cond of Josepii's dangluers. Siiorier 
and thicker in her person than the Prin- 
cess of Brazil, she was more agreeable 
in her counlenance ; possessing a ruddy 
complexion, as well as a more aninialeil 
expression of features. Her mind was 
likewise expanded, and her understand- 
ing cultivated by polite knowledge. 
Many of her hours were dedicated to read- 
ing, and she was regarded as superior to 
bigotry. In addition to these solid en- 
dowments, she joined great taste and 
skill in music, with a fine voice. Though 
llie most accomplished of the three 
sisters, she was nevertheless doomed to 
remain unmarried in her father's court, 
having attained, in 1772, her thirty-sixth 
year. Nature had been in some respects 
more bountiful to the third princess, 
Donna Maria Benedicta, who was like- 
wise considerably younger, being only 
six and twenty years old at this time. 
Though low in stature, clumsy, and 
much inclined to embonpoint, her fare 
was very handsome, her eyes dark and 
eloquent, her complexion fair, tlie fon- 
lourof her countenance rather round than 
oval, and her features small as well as 
delicate. But she was not consider- 
ed to possess the superiority of mind 
that distinguished Maria Anna. About 
seven years before the time of vvliich 
1 speak, a treaty of marriage had been 
set on foot between this princess and 
tlie Emperor .Foseph the Second, who 
was then recently become a widower, 
by the death of his first wife, a daughter 
of Don Philip, Duke of Parma. The ne- 
gotiation proceeded so far, that prepara- 
tions were made for transporting her from 
Lisbon to Flanders, in her way to Vien- 
na; and a ship, constructed expressly for 
the purjiose in the Braz'ils, magnificently 
decorated, lay ready in the Tagus. But 
the intrigues and exertions of the old 
Queen Dowager of Spain, mother of 
Charles the Third, and grandmother of 
the princess herself; who was incens- 
ed at the endeavours of the Marquis 
de Pombal, to assume the exclusive merit 
of tills alliance, rendered the plan abor- 
tive. 

It is probable, and I have been so as- 
sured at Vienna, that the pretext used to 
indispose the Austrian court from accom- 



plishing the projected nuptials, was the 
representation made of the improbability 
of Maria Benedicta producing children, 
on account of her tendency to become 
large and corpulent in her person, in- 
credible and unnatural as the fact may 
seem, she was actually married several 
years afterwards, in 1777, when turned 
of thirty years of age, to her own ne[)hew, 
her sister's son, the young Prince of 
Beyra, eventual heir to the throne of Por- 
tugal. The cereniony was performed in 
Joseph's apartments, as he lay expiring ; 
and they lived together many years, but 
never had any issue. There seems t.o 
have been no rational excuse, or ade- 
quate motive assigned, for this second 
union in the same family, which Impres- 
ses with a degree of horror, or at least 
of disgust; and was in itself the more 
remarkable, as the Portuguese women of 
condition seldom bear children if not 
married before twenty-eight or thirty 
years of age. Catherine of Portugal, 
daujfhler ol' .If)hn the Fourth, who was 
the wife of our Charles the Second, and 
who espoused him at an earlier age, I 
believe about twenty-four, never brought 
him any issue, male or female; butBur- 
nel says, that the king himself told him 
(Dr. Burnet), that "she had been with 
child." Slie even once miscarried, when 
considerably advanced in her pregnancy, 
if we may believe the same historical 
authority ; but as Charles had no fewer, 
it is asserted (I think l)y Dr. Lucas, in 
his iiistory of England), than fifty-ihree 
natural children, by different mistresses, 
in the course of his life, we must sup- 
pose that his failure of iegiiimate issue 
originated on the side of his queen. Some 
.excuse may be susrgested for the mar- 
rige of the eldest daughter of Joseph, 
with his brother Don Pedro, where no 
direct male issue existed to inherit the 
crown ; but it was reserved for the fami- 
ly of Braganza to exhibit to mankind, in 
the eighteenth century, the extraordinary 
spectacle of a youth of fifteen espousinjr 
his own aunt at thirty. From such a ma- 
trimonial connexion, it can neither excite 
surprise nor regret, that no descendants 
should have sprung. 

The Prince of Beyra himself, eldest 
son of the Princess of Brazil and of Don 
Pedro, was then the Marcelhis of Por- 
tugal ; towards whom all eyes were turn- 



40 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ed, and from wliose future auspicious 
government, political miracles were fond- 
ly anticipated. It may excite the more 
surpri:?e lliat such expectations should 
have been entertained when I add, tlial 
in 1772, he had only completed the 
eleventh year of his age. I have seen 
him many times, as he never failed to 
attend the royal family in public, at the 
bull feasts, at church, and every where 
except at the Italian opera ; a diversion 
for which he manifested a decided aver- 
sion. He was tall and manly for his 
age, though his face was pale and delicate; 
and he appeared to have a weak or de- 
fective sight. His features and his ex- 
pression of countenance, it must be ad- 
mitted, indicated intelligence. The sto- 
ries related of his capacity and dawning 
expansion of mind, had obtained very 
universal credit. Some well attested in- 
.siances of the goodness of his disposition 
and the liberality of his temper, 1 have 
heard, which seems to be entitled to be- 
lief: but no sort of inference as to his 
future character, could be safely drawn 
from these tales. Joseph the First, dur- 
ing the reign of his father, had excited 
similar expectations, which he had by 
no means fnKilled after he ascended the 
throne. His grandson, who was like- 
wise named Joseph, died at about twen- 
ty-seven years of age, in 1788, of the 
small-pox, which the bigoted prejudices 
and ignorance of his mother, had pre- 
vented her from giving him by inocula- 
tion ; leaving, as I before observed, no 
issue by his aunt to. whom he had been 
married during several years. 

With Don Pedro, father and great 
uncle to the Prince of Beyra, I shall con- 
clude my remarks on the royal house of 
Portugal. He was several years younger 
than the king; but., not inclined, like 
Joseph, to corpulency ; of a sallow com- 
plexion ; equally destitute in his person, 
as in his manners and address, of ele- 
gance or grace ; and no way distinguish- 
ed by natural endowinents of any kind. 
He excelled in no exercises of the body; 
and possessed in his features no expres- 
sion of intellect. His faculties, which 
were indeed very con traded, rendered 
him altogether unfit for the conduct of 
public affairs. Possessing neither poli- 
tical power nor intliience, he could only 
be considered as a fixture of the court ; 



and never was any prince a more perfect 
cypher. He enjoyed no command, mili- 
tary or civil ; not even a separate esta- 
blishment or household. When the king 
hunted, Don Pedro accompanied him, as 
he equally did to the opera, or to mass ; 
never absenting himself except on ac- 
count of indisposition. He had con- 
structed a palat.-e at Cayluze, about six 
English miles from Lisbon ; but Don 
Pedro never resided there, though he 
frequently attended his brother to the 
chace ; commonly alighting on those oc- 
casions for a few minutes, in order to 
hear mass at Cayluze. 'i'hose who knew 
him intimately, assured me that he was 
of a devout, friendly, and benevolent 
disposition. On Joseph's decease, in 
February, 1777, when his consort, the 
Princess of Brazil, became Queen in 
her own right, he was made king matri- 
monial, by the name of Don Pedro the 
Third ; as Henry, Lord Darnley, be- 
came in Scotland, on his marriage with 
Mary Stuart. Don Pedro survived his 
elder broilier above nine years, dying in 
May, 1786. 

The public entertainment or exhibition 
which then distinguished Lisbon from 
all other capitals of Europe, was the 
celebration of bull feasts. They were 
held every Sunday, during the summer 
and autumn. I have been present at 
many ol them. However barbarous the 
diversion might justly be esteemed, it is 
the only spectacle that I ever witnessed, 
which could be said to realize in some 
measure, ihe ainphitheatrical games of 
ancient Rome, exhibited in the circus. 
They were already extinct in Spain, 
where Charles the Third had abolished 
them, on his ascending the throne in 
1759. Joseph and the queen his wife, 
on the contrary, nourished the strongest 
partiality, or rather decided passion, for 
these games of Moresco origin ; which 
they never failed to attend, unless pre- 
vented by illness. I have seen the king 
present there, though one of his eyes 
was svvelled and bandaged; caused by 
the effect of a spark that had down into 
it from the fiint of his fowling piece, 
when lirinir it at the chace. Those per- 
sons who have formed iheir ideas of bull 
feasts, from the entertaining descriptions 
of the Countess d'Aulnoi, which she has 
enlivened by amorous, as well as by 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



41 



armed witli long spears. I have seen 
women engage ihe bull, ride up, and 
wound him. Two in particular, who 
were danccrinas, or posuire-girls ; one, 
a Venetian, the other, a Spaniard, habit- 
ed as men, and sitting astride, possessed 
great firmness, and excited general admi- 
ration. Sometimes the bulls were fur- 
nished by the court. 1 have beheld 
twenty killed in the course of three 
hours : eight of which were given by the 
king, as many more by Don Pedro his 
brother, two by the Duke de Cadaval, 
and two (howeversingnlar it may seem), 
by the patriarch of Lislion. After having 
witnessed several of these exhibitions, I 
confess that 1 became disgusted with 
them. The most interesting part of the 
spectacle consisted in the assemblage of 
spectators, particularly ladies, who filled 
the boxes. Even the seats in the pit 
were generally crowded with females. 
'J'he queen and her three daugliters, 
never failed to attend in the royal box; 
though they were considered to be there 
incognito. However barbarous the diver- 
sion must be regarded, it always remind- 
ed me of Milton's description of the 
entertainmeuis, 

" Where throngs of knights and barons bold 
In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold ; 
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes 
Rain inflaonce, and judge the prize." 

As soon as the bull feast ended, which 
was commonly about six o'clock, the 
king, queen, and royal family imme- 
diately rep-iired to the Italian opera,' 
which was situate at a very inconsidera- 
ble distance in the same quarter of fjis- 
bon. Such was the invariable usage or 
etiquette every Sunday. Yet there, as 
at the bull feast, though seated in the 
front of the theatre, they were supposed 
to preserve their incognito. Joseph's 
dress on these occasions was always a 
full-trimmed suit of silk, or of cloth ; 
either quite plain, or embroidered with 
white silk ; the sumjjtuary laws of Por- 
tugal prohibiting embroiilery of gold or 
silver. He wore a flowing tye-wig, as 
we see George the Siicmid representeil 
in all his pnriraits : and the Portuguese 
Order of Christ., across his breast. The 



tragical adventures; and which were 
written at Madrid, under the reign of 
Charles the Second, last prince of the 
Austrian line, in 1679 and 1680 ; would 
have esteemed the diversion lame, as it 
was exhibited at Lisbon, liefore Joseph 
the First. Yet was it not altogether 
divested of something that reminded 
me of the tournaments and exercises of 
chivalry, with which our imaginations 
are so warmly impressed in youth. The 
Portuguese bull feasts were celebrated in 
a large wooden amphitheatre, capable of 
commodiously containing many thou- 
sand persons ; surrounded with benches 
below, to a considerable height, which 
were surmounted by tiers of boxes. The 
arena was very ample and spacious. 
When the champion, vvho was about to 
engage the bulls, g-ily dressed, mounted 
on a spirited horse, a spear in his hand, 
appeared upon the ground, and saluted 
the corporation of Lisbon, as was the 
custom, the eflect of the spectacle is not 
easy to describe in adequate, terms. 
From sixteen to twenty bulls were re- 
gularly sacrificed every Sunday ; and 
though circular pieces of leather were 
fastened on their horns, in order to pre- 
vent their ripping up or mortally wound- 
ing the combatants, yet I have witnessed 
many very severe and several nearly 
fatal accidents. Prodigious dexterity, 
vigour, and address, were displayed by 
some of the horsemen : particularly by 
a Castilian, who generally made his ap- 
pearance, and whom I have often seen 
drive his spear, at the first thrust, direct 
into the bull's tieart, when the animal 
was running furiously at liim. 'J'he 
a!n[)liiiheatre then rang with applauses. 
It frequently happened that the bulls 
wanted spirit or inclination for liie con- 
test. In those cases, the spectacle be- 
came rather a butchery, than a combat, 
or an amusement: but, some of them 
would nut b.ave disgraced a Roman 
amphitheatre, if (as I have been assured 
was customary, a century earlier), their 
horns, instead of being blunted or cover- 
ed, had been filed and sharpened to a 
point. Several of the men who fought 
on foot, exhibited extraordinary aijiliiy 
and coolness in eluding the rage of l!ie 
incensed animal ; but it must at the same I queen and princesrics were covered wiih 
timo be remembered, that they were diamonds ; in particular, the Princess of 
coinmnnly six or seven combined, ail i Brazil; but the queen alone wore routfe, 
4* ' 



42 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



from the use of which her daughter - ab- 
stained. During the course of the per- 
formance, iiis majesty never failed to go 
round to his private box, close to the 
stage, in order to view the ballets, after 
each of which he returned to the royal 
family. On these lilUe excursions, 
which he always seemed to enjoy, and 
during which he generally made the besi 
use of his time, with his opera glass, in 
contemplating the female jiart of the au- 
dience who filled the side-boxes, several 
noblemen accompanied him. The Count 
de Prado alone possessed the privilege of 
being seated when attending the sove- 
reign ; a mark of distinguished regard 
and predilection. To him Joseph ap- 
peared to communicate all his confiden- 
tial discourse, while the oilier individuals 
ill altendance remained standing behind 
him. Even the Duke de Cadaval, though 
the sole person of thai iiigh rank in the 
kingdom of Portugal ; there being no 
other since the extinction of the dukedom 
of Aveiro ; yet was never permilled to 
sit down in company with the king. 
After the Count de Pr;ulo, the two Counts 
of Canlineida, and of Arcos, both sons of 
the Marquis de Marialva, wLiose name 
always brought Gil Bias before my ima- 
gination ; enjoyed, in 1772, the highest 
place in Joseph's [)ersoaal favour. The 
former, I mean the Count de Canlineida, 
was ihe only nobleman in the kingdom, 
allowed by a special grace of the crown, 
to drive in a coach and six, with which 
equipage the king himself had presented 
him. 

The memorable earthquake of the first 
of November, 1755, had impressed on 
almost every part of Lisbon the most 
awful traces of its existence and ravages 
at liie lime when I visited that capital. 
Many edifices still remained exactly in 
the condition that they were left by it; 
presenting such scenes of devastation 
and destruction, as would then have been 
vainly sought for elsewhere in any 
part of Europe. Among them, the an- 
cient palace of the dukes of Braganza, 
which was built on a commanding emi- 
nence, ill the centre of the metropolis ; 
and the cathedral of Lisbon stood con- 
spicuous. Both these majesiic structures 
hourly threatened to crush the tenant, or 
tlie devotee, who ventured to enter them. 
Yet the former pile was inhabited by 



various families or individuals, who, 
pressed by necessity, sought shelter un- 
der the tollering roof; and superstition 
or devotion had consecrated chapels in 
the latter, amidst the ruins of altars and 
domes, where masses were daily cele- 
brated. I was peculiarly led to visit the 
cathedral, by the hope of finding the 
tomb of Camoens, the celebrated Portu- 
guese poet, whose body, as I had been 
assured, was there interred. But, I could 
discover no proofs of any such inter- 
ment, though I made every inquiry; and 
I have reason to believe, after all the re- 
searches in my power, that as he unques- 
tionably expired in a public hospital, of 
a disease which, from its contagious na- 
ture, resembled the plague, he was 
thrown into a common grave, with a 
number of other dead bodies. It is cer- 
tain thai no monument was ever erected 
to his memory. 

A striking, and a melancholy confor- 
mity exists betvveen the destiny of the 
two most illustrious men of genius, whom 
Spain and Portugal have produced in 
motlern ages. I mean, Cervantes and 
Camoens : a conformity which reflects 
no honour on those countries, nor on the 
sovereigns and ministers who ihus aban- 
doned them to the rigors of adversity. 
Both served on the expeditions under- 
taken against the Mahometans, in the 
capacity of private soldiers ; and both 
were wounded. Camoens lost an eye, 
before the town ofc Centa in Morocco ; 
and Cervantes lost his left hand, at the 
celebrated naval battle of Lepanto, gained 
by Don John of Austria in 1571, over the 
Turks. Each of them underwent capti- 
vity, shipwreck, and all the calamities of 
atlverse Ibrtune. Returning to tlieir na- 
tive country, both were admired and de- 
serted. John the Third and Sebastian, 
kings of Portugal, seem to have done 
as litile to ameliorate the condition of 
Camoens, as Pliilip the Second and 
Thiril, the sovereigns of Spain, did for 
Cervantes. Each of them attained to an 
advanced age, amidst the pressure of 
diseases, penury, and privations. Ca- 
mijens breathed his last at Lisbon, in 
1579, at about sixty-two years of age, in 
an hos()ital ; reproaching his countrymen, 
as is asserted, for their cruel neglect. 
Cervantes, extenuated by the progress of 
a dropsy, which was rentlered more 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



43 



severe by want, preserver] his constitu- 
tional gaiety of disposition, down to the 
last moments of his existence ; expired 
at the age of sixty-nine, it may be ahnost 
said, with the pen in liis hand ; and 
seemed to triumpli over dis-^olution, by 
the elasticity and energy of his mind. 
He died at Madrid, in IGlO; a year 
memorable in the annals of genius, as it 
likewise deprived the world of Sliaks- 
peare ! The author of the " Lusiad," 
and the writer of " Don Quixote," were 
botli thrown into the ground, without 
even tiie decencies of an ordinary funeral; 
nor can the spot where either ol their re- 
mains are deposited, be even ascertained 
at the present time. It is impossible to 
consider these facts without emotions of 
mingled concern and indignation. Yet, 
Dante, Tasso, and Galileo, among the 
Italians ; Spenser, Olway, and Chatter- 
ton, among us, ap[)ear to have expe- 
rienced .scarcely a milder fate. 

If I could not discover the place of 
Camoens interment, I at least found out 
the grave and tombstone of the author of 
" Tom Jones." Fielding, who termina- 
ted his life, as is well known, at Lisbon, 
in 1754, of a complication of disorders, 
at little more than forty-seven years of 
age, lies buried in the cemetery appro- 
priated to the English factory. I visited 
his grave, which was already nearly con- 
cealed by weeds and nettles. Though he 
did not suffer the extremity of distress, 
under which Camoens and Cervantes 
terminated their lives ; yet his extrava- 
gance, a quality so commonly character- 
istic of men distinguished by talents, 
embittered the eveningof his days. Field- 
ing, Richardson, and Le Sage, seem to 
have attained the highest eminence in 
that seductive species of writing, un- 
known to antiquity, which we denomi- 
nate novels. Crebillon, Marivaux, and 
Smollet, only occupy the second place. 
Voltaire and Rousseau, however beauti- 
ful may be their cou)posiiions in this 
line, are rather satirical or philosophical 
moralists, than writers of novels. " Don 
Quixote" is a work sui generis, and not 
amenable to ordinary rules. " Gil Bias" 
seems to stand alone, and will probabl}' 
be read wiih avidity in every age and 
every country. Though the scene lies 
in Spain, and the characters are Spa- 
niards, the manners are universal ; and 



are true to nature equally in Madrid, in 
Paris, or in London. Richardson and 
Fielding are more national, and cannot 
be read with the same delight on the 
banks of the Seine, or of ilie Tyber, as 
on those of the Thames; though the 
former writer transports us to Bologna, 
in his Sir Charles Grandison. Field- 
ing never attempts to carry us out of 
England, and iiis actors are all Aborigines. 
Foreigners neither can taste iiis works, 
nor will he ever allain to the fame of 
Richardson, beyond the limits of his 
own country. Cleraeyiiina ^ni\ Clarissa 
will penetrate, where Sophia ff'eslern 
and Parson Adams never can be known 
or appreciated. Joseph Jlndrews and 
Amelia may be considered, in point of 
composition, to Fielding, what Pamela 
is to Richardson. 

The late Alderman Cadell, who was 
one of the most intelligent, honourable, 
and superior men of his profession ; told 
me that his predecessor, Alillar, the 
bookseller, bought Fielding's Amelia of 
the author; giving him for the copy- 
right, eight hundred pounds ; a great 
sum at that lime. After making the pur- 
chase, Millar showed the manuscript to 
Sir Andrew Mitchell, who subsequeiilly 
hlled the post of British minister at Ber- 
lin : requesting to have his opinion of 
the work. Sir Andrew observed to him, 
that it bore the indelible marks of Field- 
ing's genius, and was a fine performance; 
but, nevertheless, far beneath " Tom 
Jones ;" finally advising him to get rid 
of it as soon as he could. Millar did not 
neglect the counsel, though lie was too 
able a man to divulge the opinion deli- 
tered by his friend. On the contrary, 
at the lirst sale which he made to the 
Trade, he said, ''Gentlemen, I have 
several works to put up, for which I 
shall be glad j/ you will bid : but, as to 
Amelia, every copy is already bespoke." 
This inanojuvre had its effect. All the 
booksellers were anxious to get their 
names put down for copies of it, and the 
edition, though very large, was imme- 
diately sold. 

All the most interesting particulars of 
the earthquake of 1755, have been re- 
counted to me by many of those persons 
who shared in, and survived llie horrors 
of that calamitous day, on which near 
forty thousand persons were believed to 



44 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



have perished. They agreed, that if it 
had taken place in the middle of the 
night, vviien the fires were in general 
exiinguisiied, and when the darkness 
would have prevented the greater part of 
the inhabitants from quitting tiieir houses 
before day-break ; not a fourth part of 
the lives would have been lost, nor de- 
struction have followed. Prodigious 
numbers were swept off from theQuays, 
by the sudden rise of the Tagus; and 
the conflagration which succeeded the 
earthquake, spread even greater devasta- 
tion than did lliat convulsion of nature. 
The first shock, which came on about 
forty minutes after nine in the morning, 
seemed to be horizontal in its direction 
or movement: but the second shock was 
perpendicular or vertical ; throwing up 
the pavement of the streets to the height 
of forty and fifty feel into the air. Near 
an hour intervened between the two con- 
cussions. 'I'lie king, queen, and royal 
family, by good fortune, were not at the 
palace in Lisbon, but at Belem, which 
stands near two miles lower down, on 
the same side of the river. As the apart- 
ments which they inhabited, were all 
built on the ground, his majesty leaped 
out of the window of his chamber into 
the garden, on first perceiving the shock ; 
while the three princesses, his daughters, 
who were either not yet risen, or not 
dressed, followed him, wrapped in ttie 
bed-clothes. 

Lisbon has, in all ages, been subject 
to the awful visitation and ravages uf 
earlliquiikes. History commemorates 
several, during the lapse of the last 
six centuries, which have successively 
laid that capital in ruins, and buried or 
ingulphed a large part of the population. 
The most destructive earthquake known 
in modern times, previous to the year 
1755, happened in February, 1522, soon 
after the decease of Emanuel, in the first 
year of the reign of his son, John the 
Third. The concussions of the earth 
then lasted during eight days ; but do 
not appear to liave produced a conflagra- 
tion as ruinous or extensive as that which 
took place under Joseph ; though more 
than fifteen hundred houses, besides 
churches, palaces, and public edifices, of 
every kind, were destroyed. Thirty 
thousand persons perished in Lisbon 
alone ; while Santarem, Almerin, and 



many other places, were swallowed up, 
together with their inhabitants. John 
the Third, his queen, and the royal 
family, were compelled to encamp in the 
fields, under tents, just as Joseph did in 
November, 1755. Great as these con- 
vulsions of nature were, they may never- 
theless be esteemed slight, both in their 
extent and in their effects, if compared 
with those which desolated Calabria, in 
more recent periods, as late as the year 
1783. 

It is evident that the earthquake of 
1755 ran in a kind of vein, principally 
ravai^ing a circle or space of about four 
to five miles ; which was reduced to a 
state of de.solation, by the fire that fol- 
lowed it. The " Ait'ama," or ancient 
Moorish city, situate higher up the river, 
as well as tiie suburb of Belem, extend- 
ing lower down the Tagus ; though both 
may be said to form a part of Lisbon, 
nearly as Wapping and Westminster 
constitute portions of London ; yet re- 
ceived, comparatively, little injury. The 
principal edifices, and even the houses in 
both, remained, if not unshaken, yet un- 
demolished. In 1772, rather more than 
half the space originally laid waste by the 
earthquake and fire, had been already 
rebuilt. Some of the new streets might 
even vie, in regularity and magnificence, 
with those of any capital in Europe ; 
forming an astonisliinsi contrast with the 
filth, antiquity, and barbarism, cliaracteris. 
tic of the eastern extremity, or "Alfama." 

The family of Braganza has not pro- 
duced, even down to the present time, 
any sovereign endowed with talents such 
as distinguished the two kings, John tfie 
Second and Emanuel, who reigned over 
the Portuguese in the fifteenth and six- 
teenth centuries. John the Fourth him- 
self, founder of the Braganza line, though 
he eff'ected the recovery of their national 
independence, seemed to lie in no degree 
qualified by nature for the performance 
of so perilous a task. Oustavns Vasa, 
who expelled the tyrant Christian the 
Second, from Sweden ; Henry the Fourth, 
who crushed " the Leajrue" in France ; 
William the First, and William the 
Third, princes of Oranire, who succes- 
sively liberated the Dutch ; tiie former, 
from the yoke of S[)ain, and the latter, 
from the arms of Louis the XlVth : — all 
these were superior men, endowed with 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



45 



— ♦ 

energies such as Providence confers on 
heroes. But, the Duke of Braganza was 
an ordinary individual, whoso abilities 
were of the most moderate description : 
even his personal courage was never 
proved in the field. It was the heroic 
spirit of his consort, which, supplying 
these defects, impelled him to seize the 
crown, which the weakness and incapa- 
city of the Spanish government under 
Philip the Fourth, might be said to ten- 
der him. She was, iierself, by birth a 
Spaniard, daii{,hieruf the Duke of Medina 
Sidonia : her name, Louisa de Guzman. 
After the decease of the king her hus- 
band in 165G, she continuetl to act as 
Regent. John the Fourth left two sons, 
the eldest of whom, Alphonso the Sixth, 
was only thirteen years of age. Labour- 
ing from his infalicy under incurable 
maladies, or debilities of body and of 
ii)ind, he appears to have been altogether 
unfit to exercise the duties or functions of 
sovereign power. While his mother held 
the reins of Stale, Alphonso's incapacity 
and acts of violence or of imbecility, 
were prevented from exciting any na- 
tional commotions of a serious nature : 
but, after the retreat and decease of that 
illustrious princess in 1666, his deposi- 
tion speedily followed. It was merited 
by his excesses and utter inaptitude for 
government. His own vvife, a princess 
of the house of Nemours, descended 
from the dukes of Si;voy, to whom he 
had been recently married, but, with 
whom he had never been able to con- 
summate his nuptials ; combining with 
Don Pedro, his younger brother, a prince 
of prudence, energy, and ability ; arrest- 
ed and deposed Alphonso. In perform- 
ing this revolutionary act, they were only 
the agents and instruments of the nation, 
who unanimously demanded, sanctioned, 
and maintained it. 

Don Pedro thus called to the supreme 
authority by the voice of the Portuguese, 
at twenty years of age, in 1668, did not 
however assume the title of king. Like 
the present prince regent of the same 
country, he contented himself with that 
denomination ; but he married Mary of 
Nemours, his brother's wife, as Henry 
the Eighth of England had espoused 
Catherine of Arragon. Till the death of 
Alphonso, which took place seventeen 
years later, in 1683, Pedro only exercised 



the regency. Alphonso was first sent 
to the Azores or Western Iislands, situ- 
ated in the midst of the Atlantic Ocean ; 
wherehe resided for someyears, atTerce- 
ira, in an honourable restraint : but it was 
afterwards judged expedient to conduct 
himbacktoPortugal, and toconfine him in 
one of the royal palaces at Cinlra ; a vil- 
lage not reinote from Lisbon, situate to- 
wards the mouth of the Tagus, in a coun- 
try abounding with natural beauties of 
every kind, which render it one of the 
most delicious and enchanting spots in 
Europe. At a more recent period, Cin- 
tra has attained historical celebrity, from 
the convention there concluded, or rather 
at Torres Vedras, with the French, in 
1808. In the palace at the former place, 
I visited the apartment in which Alphon- 
so was imprisoned, and where. he ended 
his days, 'i'hough become somewhat 
ruinous in 1772, it was tolerably spacious, 
being about twenty feet square, and pro- 
portionably lofty. He passed eleven 
years as a captive in that chamber. To- 
wards the latter part of his life, his un- 
derstanding, naturally very weak, became 
wholly alienated. He grew furious to 
such a degree, that it was found neces- 
sary to confine him by an iron rail, which 
surrounded his bed, and allowed him 
only a space of about fourteen to sixteen 
feet, for exercise. 'J'he bricks of which 
the floorwas composed, wliere worn away 
in this track by the constant action of his 
leet. His death, however, as far as we 
can assert, or are warranted to conjec- 
ture, was not accelerated by any act of 
treachery or violence. l1 is an extraor- 
dinary circumstance that Alphonso ter- 
minated his unfortunate life on the 12th 
of December, 1683; and that his former 
vvife, Mary of Nemours, who was mar- 
ried to his younger brother Don Pedro, 
died on the 17th of the same month and 
year, leaving no issue by that prince. 

Pedro the Second, who continued to 
reign down to the commencement of the 
last century, in 1706 ; was unquestion- 
ably the most able of the sovereigns thai 
have governed Portugal from 1640 down 
to the present time. John the Fifth, his 
son and successor, seems to have been a 
man of moderate intellectual endow- 
ments ; fond of show, but destitute of 
taste ; and during the latter years of his 
life, when the powers of his mind had 



46 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



been enfeebled in consequence of an apo- 
plectic stroiie, — ensl^ived by bigotry. 
He expeiidetl forly-iive millions of crii- 
sadoes, or nearly four millions sterling, 
in the erection of a palace at MaflVa, 
about five leagues north of Cinlra, and 
not far removed from the shores of the I 
Atlantic. It formed a monument of royal 
prodigality, blended with superstition. 
Who can believe that in tiie last century, 
any prince would construct a residence 
in imitation or emulation of the Escuriul 
of Philip the Second of Spain? John 
did not, indeed, like Pliilip, build the 
palace of Maffra, in the fcn-m of a grid- 
iron ; but he united in one edifice, pre- 
cisely as that king had done, a palace, a 
church, and a convent. The church oc- 
cupied the centre of the building, conti- 
guous to ft being placed the cloisters, to- 
gether with the cells, or apartments of 
the monks. Tliree hundred Franciscan 
Friars, a monastic order distinguished 
for the disgusting filth of their dress and 
appearance, were there stationed. They 
had even a hospital in the central part 
of the edifice, for the diseased and infirm 
members of the fraternity. One of the 
first acts of Joseph's reign, was to dis- 
lodge these religious nuisances ; and 
when I visited MafiVa, they had been re- 
placed by secular priests, diminished in 
number. The palace, dismantled, for- 
saken, and forming altogether an appen- 
dage to the convent, extended in two 
wings on either side, and behind the 
church ; but without gardens or pleasure 
grounds of any kind. Such was Mafi'ra, 
the Versailles of Portugal ; erected like 
that palace, in a situation little favoured 
by nalure ! John the Fifth expended 
more beneficially the treasures of the 
state, in constructing the aquetluct of 
Alcantra, scarcely a mile out of Lisbon, 
which supplies the capital in a great de- 
gree with water. In solidity and gran- 
deur, it is a work worthy of ancient 
Rome; crossing a deep valley or ravine, 
from one mountain to another, on arches ; 
the central arch of which range is three 
hundred feet in height, and ninety in 
breadth. The earthquake of 1755, spar- 
ed this monument of national utility, 
which received little injury from the 
shock; and the construction of which 
reconciled me in some measure to the 
govereign by whom it was raised. 



The reign of Joseph may be more 
properly denominated the adniiiiislratioii 
of the Conde do ffiyras, creaied after- 
wards Marquis de Pombal, than it can 
be characterized by any oilier descrip- 
tion. The name of this minister was 
Sebastian Joseph Carvalho. His birth, 
noble, but not illustrious, would never 
have opened him a way to power, though 
aided by extraordinary talents, if court 
favour had not sustained and propelled 
them. Maria Anna of Austria, daughter 
of the Emperor Leopold the First, and 
Queen of John the Fifth, recommended 
him to her son Joseph ; who, on his ac- 
cession to the throne in 1750, named 
Carvalho, secretary for foreign affairs. 
His own abilities achieved tiia rest. On 
him, Joseph seems to have devolved the 
exclusive and absolute government of the 
I state ; nor was he unworthy of that se- 
lection. At the time that 1 saw him, he 
had attained his seventy-third year; but i 
age appeared neither to have diminished 
the vigour, freshness, nor activity of his : 
faculties. In his person he was very tall 
and slender ; his face long, pale, meagre, 
and full of intelligence. He was so un- 
popular, and so many attempts had been 
made to assassinate him, that he never 
went out without guards. Even in the 
streets of Lisbon, his carriage was al- 
ways accompanied or surrounded by a 
detachment of cavalry with their swords 
drawn for his protection. He was, in- 
deed, not less odious to the nobility and 
clerijy liian to the people; and perhaps 
even more so ; one of the great objects 
of his policy, during more than twenty 
years, having been to reduce the aristo- 
cratic and ecclesiastical privileges of 
every kind, to a strict dependance on the 
crown and government. 

In 1773, the stale prisons were crowd- 
ed with unfortunate victims. 'I'he tower 
of Belem, the fort of the Bougie, situate 
at the mouth of the Tagus, and the cas- 
tle of St. Jtilien, placed at the northern 
entrance of that river, were all full of 
prisoners ; among whom, a great pro- 
portion had been Jesuits, arretted either 
in 1758, or in 1763, by orders of ihe first 
minister. The subterranean casemates 
of the castle of St. Julien contained above 
a hundred individuals, who could be 
clearly discerned by persons walking on 
the ramparts of the fortress, through the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



47 



iron graiinsjs wliicfi admiUed some liglii 
to those gli)omy abodes. 1 have myself" 
beheld in;uiy of them, at the depth olTifty 
or sixty feet below me, paeiiig to and 
fro; most of whom being Jesuits, were 
habited in the dress of the order. They 
excited great conimisseration. . The fa- 
mous Gabriel Malagrida, an Italian Je- 
suit, who was accused of having, as 
confessor to the Marchioness of Tavora, 
known and encouraged her to make the 
attempt upon Joseph's life ; after being 
long imprisoned in that fortress, was 
strangleti, and his body subsequently 
reduced to ashes at the stake, in 1761. 
He appears to have been rather a vision- 
ary, and an imbecile fanatic, than a man 
of dangerous parts. His public execu- 
tion, when near seventy-five years of 
age, must be considered as a cruel and 
(ulious act, wfiich reflects disgrace on 
Joseph and on his ministers. Malagri- 
da's name has become proverbial among 
us, to express tlui-)lieity ; and has l)een 
applied, perhaps unjustly, to one of our 
greatest modern statesmen, by his politi- 
cal opponents. Many other persons of 
all ranks, either known or believed to 
have been implicated in the Duke d'Ave- 
iro's consj)iracy, remained in 1772 shut 
up in the various state prisons of Portu- 
gal. Most, or all of these unhappy suf- 
ferers, who stirvived, have, I believe, 
been since liberated in 1777, on the ac- 
cession of the present queen. 

In extenuation, if not in justification 
of the first minister, and of Josei)h, it 
must however be admitted that the na- 
tional character of the Portuguese, al.once 
bigolted, sanguinary, and vindictive, de- 
manded a severe government. They 
were neither to be reformed, enlightened 
nor coerced, by gentle and palliative 
remedies. At the decease of John the 
Filth, the streets of Lisbon, even in the 
most frequented quarters, exhibited per- 
pelual scenes ol' violence, and of murder 
during the night. Dead bodies, stabbed 
anil covered wiih v/ounds, were left ex- 
posed in itie pquarcs and public ])laces. 
Ijut before 1772, tlie police, introduced 
and rigorously enforceil by the IMarquis 
de Ponibal, had. almost cxlinguished 
these enormities; and had rendered the 
ca|>iial nearly as secure as London. Dur- 
ing my residence there of many weeks, 
such was the vigilance of the palrole, 



that only one assassination was commit- 
ted ; and I have returned Jiome alone, on 
foot, at thtT latest hours, without danger 
or apprehension. Nor were the cares 
of the first minister limited to the mere 
protection of the metropolis. Its re-edi- 
fication, salubrity, and improvement in 
every sense, occupied his capacious mind. 
Lisbon mislil truly be said to rise from 
its ashes, as ancient Rome did under 
Augustus, renewed and beautified. The 
education of the young nobility, formed 
likewise, a distinguished object of his re- 
gard. A college founded solely l"or their 
benefit, at an immense expense, was al- 
ready nearly completed. I visited it, as 
I did the manufactures of silk, of lace, of 
ivory, and many others, carrying on un- 
der liis auspices. All these bespoke a 
great and elevated underslandiug, intent 
on ameliorating the order of things, and 
animated by very salutary or enlarged 
views. But the orreater number of the 
Marquis de Pombal's institutions, edi- 
fices and fabrics, being incomplete, de- 
manded tinseor i'umls for their entire ac- 
complishment. The detestation in which 
he was held, impeded their progress: 
nor was it doubled, that as soon -as the 
present queen, then Princess of Brazil, 
should succeed to the throne, iier super- 
stition or her prejudices, would overturn 
all that Joseph and his minister had done 
to introduce improvements or reldrms into 
Poriugal. The event justified this pre- 
diction. 

Joseph's reiiin, which had been mark- 
ed by earthquakes, conspiracies and war, 
was regardeil by the Portuguese nation, 
not without some afiparent reason, as a 
most calamitous period. Yet if we com- 
pare the misfortunes of that time with 
those which have succeeded, when the 
sovereign, the royal family, and the prin- 
cipal nobility, have been compelled to 
abandon their native country, in order to 
seek an asylum in South America; while 
the capital and the provinces have been 
occupied, over-run and plundered, by a 
revolutionary enemy of the most rapa- 
cious description; — how comparatively 
tolerable were the evils endured under 
Joseph, when placed near lliose to which 
Portugal has been subjected under his 
daughter ! They may be said to have 
equalled, if ihey did not exceed, between 
iSG7 and 1810, the degradation and sub- 



48 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



version which followed the death of Se- 
bastian, in the sixteenth century, when 
Philip the Second rendered himself mas- 
ter of the kingdom. Having mentioned 
Sebastian, I shnll say a (ew words on 
the history of that nnforlnnale prince. 
It is well known that lie perished or dis- 
appeared in the famous bailie of Arzila, 
on the coa<t of 13arbary, fought on the 
4lh of Aiigiisl, 1578. I have seen in the 
royal palace atCinlra,a Utile open court 
or balcony, adjoining one of the roomo* 
of state, in which was constructed a stone 
chair or seat, coated witii a sort of a 
coarse porcelain ; a bench of the same 
materials extending on each side. In 
that chair, while his ministers sal round 
him, Sebastian, as constant tradition as- 
serts, held the memorable council in 
which the enterprise against Morocco 
was resolved on, contrary to the advice 
and opinions of his more prudent coun- 
sellors. That he was no more soon after 
the day of the battle of Arziln, by the 
"Portuguese, is certain; but it is not ab- 
solutely ascertained beyond all doubt, 
that he peri.shed there. Ilis body was 
never found, or at least, was never iden- 
tified; and I have conversed with very 
judicious men at Lisbon, who inclined to 
believe that the individual who appeared 
at Venice in 15'J8, asserting himself to 
be Sebastian, was really that prince. 

Joseph had one sister, named Barbara, 
who was married, at seventeen 3-ears of 
age, to Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, 
youngest of the sons of Philip the Fifth, 
King of Spain, by his first queen, and 
who afterwards succeeded him in the 
Spanish throne. This prinness, who 
seems to have been entirely under the 
dominion of superstition and of music ; 
before she quitted Lisbon, in order to be- 
come the wife of Ferdinand, in 1729, 
having repaired to the church of the 
*' Madre de Dios," or Mother of God, 
situate on the banks of tiie Tagus in the 
suburbs ; there made a solemn offering 
to the Virgin, of the rich dress, laces, 
and valuable jewels, which she had worn 
at the ceremony of her espousals. I was 
induced to visit the church, for the pur- 
pose of viewing this magnificent sacrifice 
or renunciation of female ornament. The 
image was habited from lieatl to fool, in 
the finest lace; the stomacher, necklace, 
and ear-rings, being aliogelher conjposed 



of brilliants. Lady Wortley Montagu re- 
marks, in one of her letters, written from 
some part of CJerniany ; 1 believe, from 
Cologne ; that in lier lime, as early as 
1717, or 1718, the knavery ol the priests 
had already removeil, in most, or in many 
of the Catholic churches, the precious 
stones which devotees had presented to 
the saints ; substiuiting paste, or other 
imitations in their place. This assertion 
may have been well founded, relative to 
Germany ; but was not true in Portugal, 
at a mui-h later period. I viewed these 
diamonds, by permission of the priests, 
very closely, through the medium of a 
glass case, in which the Virgin herself 
was inclosed ; and I have not ilie slight- 
est doubt that ,they were the identical 
jewels, presented by the princess on the 
above-mentioned occasion.. At the feet 
of his Mother, secured within the same 
case, lay a waxen figure of the infant 
Jesus, wrapt in similar attire, and repos- 
ing in a cratlle of solid silver. How 
long these costly articles of dress may 
have remained nnremoved in the church 
of the " xMadre de Dios," since I saw 
them, I cannot pretend to say : but we 
may [jresume that the Priiu^e Regent, 
when he embarked for llio Janeiro, did 
not leave them beliind, for the Duchess 
of Abranles, or the revolutionary rapacity 
of the French generals ; who would no 
more have spared tlieni than the elder 
Dionysius respected the golden beard of 
Esculaj)ius, or the n>ai:tle of Jupiter. 

The princess Barbara, who became 
Queen of Spain in 1746, constituted the 
supreme felicity of Ferdinand the Sixth, 
her husband ; with whom she lived 
twenty-nine years, in a state of such 
conjugal union as is rarely to be found in 
human life, and still more rarely on the 
throne. They nevertheless remained 
without issue. Like his queen, Ferdi- 
nand nourished a decided passion, or 
rather rage, for music ; and it is well 
known that the celebiated Farinelli en- 
joyed under his reign, as he had previous- 
ly done under that of Philip tlie Fifth, 
an almost unbounded ascendant over 
both the king and queen. Such was 
Farinelli's prodigious influence, that he 
may be said to have shared the political 
power of the state with Ensenada, the 
first minister of Ferdinand ; a prince who, 
though he reigned in our own limes, is 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



49 



hardly known or remembered beyond the 
limits of Spain. His talents were very 
confined, but his intentions were upright. 
Notwithstanding the obligations of the 
'•family compact," he refused, on the 
commencement of the war between 
Great Britain and France in 1756, to join 
the latter power; or to sacrifice, as iiis 
successor CMiarles the Third did in 17G1, 
the interests of his people, to the ties of 
consanguinity existing between him and 
Louis the Fifteenth. Till his decease, 
which took place in 1759, Ferdinand 
maintained a strict neutrality. His deatli 
was unquestionably produced by grief 
for the loss of his queen, who had been 
carried off in the preceding year. From 
that time, Ferdinand became a prey to 
the most inveterate melancholy, which 
not only enfeebled, but in some measure 
alienated his mind. Abandoning himself 
to despair, he declined all society; re- 
fused to change his linen, or to take any 
remedies, during some weeks before he 
expired; and ultimately died the victim 
of conjugal affection. In consequence 
of this event, his half-brother, Charles, 
son of Philip the Fifth by his second 
wife, the Parmesana as she was denomi- 
nated ; who then reigned at Naples, 
ascended the throne of Spain. 

I passed a great part of the years 1775 
and 1776 in France, not long after the de- 
cease ot Louis the Fifteenth ; a sovereign 
whose character and actions always ap- 
peared to me to be depreciated and un- 
dervalued by the French, nearly in the 
same proportion that they have elevated 
those of Louis the Fourteenth above their 
just standard. Like his predecessor, he 
succeeded to the crown while in child- 
hood ; Hut, he had not the same advan- 
tages as Louis the Fourteenth enjoyed, 
whose mother, Anne of Austria, watched 



duke, both, dreaded a pretender: one, 
in the son of James; the other, in Philip 
the Fifth, Iving of Spain. Impelled 
by this apprehension, the two princes 
equally made the policy and interests of 
their respective countries subordinate to 
their personal objects of acquisition or 
ambition. Piiilip, Duke of Orleans, was 
undoubtedly one of the most immoral 
and profligate men whom we have be- 
held in modern a^es. Tiie orgies of the 
" palais royal, probably exceeded in 
depravity, as well as in enormity, every 
thing of the same kind ever acted, even 
in France. The incestuous fables of 
antiquity, and the unnatural amours of 
Cinyras and jAIyrrha, which we read 
with horror in Ovid ; the revolting stories 
related of Alexander the Sixth and his 
daughter Lucrelia Borgia ; — were be- 
lieved to have been realized in the per- 
sons of the Duchess de Berri and the 
Abbess de Chelles, with their own 
father. But, notwithstanding the disaust 
excited by such scenes of infamous 
turpitude, we must acknowledge that the 
regent likewise displayed some of the 
greatest endowments and talents, fitted 
both for the cabinet and for the field. 
His descendant, who performed so de- 
testable a part in the late French revolu- 
tion, only resembled him in his vices. 
He inherited neither the distinguished 
personal courage, nor the ardour for 
knowledge, nor the military skill, nor 
the aptitude for public business, nor the 
elevated mind of the regent ; who, if he 
had not been restrained by some con- 
siderations of goodness, or some emo- 
tions of affection, niight easily have 
acted by Louis the Fifteenth, ns we sup- 
pose that Richard, Duke of Gloucester, 
did by Edward the Fifth ; or, ns we know 
tliat the late Duke of Orleans acted by 



with maternal solicitude over his preser- 1 Louis the Sixteenth and his queen. To 
vation. Louis the Fifteenth, who at five } the regent, whose life was terminated 
years of age survived both his parents, before the end of the year 1723, in the 
was left, during the regency of Philip, arms of the Duchess de Valori, abbre- 
Duke of Orleans, principally to the care of viated by his excesses, succeeded the 
Fleury, Bishop of Frejus, who obtained , short and feeble ministry of the Duke 
over his pupil an early and almost an un- 1 of Bourbon, comprising scarcely three 
bounded ascendant. The regency lasted years ; hut, which period of time pro- 
above eifjht years ; and during no period \ duced one event peculiarly interesting to 
of t"ime since the abdication of James the I the young king and to France ; I mean. 



Second in 1689, have France and Eng 
land been so closely united by political 
ties. George the First and the regent 
5 



his marriage. 

There is no instance in the last, or pre- 
sent century, of any female attaining 



50 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



1 



so high an elevation as that of Mademoi- 
selle de Leczinska to the throne of 
France : for we cannot justly reckon the 
second marriage of the Czar Peter, with 
Catherine, tlie Livonian peasant, as an 
exception. Muscovy could scarcely then 
be considered as forming a portion of the 
European system, nor were its sovereigns 
altogether subjected to our usages. That 
the daughter of an expatriated Polish 
nobleman or palatine, whom Charles the 
Twelfth of Sweden had nominally forced 
upon the Poles, as their king, during a 
few years ; but who was in fact only a 
needy exiled adventurer, driven by ne- 
cessity to take shelter in an obscure pro- 
vincial town of Alsace, and destitute of 
territories, or almost of support; — that 
a princess, if such she migiit indeed be 
properly denominated, who could hardly 
be thought a suitable match for one of 
the petty sovereigns on the banks of the 
Elbe, or the Rhine, should have been 
selected for the consort of the King of 
France, may assuredly be considered 
as one of the most singular caprices of 
fortune. Its singularity becomes aug- 
mented, when we reflect that the young 
monarch was already not only betrothed 
to the daughter of Philip the Fifth, his 
uncle, King of Spain; butthatlhe princess 
designed to share his throne and bed, 
had long resided in France, the nuptials 
being only delayed till the two parties 
should attain a proper age. Yet in defi- 
ance of this impediment, did the Duke nf 
Bourbon venture to send back Philip's 
daughter to Madrid ; and I met her at 
Lisbon near half a century afterwards, 
become queen of Portugal; transported 
from the banks of the Seine to those of 
the Tagus : while a native of Poland, 
brought up in obscurity, and hardly ac- 
counted among the female candidates for 
an European crown, sujjplied her place. 
The motive assigned for so extraordi- 
nary aproceedingon the part of the Duke 
of Bourbon, was his apprehension that 
the vounsT king, whose delicate constitu- 
tion seemed scarcely to promise his at- 
taining to manhood, should die without 
issue. 

I have been assured by persons con- 
versant in the secret history of the early 
part of liOuis the Fifteenth's rei^n, that 
when tlio Duke of Bourbon determined 
on di.ssulving the unconsummuted mar- 



riage between the youngking and Philip's 
daughter, he found himself under the 
greatest embarrassment whom to aub- 
stitute in her room. He had a sister, 
Mademoiselle de Sens, born in 1705, 
whose age and personal accomplishments 
rendered her a fit bride for Louis. She 
then resided at the Abbey of Fontevraud 
in Anjou, under the protection of the 
abbess ; and it was natural for the duke 
to desire to raise her to the throne. But 
lie was himself enslaved to the celebrated 
Marchioness de Prie, his mistress, who 
wished to have the merit of naming the 
future queen ; in whose household, and 
about whose person, she aspired to oc- 
cupy a distinguished situation. On the 
other hand, they both equally dreaded 
giving a wife to their sovereign, whose 
charms, talents or ambition, might impel 
her to assume an empire over his mind. 
Louis, then only entering on his sixteenth 
year, brought up in great seclusion, 
scarcely initiated in public business ; and 
though not destitute of talents, yet indo- 
lent, of very reserved habits, modest, and 
diffident of himself ; would, not impro- 
bably, like his uncle Philip the Fifth, be 
governed by a queen of energy and spirit. 
Before the choice fell therefore on the 
Duke of Bourbon's sister, it behoved 
the marchioness to ascertain whether, if 
selected for so great an elevation, she 
would probably manifest ductility of cha- 
racter, gratitude and attachment towards 
the person who principally raised her to 
that eminence. In order to obtain satis- 
faction on a point so important, Madame 
de Prie determined to procure an inter- 
view with Mademoiselle de Sens, to 
whom she was unknown by person, 
tliough not by reputation. Assuming 
therefore a fictitious name, she repaired 
to Fontevraud, and having been presented 
to her, found means to turn the conver- 
sation on the Marchioness de Prie, Un- 
conscious that the stranger to whom she 
addressed her discourse, was the mar- 
chioness herself, the princess gave full 
scope to her antipathy towards a wo- 
man, whom she considered as exercising 
a pernicious influence over her brother's 
mind. This disclosure of her sentiments, 
at once stopped the further prosecution 
of IMadame de Prie's plan for placing her 
I'on the French throne, and compelled her 
I to turn her views to another quarter. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



51 



The Duke of Bourbon, not discourag- 
ed by tlie obstacle which ditlerence of 
religion imposed, next embraced tlie 
extraordinary measure of demanding 
for his master the hand of an Eng- 
lish princess ; and he named as the 
object of his selection, the eldest grand- 
daughter of George the First, Anne, who 
afterwards married William the Fourth, 
Prince of Orange. This event took place 
in 1725. However strong might be the 
objection arising from her profession of 
the protestant faith, which she must ne- 
cessarily have renounced, in order to as- 
cend the throne of France, yet the offer 
was alluring; and Henrietta, sister of 
Charles the Second, had married Philip, 
Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis the 
Fourteenth, after Charles's restoration. 
But George the First, though gratified 
by the proposition of seeing one of his 
female descendants wear the French 
crown, yet was too wise to accept it; 
well knowing fhat such an alliance, how- 
ever splendid in itself, or whatever po- 
litical advantages it might seem to pre- 
sent, would irritate and disgust all the 
adherents of the succession in the house 
of Hanover. Thus foiled in two at- 
tempts to dispose of Louis the Fifteenth's 
hand, and firmly resolved on effecting 
his marriage without delay, Madame de 
Prie cast her eyes on Maria Leczinska, 
the daughter of Stanislaus. She was 
then living with her father, at Weissem- 
bourg in Alsace; a town situate not far 
from the Rhine, on the frontier of Ger- 
many, though in the dominions of France; 
where the titular king of Poland resided 
in as much obscurity, as Charle^the Se- 
cond lived in the preceding century at 
Cologne, during the protectorate of Crom- 
well. So little expectation did he en- 
tertain of matching his daughter with a 
crowned head, that he had already lent 
a favourable ear to the proposals of a pri- 
vate nobleman, a subject of France, the 
Count d'Estrees, who offered her mar- 
riage. Stanislaus accepted the offer, but 
desired to delay its accomplishment, till 
he could procure, if possible, the ho- 
nours of a duchess, at the court of Versail- 
les, for Mademoiselle de Leczinska. 

With that view he actually made ap- 
plication to obtain a brevet of duke for 
the Count d'Estrees, his destined son-in- 
law, though without success ; fortune 



reserved for her the first diadem in Eu- 
rope. Her principal recommendation 
consisted in her want of personal attrac- 
tions, the humility of her condition, and 
the obligation to gratitude which she 
must naturally feel for the authors of so 
wonderful a change in her fortune. In 
fact, nature had neither bestowed on her 
beauty, elegance of manners, nor intel- 
lectual endowments of any kind. Even 
youth she could scarcely be said com- 
paratively to possess, as she was already 
twenty-three years of age, while her de- 
stined husband was only sixteen. We 
know not which to admire most, the sin- 
gularity of such a choice, or the passive 
apathy displayed by Louis, while his 
minister and Madame de Prie thus dis- 
posed of his person. Maria Leczinska 
brought him nothing as a portion, on the 
day of her nuptials, except modesty, vir- 
tue, and goodness of heart. Yet the 
young king, during eleven or twelve 
years after his marriage, exhibited a pat- 
tern of conjugal fidelity, which stands 
strongly contrasted with Louis the Four- 
teenth's dissolute amours, at the same 
period of life ; though Maria 'i'heresa, 
daughter of Philip the Fourth, could 
boast of much superior persoii^d charms 
to the Polish princess. The Duchess de 
la Valiere, Madame de Monlespan, and 
Madame de Fontanges, disputed for the 
possession of Louis the Fourteenth's 
youth. It was not till Louis the Fif- 
teenth had passed his thirtieth year, that 
after becoming successively enamoured of 
the Duchess de Chateau-roux and her two 
sisters, he sunk first into the arms of the 
Marchioness de Pompadour, and in his 
old age resigned himself to the disgrace- 
ful chains of the Countess du Barry. 

The Duke de Bourbon's and Madame 
de Prie's period of power, proved never- 
theless of short duration. lie was ba- 
nished in 1726, to Chantilly, and at that 
point of time commences Cardinal Fleu- 
ry's administration. It lasted nearly as 
louir as Richlieu's ministry had done ; 
namely, aboutseventeen years; andthough 
Fleury was far inferior in strength of cha- 
racter, resources and energy, to liis great 
predecessor, yet may France justly feel 
for him equal gratitude. Pacific, eco- 
nomical, unostentatious, and mild, he 
seemed made to heal the wounds inflict- 
ed oil their country, by the ambition of 



52 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Louis the Fourteenth, and the excesses j in the course of his long, ambitious, and i 
of the regent. If Richheu, as we are as- j sanguinary career, exceeding in duration I 
sured from contemporary auihority, ven- 1 seventy years, not only enlarged or J 
lured to raise liis eyes to Anne of Austria, j strengthened his frontier along the Rhine; 1 
and to make her propositions of a liber- i but augmented his territories by the ad- 
line nature, it is equally a fact, however dition of Tranche Comte, and of a vast 
incredible it may appear, that Fleury, I portion of Flanders. Yet may we just- 
ihen above seventy years of age, carried j ly doubt whether any of these acquisi- 
his presiimpiion still i'arlher with respect tions conferred such strength and secu- 
to Maria Leczinska. That princess, con- rity as the possession of Lorrain. When 
scions nevertheless of the ascendant we reflect on the beauty and extent of | 
which the cardinal had obtained over her I that fine province, stretching into the i 
husband, possessed too much prudence to midst of France ; contiguous on the east 
communicate to him, in the first instance, i to Germany, while on the west its li- . 
the subject of her complaint. She wise- mils approached Paris itself ; — we must I 
ly preferred making a confidant of her) own that the French seem ungrateful to ' 
father. To Stanislaus she therefore re- 1 the memory of a prince, who by his arms 
vealed the temerity of the aged minister, and negotiations succeeded in retaining 
and besought him to give her his advice | such a tract of country. It affixed the 
for her conduct, particularly on the pro- seal to every preceding effnri made by 



priety of her acquainting Louis with the 
circumstance. Stanislaus exhorted her 
in reply, to bury the secret in her own 
bosom ; observing at the same time, that 
sovereign princesses are placed on such 
an eminence, as almost to render it impos- 
sible for any disrespecllul propositions 
to be made them, unless they encourage, 
lo a certain degree, such advances. The 
queen was discreel enough to adopt this 
judicial and parental counsel. If I had 
not received the anecdote here related, 
from a person whose intimacy with the 
individuals composing the court of France 
at that lime, joined to his rank and high 
character, left no doubt of its authentici- 
ty, I should not venture to recount the fact. 
To Louis the Fifteenth, France stands 
indebted for the acquisition of Lorrain, a 
territory of inestimable value ; perhaps 



their kings or ministers, for the securi- 
ty, greatness and protection of France ; 
leaving unaccomplished no object of wise 
ambition. INor can we too severely cen- 
sure the inert, or parsimonious and nar- 
row policy of Walpole, in permitting 
Cardinal Fleury to illustrate liis admi- 
nistration by such an act. France did not, 
indeed, instantly take possession in her 
own name, of the Duchies of Lorrain and 
Bar. Fortune, after raising Maria Lec- 
zinska to the throne of Franse, conferred 
on her father, in recompense for his ideal 
Polish crown, those fertile provinces j 
the enjoyment and revenues of which 
were secured to him for his life. Such 
a substitution was in fact exchanging the 
armour of the Diomed, for that of Glau- 
cus ; a barren sceptre for one of gold. 
Stanislaus, when this event took place 



""""""^ "• — ■" — ' t r" ig ' • " • — I 

surpassing in real importance any aug- in 173d, was already nearly sixty, and 



mentation of the French dominions made 
by arms within the three last centuries. 
Henry the Second had conquered Metz, 
Toul, and Verdun, from the German em- 
pire ; besides re-annexing Calais, so long 
held by the English princes. The coun- 
ties of Bugey and Bresse, covering the 
borders on the side of Savoy, were gain- 
ed by Henry the Fourth. His son, Louis 
the Thirteenth, or more properly to 
speak, the Cardinal de Richlieu, added 
Rousillon and Cerdagne, situate at one 
extremity of the kingdom, towards Cata- 



he remained during thirty years, Duke 
of Lorrain. His administration, mild, 
beneticent and liberal, rendered him be- 
loved by his new subjects. He embel- 
lished Nancy, the capital ; but he held 
his court and residence principally at 
Luneville, where he expired in conse- 
quence of a singular accident, having 
been burnt to death. Charles, King of 
Navarre, snrnamed the Bad, perished 
nearly in the same manner» about four 
centuries earlier, at Pampeluna. The 
ate Lady Mary Churchill, Sir Robert 



Ionia; while in another quarter, he re- Walpole's daughter, who then resided 
duced Artois and Alsace to the French with her husband at Luneville, has more 
obedience. Lastly, Louis the Fourteenth | than oni>e recounted to me all the particur 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



53 



lars of Stanislaus's end. Mr. Churchill 
and Lady Mary, who lived in habits of 
intimacy with him, dined at his villa of 
Bon Secours, a short distance from 
Luneville, on the day preceding- the ca- 
tastrophe which terminated his life. She 
assured me, that though extremely bent 
with age and infirmities, being then near 
eighty-nine years old, he retained both his 
faculties and his good humour. Natu- 
rally gallant, he had a nominal mistress, 
the Marchioness de Boufflers, who oc- 
cupied a part of the palace of Luneville, 
ani to whom he was much attached; 
though he manifested neither jealousy 
nor dissatisfaction at her preference of a 
younger rival. His own cliancellor had 
contrived to insinuate himself into Ma- 
dame de Boulliers's favour ; a fact of 
which the king was not ignorant. Ta- 
king leave of her one evening, when re- 
tiring to his apartment, after embracing 
hevi^-^AIon chancelier,^^ added he, '•^vous 
dira le reste ;^' — a jocose allusion to the 
words with which, as is well known, 
the French sovereigns, wlien holding a 
bed of justice, always finish their ha- 
rangues. Stanislaus, during the last years 
of his life, withdrew to rest every night 
at nine o'clock, and his departure consti- 
tuted the signal for commencing faro. All 
the persons of both sexes, composing 
his court and household, then sat down 
to that infatuating game, which was con- 
tinued witiiout intermission to a late 
hour. But a circumstance seemingly in- 
credible is, that the rage for it became 
such, as to attract by degrees to the ta- 
ble all the domestics of the palace, down 
to the very turnspits or scullions; who, 
crowding around, staked their ecus on 
the cards over the heads of the company. 
Such a fact sufficiently proves the relaxa- 
tion of manners which prevailed in the 
court of Lorrain under Stanislaus. 

His death, as lady Mary Churchill re- 
lated it to me, look place in February, 
1766, in the following manner. The 
old king, v/ho, like the Poles and Ger- 
mans, was much' addicted to smoking 
tobacco, usually finished several pipes 
every day. Being alone, in an undress, 
while endeavouring to knock out the 
ashes from his pipe, he set fire to his 
gown ; and his valet de chambre, who 
alone exercised the privilege of entering 
his apartment, had unfortunately just 

a* 



gone into the town of Luneville. His 
cries were not immediately heard ; but 
when they reached the officer stationed 
on guard in the outward room, he flew 
to the king's assistance ; and having 
contrived to throw him down on the 
floor, the flames were speedily extin- 
guished. He might even have survived 
and recovered the accident, if*it had not 
been accompanied with a singular cir- 
cumstance. Stanislaus, who during the 
last years of his life, 

cum numina nobis 

Mors installs majora facit, — 

had become devout ; as a penance for his 
transgressions, constantly wore under 
his shirt, next to his flesh, a " re/z- 
qitaire,^^ or girdle made of silver, having 
points on the inside, from space to space. 
These points becoming heated, and being 
pressed into his body, while in the act of 
extinguishing the fire, caused a number 
of wounds or sores ; the discharge from 
which, at his advanced age, proved too 
severe for his enfeebled constitution. 
Conscious that his end approached, and 
only a short time before it took place, he 
expressed a warm desire to see Mr. 
Churchill and Lady Mary. They having 
immediately waited on him, the king re- 
ceived them with great complacency, 
and with perfect self-possession; took 
leave of them most cheerfully; remarked 
the singularity of his fortune throughout 
life ; and added, alluding to the strange 
manner of his death, " // ne manquoit 
qu' line par eille mort,pourvn avanturier 
comme moi.''^ He soon afterwards ex- 
pired ; retaining his senses and under- 
standing almost to the last moments of 
his existence. 

If Louis the Fifteenth, by the peace of 
17.36, acquired Lorrain for France, he 
covered himself and his country witb 
military glory, during the war that com- 
menced in 1741, on the death of the Em- 
peror Charles the Sixth. Fleury was 
no more ; he and Walpole having 
finished their political careers nearly 
about the same time. History can pre- 
sent, in no period of the world, an in- 
stance of a first minister commencing his 
administration, like' FleurT, at seventy- 
three years of age, and retaining his 
power till he was ninety. Such a fact 
must, indeed, be considered as an excep- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



lion to the general laws of nature, moral 
as well as physical. Cardinal Ximenes 
in Spain, who approached the nearest to 
him, died at eighty-one ; and I believe, 
the Count de Maurepas, under Louis ihe 
Sixteenth, almost attained to a similar 
age. In 1744, the year after Fleury's 
decease, Louis was seized, at Metz, with 
a fever, which nearly proved fatal. If 
he had expired at that time, as was ex- 
pected to happen every moment, during 
several successive days, his memory 
would have been embalmed in the hearts 
of his subjects and of mankind. Never 
were more ardent, or more universal 
vows ofiered up to heaven by the Roman 
people for the recovery of Germanicus, 
or for the preservation of Titus, than 
were made by the French nation for his 
restoration ! They were unfortunately 
heard, and we are forced to exclaim with 
Juvenal,. 

Provitla Pompeio dederat campania febres 
Optandas : sed multaj urbes, et publica vota 
Vicerunt." — 

Though Louis, like Pompey, survived | 
tliese testimonies of popular favour, yet, f 
during the whole course of that war, 
down to its termination in 1748, he con- 
tinued to deserve and to retain the affec- 
tions of the nation. Four brilliant and 
triumphant campaigns, in one of which 
he was personally present, rendered him 
master of all the Austrian Netherlands. 
The military trophies of Marlborough, 
erected forty years earlier on the same ! 
plains, were lost at Fontenoy, at Rau- 
coux, and at Lafeldt. Greater by his 
moderation than even by his conquests, 
Lnuis gave peace to Europe at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, when Holland lay open to his 
attack ; and when Mr. Pelham, who was 
then at. the head of the councils of Eng- 
land, possessed neither pecuniary nor 
military resources for maintaining the 
conlest. Louis the Fourteenth may un- 
doubtedly have inspired more terror at 
certain periods of liis reign ; but never 
excited more respect than did his succes- 
sor at the conclusion of the great v;ar, 
which took place on the accession of 
Maria Theresa. 

It forms a curious subject of reflection, 
lliat the armies of France, during this 
gplendid portion of Louis the Fifteenth's 



reign, when he thus over-ran the Low 
Countries, were commanded by foreign- 
ers. To Conde, Turenne, and Luxem- 
bourg, had succeeded Catinat, Vendome, 
Boufflers, and Villars : but these last 
generals left no successors. In 1734, 
Villars, at near four-score, remained the 
sole survivor of those illustrious com- 
manders, who, from Rocroi down to De- 
nain, from 1643 to 1712, had carried vic- 
tory over so many countries of Europe. 
An Englishman, the Duke of Berwick, 
natural son of James the Second by Ara- 
bella Churchill, sister of the great Duke of, 
Marlborough, was placed at the head of 
the French forces on the Rhine, in 1734 ; 
while a German and a Dane subjected- 
Flanders to Louis the Fifteenth, between 
1743 and 1748. Marshal Saxe, the 
former of these generals, attained a mili- 
tary reputation hardly exceeded by any 
individual in modern times. Lowendahl, 
the other, was immortalized by the cap- 
ture of Bergen-op-Zoom, then regarded 
as the most impregnable fortress on the 
continent. Both survived the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle only a few years. I 
have been in the apartment of the palace 
of Chambord, near Blois, where Marshal 
Saxe expired in November, 1750; ex-- 
tenuated by pleasures which had enerva- 
ted his Herculean frame, and produced hiS' 
premature end at fifty-four years of age. 
The natural son of Augustus the Second,. 
King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, 
by the beautiful Countess of Konigsraark, 
he inherited from his father an extraor-' 
dinary degree of bodily strength ; but, 
like Milo in antiquity, 

" Viribus ilie 
Confisus, pcriit, admirandisque lacertis." 

At Chambord, where he maintained a^ 
magnificent establishment during the two. 
last years of his life, he constantly en- 
tertained a company of comedians, as a 
sovereign prince. Mademoiselle Chan- 
tilly, an actress and a dancer in high 
reputation at Paris, having, from her. 
personal beauty no less than from her 
theatrical merit, attracted the Marshal's 
attention ; had, some years earlier, ac- 
companied him on his campaigns in the 
Netherlands as his mistress. While he 
was engaged in the siege of Maestricht, 
Favart, a man who had found means to 
render himself master of iier affectionSj, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



65 



carried her off to Paris. After the ter- 
mination of the war, Marshal Saxe 
caused proposals to be made her, for re- 
pairing to Chanibord, to perform on his 
theatre. But she, who was married to 
Favart, knowing the marshal's designs, 
rejected all his ofl'ers. In this dilemma, 
determined again to gain possession of 
her, he applied to Monsieur deBerruyer, 
then lieutenant de poUcCt requesting 
him to compel her to visit Chambord. 
Berruyer, desirous of obliging Marshal 
Saxe, made use of every argument, and 
enforced them by very ample pecuniary 
ofTers. Finding, however, all tiis exer- 
tions fruitless, he sent her a lettre de 
cachet, ordering her immediately to 
prison, or to Chambord. We must own 
that this atrocious abuse of power, 
which reminds usof Appius Claudius and 
Virginia, in the consular ages of Rome ; 
excites indignation against a minister 
capable of thus prostituting his official 
functions, in order to gratify the de- 
praved and licentious appetites of an 
exhausted voluptuarj'-. Thus pressed 
between imprisonment and the sacrifice 
of her person, she preferred the latter 
expedient ; as many other women might 
have done under her circumstances, with- 
out perhaps incurring either any deep 
degree of culpability, or exciting any 
strong emotions of moral reprobation. 
Pity, indeed, rather than condemnation, 
arises in the mind of every liberal man, 
on such a recital. It is difficult to relate 
the sequel of the story, without involun- 
tarily wounding decorum : yet may the 
moral that it contains, almost apologise 
for such a deviation, or in some degree 
even demand it. Madame Favart having 
been reluctantly conducted to the mar- 
shal's bed, afterwards expressed herself 
with some contempt respecting him. 
Piqued at the insinuation, he had re- 
course to those expedients which Pope, 
one of the most correct of modern poets, 
who exclaims, 

"• Curst be the verse, how soft soe'er it flow. 
That tends to make one honest man my foe; 
Give virtue scandal, innocence a fear, 
Or from the soft-eyed virgin steal a tear ;" 

yet has not hesitated to enumerate in his 
poem of " January and May." The 
auxiliary proved too powerful for the 
prittcipal,, and prodiiced his deatli within 



a short time. He expired nearly in the 
same manner as the regent Duke of Or- 
Iccins had done, about twenty-five years 
earlier: a prince, to whom, both in h{9 
virtues, his endowments of mind, and 
his defects or vices, Marshal Saxe exhi- 
bited some analogy. 

Louis the Fifteenth not only occupied' 
the most distinguished place among the 
European sovereigns and powers, during, 
the period of nearly eight years, which- 
intervened between the treaty of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, and the commencement of the 
war of 175G ; but, for a considerable 
time subsequent to that rupture, every 
success obtained was on the side of. 
France. Beyond the Atlantic, in the 
Mediterranean, in Germany, as well as 
on the French coasts and shores, her 
arms maintained their ascendancy. Meze- 
rai, or Voltaire, might have expatiated 
with exultation and pleasure on the 
events of Minorca, of Ticonderoga, of 
Braddoek's defeat in Carolina, of Clos- 
ter-seven, of St. Cas, and of Rochfort; 
as, on the other hand, assuredly neither 
Hume nor Smollet could have derived 
from the narration of those unfortunate 
or disgraceful transactions, any subject of 
triumph. That Louis, no less than his 
people, sunk under the energies of the 
first Mr. Pitt, between 1759 and 1762, 
must be admitted : but, all the achieve- 
ments of that great minister, in both 
hemispheres, on the land and on the 
water, from the Philippines to Cuba,, 
and from Cape Breton to Senegal, were 
sacrificed at the peace of Fontainbleau. 
We seemed to have humbled the two 
branches of the house of Bourbon, only 
to rcrconstruct their fallen power : re- 
storing pll that we ought in wisdom to 
have retained : and retaining or acqui- 
ring all that in policy we should have 
surrendered to France and Spain. Wit- 
ness Canada and Florida, which we. 
preserved ! Witness the Havanna, Mar- 
tinique, Guadaloupe, and so many other 
islands or settlements which we ceded ; 
not to include in the list, Manilla, a cap- 
ture unknown to the British ministry 
who signed the treaty, and of which the 
ransom has never been paid, down to the 
present moment !' EVen the popularity 
of George the Third, sustained by the' 
most irreproachable and exemplary dis- 
play of private virtues,^ could, not standi 



56 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the shock of such a peace ; which 
covered him with nearly as much ob- 
loquy, as that of Utrecht had inflicted on 
Queen Anne. 

France, from 1763 to 1770, repaired 
her losses ; and while her councils were 
guided by the vigorous, as well as enter- 
prizing mind of Choiseul, Louis the 
Fifteenth, however vanquished he might 
have been in the preceding contest, re- 
appeared with at least as much dignity 
on the theatre of Europe, as Louis the 
Fourteenth had done after the war of the 
succession. Choiseul, secure on the 
side of Flanders and of Germany, by 
tlie alliance subsisting with the house of 
Austria since 1756, extended succours to 
the Polish insurgents, against Catherine 
the Second ; laid the foundations of the 
Swedish revolution, which was efTected 
by Gus'aviis the Third in 1772 ; and re- 
(lilc.&d to the obedience of his master, the 
island of Corsica, nearly about the time 
when that country gave birth to a man, 
whose relentless and insatiable ambition 
or vengeance, have equally laid waste 
the territory of France and polluted by 
his crimes, or converted into a desert, the 
most Nourishing kingdoms of the conti- 
nent, 'i'he universal abhorrence excited 
by his atrocities, renders it unnecessary 
to name a monster, whose very existence, 
and still more, whose favoured place of 
retreat, an island situate on the delicious 
shore of Tuscany, midway between 
Lejjhorn and Toulon, surrounded bv the 
splendour ol a prince, seem to reproach 
the justice, no less than the policy, of the 
European powers.* 

Louis the Fifteenth, like his predeces- 
sor, survived his only son ; justifying the 
Roman poet's remark on the evils that 
accompany and characterize longevity, 
when lie says, — 

" Haac pata Poena diu viventibus, ut renovata 
Semper clade Dotnus, multis in luctibus, inque 
Perpetuo Moei-ore, et nigra vesle senescant." 

The Dauphin Louis died at Fontain- 
bleau, towards the end of 1765, at the 
age of about thirty-six. Whether we 

* The events which have taken place since the 
amtumn of 1814, vvhen these remarks were made 
on the selection of the Isle of Elba for Bona- 
parte's residence, have too well proved their 
solidity. 



consider his death abstractedly, with 
reference to his character and mental 
qualities ; or whether we try it by the 
calamitous reign of his son, which may 
be said, without a metaphor, to have 
brought France to the block ; we must 
be compelled to regard the dauphin's 
premature end, as one of the most unfor- 
tunate events which could have taken 
place for the French monarchy, and for 
the house of Bourbon. It was produced, 
as I have been assured by persons who 
had frequent access to him, and who en- 
joyed a distinguished place in his confi- 
dence, from the efTectof medicines which 
he took, in order to repel or to disperse 
an eruption that appeared near his mouth. 
He was supposed to have caught the 
disorder from his wife the dauphiness, a 
princess of Saxony, daughter ol Augustus 
the Third, King of Poland, who had a 
violent scorbutic humour in her blood. 
Malignity proceeded so far, as even to 
accuse the king his father of having 
caused the dauphin's death, by adminis- 
tering to him slow poison ; a circum- 
stance principally founded on the state 
of extenuation and languor to which he 
was reduced, during the long malady that 
brought him to the grave ; but, for which 
atrocious imputation, not the slightest 
foundation existed in truth. 

Louis the Fifteenth, though naturally 
indolent, as well as afterwards dissolute ; 
and though he became, like Tiberius, 
profligate towards the close of his life ; 
manifested no cruelty, nor systematic 
atrocity of character. He neither resem- 
bled Louis the Eleventh, nor Bonaparte* 
His son possessed lirmness of mind, 
and a solid understanding, cultivated by 
polite letters. For the society of men 
distinguished by talents of any kind, the 
dauphin displayed as strong a partiality,, 
as the king betrayed a disinclination, 
throughout his whole reign. Devout, 
and in some degree tinctured with bigo- 
try, he nevertheless sought occasions of 
conversing with individuals, known to 
have embraced ideas adverse to tlie Ca- 
tholic faith, as well as subversive of re- 
vealed religion. With David Hume, 
then secretary to the English embassy at 
Paris, and at the summit of his literary 
reputation ; or as the " Heroic Epistle'*^ 
says, "^ drunk with Gallic wine, and 
" Gallic pjaise ;" the dauphin, not a 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



57 



great while before his decease, held a 
long conversation, principally turning on 
points connected with philosophical dis- 
quisition. WhUi Hume was presented 
to him, "I know," said he, "that you 
hold very free opinions on matters con- 
nected with revelation ; but my princi- 
ples are fixed, and therefore speak out to 
me ; for otherwise I should only be con- 
versing with a man in a mask. He was 
the third dauphin in hereditary descent, 
who had attained to matdiood without as- 
cending the French throne, within the 
short space of fifty-four years. His 



of his great grandson's life, from 1770 to 
1774; we shall see that the court was 
alike, in both instances, completely un- 
der female control. It would indeed be 
as unjust to place Madame du Barry in. 
competition with Madame de Mainienon ; 
as to elevate Thais or Campaspe, to a 
level with Aspasia, or with Livia. Yet 
did the palace and court of the former 
prince, exhibit as degrading a scene of 
mingled hypocrisy, bigotry, and super- 
stition, as Versailles displayed a spec- 
tacle of debauch and licentious pleasure, 
under the latter sovereign. If it were 



death was followed, at no long interval \ permitted to cite, as authority for this as- 
of time, by that of the dauphiness his j sertion, the '■' Pucelle'' of Voltaire; a 
widow, and the queen his mother ; j poem no less captivating from its wit, 
leaving Lonis the Fifteenth at nearly [ than dangerous from its spirit and ten- 
sixty, surrounded by his daughters and } dency : but, the historical portraits scat- 
his grandchildren. tered throughout which production, are 

Unquestionably, the four last years of sketched with admirable ability by a 



his reign were passed in a manner wor 
thy of Sardanapalus ; oblivious of his 
public duties, insensible to national glory, 
and lost to every sentiment of private 
virtue, or even of decorum. From the 
instant that, dismissing Choiseul from 
his councils, and rejecting the favourable 
opportunity offered him by the dispute 
which arose between England and Spain, 
relative to the Falkland Islands, for re- 
covering the honour, as well as the terri- 
tories, lost by France during the preceding I fied by any sentiment of pity or of re- 
war; he abandoned himself to pleasures spect. His death, which took place under 
no longer suited to his age ; — from that these circumstances, was hailed by the 
moment he became an object of contempt French as the era of their liberation from 



master hand ; we might there behold the 
ignominious figure which " the phoenix 
of the Bourbons" presented in the even- 
ing of his life, surrounded by devotees, 
priests, and monks, 

"Hercule en Froc, et Priape en Soutane." 

Louis the Fifteenth, during his last 
years, excites nevertheless more disgust 
than his predecessor, because it is unquali- 



and opprobrium to his own subjects 
Unfortunately for his fame, he has been 
principally tried and estimated by this 
inglorious portion of his life. Yet, even 
while the dukes of Aiguillon and of 
Richlieu directed public aflairs, while the 
great seal of France was entrusted to 
Maupeou, while the finances were aban- 
doned to the Ahbe Terray, and while a 
woman of the most libertine description, 
Madame du Barry, presided over his 
looser hours ; he at least exerted some 
proofs of vigour in his treatment of the 
parliaments of his kingdom, whom he 
controled and banished : unlike his yield- 
ing successor, who suffered himself to 
be overwhelmed under the progressive 
effects of popular innovation. 

When we compare the concluding 
years of Louis the Fourteenth's reign, 
from 1712 to 1715, with the termination 



a yoke equally disgraceful and severe: 
while the new reign awakened in a na- 
tion characterized by its superficial or 
sanguine frame of mind, the most extra- 
vagant visions of future felicity. We 
may, however, safely assume that Louis 
tlie Fifteenth, who had refused to join 
Charles the Third of Spain in 1770, 
when every circumstance invited him to 
a rupture with England; and who was 
known to have taken an unalterable de- 
termination of terminating his life in 
peace ; — we may be assured that such 
a prince, at sixty-eight or seventy, would 
not have sent La Fayette and Rocham- 
beau across the Atlantic, there to imbibe 
the principles of rebellion and republi- 
canism, with which they returned to in- 
noculate France, and to subvert the 
throne. Louis the Sixteenth, only four 
after years his accession, in 1778,. ent*- 



58 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



^ 



braced, though against his own jiidgment, 
this perniciouf! and improvident measure, 
from which, in an eminent degree, flow- 
ed the destruction of his house. So true 
is it, that — 

«Evertere domos totas, optantibus ipsis, 
Di faciles." 

We cannot reflect without some sus- 
prise, that Louis the Fifteenth manifested 
more attention during his last ilhiess, to 
the well-being and support of Madame 
du Barry, his mistress, after his decease ; 
than his predecessor displayed for Ma- 
dame de Maintenon, to whom he had 
been united near thirty years, by the le- 
gitimate ties of marriage. Scarron's wi- 
dow possessed nothing as her own indi- 
vidual property, on the first of September, 
1715, when Louis the Fourteenth breath- 
ed his last, except the estate of Mainte- 
non, in the vicinity of Paris, which she 
had purchased ; and a pension ffom the 
crown, of two thousand louis d'ors a 
year: while the former, besides the im- 
mense pecuniary gratifications which she 
had received from her royal lover during 
the period of her favour, was presented 
by him with the beautiful chateau and 
estate of Lusienne, situate near Marly. 
Yet Louis the Fourteenth, before he ex- 
pired, contented himself witii only re- 
commending his future widow to the 
protection of the Duke of Orleans. His 
successor, on the contrary, at an early 
period of his disorder, after expressing 
the utmost anxiety respecting his mis- 
tress, delivered into the Duke d'Aigu- 
illon's hands, confidentially for her 
use in the event of his own decease, a 
portfolio containing in notes, the sum of 
three millions of livres, or about one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand pounds ster- 
ling. The duke, with the true spirit of 
a courtier, carried this deposit to the new 
king. 

At sixty-four, Louis the Fifteenth died 
of the small-pox, at Versailles; as his 
grand-father, the dauphin, only son of 
Louis the Fourteenth, was carried off at 
the Palace of Meudon, by the same ma- 
lady, in 171 1. While any reasonable 
expectations of his recovery were enter- 
tained, Madame du Barry continued her 
attendance about his person ; every idea 
of the nature of his disease being studi- 
ously concealed from him ; nor was he 



permitted to regard himself in a looking- 
glass, lest he should discover the change 
effected in his countenance, bv the pus- 
tules which covered his^ce. The Duke 
de Richlicu even kept guard at the door 
of his bed-chamber, to prevent the intru- 
sion of any priest or ecclesiastic who 
might procure admission, and by warn- 
ing him of his danger, awaken his ap- 
prehensions of eternity. But no sooner 
was his alarming situation understood, 
and the apparent improbability of his 
surviving the attack of so malignant a dis- 
temper became disseminated abroad ; 
than Madame Louisa of France, the 
king's youngest daughter, who had taken 
the veil as a Carmelite nun, quitting the 
convent of which she was prioress at St. 
Denis, repaired to Versailles. With irre- 
sistible importunity she demanded ad- 
mittance to her father, whom she admo- 
nished of his perilous state and impend- 
ing dissolution : he was already sinking 
under the ravages of the disease, which 
left no hope of his surmounting its vio- 
lence.- Madame du Barry had been sent 
away some days before, to Lusienne. 
The king expired in a narrow white bed, 
placed between two windows of his 
apartment, which were constantly kept 
open on account of the heat of the wea- 
ther, though the season of the year was by 
no means advanced, it being only the 10th 
day of May, 1774. 'i'hese pariicnlars have 
all been related to me not long after they 
took place, by a gentleman, one of his 
pages, who attended him throughout the 
whole course of his disorder. 

It is obvious, after a consideration of 
these facts, that the successor of Louis 
the Fifteenth must have ascended the 
throne under the most favourable aus- 
pices. To the majesty of the first Euro- 
pean crown, he added the brilliancy of 
opening life, not having yet completed 
his twentieth year. But though young 
Louis possessed neither the graces, the 
activity, nor the elasticity of mind 
usually characteristic of youth. Heavy, 
inert, inclined to corpulency, and des- 
titute of all aptitude for any exercises 
of the body, except hunting; he seemed 
like James the First of England unfit 
for appearing in the field. His mnaners 
were shy, a natural result of his neglect- 
ed education ; which made Madame du 
Barry commonly call him, during his 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



59 



grandfather's life, "Ze gros gargon^ mal 
e/et'e." Yet never did any prince mani- 
fest more rectitude of intention, greater 
probity, or a warmer desire to advance 
the felicity of his people. Nor was his 
understanding by any means inadequate 
to fulfilling those beneficent designs. 
He even endeavoured, at an early period 
of his reign, to repair the want of pre- 
ceding instruction, by intense private ap- 
plication. For geography he displayed 
an uncommon passion ; and it is well 
known that none of his ministers equal- 
led him in that branch of knowledge. 
Before 1773, when the French cabinet 
embraced the injudicious delerininalion 
of aiding the Americans, by sending out 
D'Estaign with a fleet to their support ; 
the king had rendered himself so perfect 
a master of the topography of the trans- 
atlantic continent, that from the river St. 
Lawrence, to the southern extremity of 
Florida, not a head-land, a bay, a river, 
or almost an inlet, were unknown to him. 
Warmly attached to tlie queen his wife, 
and indisposed to connections of gal- 
lantry, his nuptial fidelity could admit of 
no dispute; and in alT the relations of 
domestic life, he might be esteemed not 
only blameless, but meritorious. George 
the Third could hardly lay claim to high- 
er moral esteem and approbation, in his 
private character. 

Impressed with deep sentiments of 
filial piety, and of respect for the me- 
mory, as well as for the precepts or ad- 
vice, of his father the dauphin, he 
selected his ministers in compliance 
with that prince's written instructions, 
which he had carefully preserved, and 
religiously obeyed. Those instructions 
impelled him to place the Count de 
Maurepas at the head of the new ad- 
ministration, though that nobleman had 
then attained a very advanced period of 
life. He was indeed as old as the Car- 
dinal de Fleury, when he, assumed the 
management of afTuirs, having attained his 
seventy-^lhird year, in 1774 ; and having 
passed the preceding twenty-five years 
in exile, at Bourges, the obscure capita! 
of the central and secluded province of 
Berri. It may, however, be justly ques- 
tioned, whether in this choice, I^ouis the 
Sixteenth was fortunate. Maurepas, 
though a man of superior talents, who 
preserved in age all tiie fresluiess of ins 



intellect ; yet pliinged his country into 
the alliance with America, which proved 
eventually, at no great distance of time, 
the leading source of all the revolutionary 
calamities that have desolated France. 
In his selection of Vergennes for the 
foreign department, the king apparently 
manifested more discernment. 1 was a* 
Stockholm, in June, 1774, when the cou- 
rier, who brought the intelligence of Louis 
the Fifteenth's death, delivered to Mon- 
sieur de Vergennes, then the French 
embassador at the court of Sweden, let- 
ters recalling him to Paris, in order to 
form a member of the cabinet. Happily 
for themselves, neither Maurepas nor 
Vergennes survived to witness the com- 
mencement of the revolution. 

If a combination of almost all those 
qualities or endowments, which, in a 
private station, conciliate esteem and ex- 
cite respect, could have secured to Louis 
the sixteenth a tranquil reign, he might 
justly have pretended to that felicity. 
But, unfortunately, he wanted t!ie bolder 
and more aflirmative features of the mind, 
which confirm dominion, repress or ex- 
tinguish innovation, retain the various 
classes of subjects in their respective 
orbits, inspire becoming apprehension, 
and preserve the throne from insult or 
attack. These defects had not indeed 
become apparent to the nation at large, 
as early as 1776; but they were not the 
less obvious to such individuals as had 
access to his person and court. Perhaps, 
had he succeeded in more tranquil times, 
or if he had been the immediate successor 
of Louis the Fourteenth; under whom, 
although the monarchy was convulsed, 
and had been almost overturned by foreign 
enemies towards the conclusion of that 
reign, yet the monarchical principle and 
power remained firmly rooted in public 
opinion ; he miirht have maintained him- 
self in his elevation. But even before 
the commencement of the American war, 
Voltaire, Rousseau, and their disciples, 
had undermined both the foundations of 
the throne and of the altar, by incul- 
cating philosophical principles ; which, 
however fascinating in appearance, were 
calculated in their results, to propel the 
inferior ranks upon the upper orders of 
society. A spirit of disquisition, of dis- 
content, of c()in[)laint, and of reform, 
which pervaded not only the mass of 



60 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the French population, but, which had 
infected even ihe army, the navy, and 
however strange it may seem, the church 
itself; menaced the most alarming con- 
sequences. Henry the Fourth and Sully 
would have anticipated and suppressed it 
in the birth. Louis the Thirteenth and 
Richlieu would have combated and van- 
quished it in the field. Louis the Four- 
teenth and Louvois would have either 
dispersed, or have overawed and intimi- 
dated it, by measures of vigour. Even 
the regent duke, Fleury, or Choiseul, 
would not have supinely allowed it to 
mature its destructive powers, till it burst 
into a conflagration. 

If ever France stood in need of a 
strong, and even a severe ruler, it was at 
the death of Louis the Fifteenth ; when 
the person of the prince, and the throne 
itself, were alike, allliough from different 
causes, fallen into universal contempt. 
A sovereign of energy, who had possess- 
ed military talents, and who, instead of 
breaking the household troops, disarming 
the royal autliority, and then imprudently 
convoking the States General ; would 
have mounted on horseback, placed a 
strong garrison in the bastile, arrested 
the first instigators to sedition, sent the 
Duke of Orleans to the castle of Vincen- 
nes, and put himself at the head of his 
army in the last resort, against his rebel- 
lious subjects ; — such a king might have 
defied the revolution. But, Louis the 
Sixteenth laboured under a double inap- 
titude, moral and physical. He was the 
only monarch since Philip of Valois, 
if not the single instance that occurs 
since Hugh Capet, the founder of the 
third dynasty, whenever had, on any oc- 
casion, appeared in person among his 
soldiers. Louis the Fifteenth, and his 
son the dauphin, though neither of 
them were distinguished by martial ar- 
dour, yet assisted in the field, made a 
nominal campaign in the Netherlands; 
and were stationed by Marshal Saxe in 
such a manner, at the battle of Fontenoy, 
as at least to be spectators of, if not par- 
ticipators in, the victory gained on that 
memorable day. Their ill-fated descen- 
dant could never be propelled into such 
exertions, and he even betrayed a dislike 
towards showing himself at the peaceful 
ceremony of a review. 

His personal courage itself, whatever 



flattery may assert, or caiulout' may SUg- 
gest, was problematical. That he dis- 
played presence of mind, calmness, and 
contempt of death, when surrounded by 
a furious populace, in October, 1789, at 
Versailles, and in June, 1793, at the 
Tuilleries, cannot be disputed. But, on 
the scaffold, in January, 1793, for the 
performance of which last act he must, 
nevertheless, have been prepared, by all 
the aids of reflection, and all the sup- 
ports of religion ; he did not comport 
himself with the serenity and self-pos- 
session that characterized Charles the 
First, and Mary, Queen of Scots, when 
laying down their heads on the block. 
It must, however, be admitted on the 
other hand, that the guillotine, which 
was only an atrocious revolutionary 
engine, invented, not so much to abbre- 
viate the sufferings of the condemned in- 
dividual, as to facilitate the despatch of a 
number of victims with certainly, in a 
shorter space of time, bereaved death of 
all its grace and dignity. I have like- 
wise seen and read very strong attesta- 
tions to the firmness, displayed by the 
King of France in his last moments. On 
the 26th of January, 1793, the day on 
which the official account of his execu- 
tion arrived in London ; being alone 
with the Duke of Dorset, who was then 
lord steward, at St. James's palace, he 
received a note, which he immediately 
showed me, and which I copied on the 
spot. It contained these words : — 

" Paris, 2 1st January, 12 o'clock. 

" The unfiiitunate Louis is no more. He suf- 
fered death this morning, at ten o'clock, with 
the most heroic courage.'* 

" To the Duke of Dorset." 

The note had no signature, but the 
duke told me, that he knew both the 
hand-writing and the writer. Yet I have 
been assured that Louis attempted to 
resist or impede the executioners ; who, 
im[)aiient for obvious reasons, tofinish the 
performance, us^tl a degree of violence, 
threw him down forcibly on the plank, 
in which act his face was torn, and 
finally thrust him under the guillotine. 
The hope and expectation of a rescue, 
which he unquestionably nourished 
down to the last moment, might, I am 
well aware, explain the king's motive 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



61 



for protracting the time, without im- 
peaching his courage ; and might throw 
an air of irresolution over his deport- 
ment. But his Queen and iiis sister dis- 
played more decision. Marie Antoinette, 
and Madame Elizabeth, each, exliibited 
in turn, one, the heroism of an elevated 
mind, superior to death ; the other, the 
calm resignation of a saint and a martyr, 
under tiie same circumstances. Even 
the Duke of Orleans himself, covered 
as he was with crimes and turpitudes, 
yet derived from despair a species of 
affirmative courage, hurried to the place 
of execution, ascended tiie scaffold with 
rapidity, and ruslied upon his fate. 

In the summer of 1776, when I quilted 
France, Marie Antoinette may be said to 
have reached the summit of her beauty, 
and of her popularity. Her favour with 
the nation at large declined from the 
period of her brother the Emperor Jo- 
seph the Second's visit to Paris, in 1777 ; 
after which interview between ttiem, iier 
enemies, with equal falsity and malig- 
nity, accused her of sacrificing both the 
treasures and the interests of tiie French 
monarchy to her Austrian connections. 
Her personal charms, wliich Burke has 
over rated, consisted more in her elevated 
manner, lofty demeanour, and graces of 
deportment, all which announced a 
queen, than in her features or counte- 
nance, which wanted softness and regu- 
larity. She had besides weak, or rather 
inflamed eyes; but her complexion, 
which was dazzling, aided by youth, 
fl.nd all the decorations of dress, in which 
•ornaments she displayed great taste, im- 
posed on the beholder. In the national 
estimation, her greatest defect at this 
period of life consisted in her sterility ; 
she having been married full six years, 
without giving any apparent prospect of 
issue. But Anne of Austria had remain- 
ed nearly two and iweiily years under 
the same reproach, before she brought 
into the world Louis the Fourteenth. 
The Count de Provence was likewise 
destitute of any children, though as early 
as 1771 he liad espoused a daughterof the 
King of Sardinia ; wliile the Count d'Ar- 
. tois, youngest of the three brothers, 
married to another princess of Savoy, 
was already become a father. His son, 
born in 1775, had been createtl Duke 
tl'Angouleme. Both the king and the 
6 



Count de Provence were then generally 
regarded, in different ways, as equally 
inapt for the purposes of marriage. It 
had nevertheless been ascertained, that 
Louis the Sixteenth laboured under no 
impediment for perpetuating his race, 
except a slight defect in his physical 
organization, easily susceptible of relief 
by a surgical operation ; but, to undergo 
which, he for a long time manifested 
great repugnance. The importance of 
the case, and the pressing instances 
which were made to him, having at 
length, however, surmounted his scru- 
ples, he submitted to it; and the queen 
lay in of a daughter in December, 1778, 
whose unmerited sufferings, filial, and 
heroic virtues, have justly endeared her 
to all Europe. But Marie Antoinette 
did not, till several years later, produce 
a Dauphin. 

Of the three royal brothers, the Count 
d'Artois had been cast by nature in the 
most graceful mould. All the dignity of 
Louis the Fourteenth had exclusively 
descended to him. His eUler brother, 
tlie Count de Provence, who resembled 
the king in his person, was less known 
to ihe nation, in 1776, than either of the 
others. Moderate in his character, and 
of retired habits ; possessing a strong 
mind, and a highly cultivated understand- 
ing, but destitute of brilliant or of dan- 
gerous talents, he approved himself, on 
all occasions, the most submissive of 
subjects. Both the younger princes re- 
sided constantly at Versailles, in a part 
of the royal palace ; accompanied the 
king, whenever he repaired to Corn- 
piegne or to Fontainbleau ; connnonly 
attended him at mass, as well as lo the 
chace ; and never absented themselves, 
even on an excursion to Paris, wiiiiout 
his permission. Pliilip, Duke de Char- 
tres, too well known to us by hi:-* vindic- 
tive and criminal political intrigues, 
which at a more recent period have con- 
duced, in so great a degree, to the sub- 
version of the house of Bouibon ; was 
already fallen, at the time oi' which I 
speak, under the public condemiialion or 
contempt. He had then been married 
several years, to the sole daughter and 
heiress of the Duke de Penthievre, last 
male of the illegitimate descendants of 
Louis the Fourteenth; and ihe popular 
voice accused him of having plunged the 



62 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Prince de Lambtille, his brolher-in-law, 
the Duke de Penlhievre's only son, into 
the debaucheries which lerminated his 
life in the llower of his age. That 
young prince esjioused, at a very early 
period, one of the Princesses of Carig- 
nan, collaterally descended from the 
house of Savoy : whose tragical end in 
1792, when she was massacred at the 
prison of Zo Force in Paris, forms a re- 
volting feature of the great act of blood, 
denominated " the French revolution." 

As the Prince de Lamballe left no 
issue, the Duke de Chartres was asserted 
to have accelerated, or rather to have 
produced his death, from the sordid, as 
well as detestable, motive, of inheriting, 
in right of his consort, the vast estates of 
Penthievre. However destitute of proof, 
and perhaps even of just foundation, 
may have been this imputation ; yet the 
character and notorious profligacy of the 
duke obtained for it universal belief. 
Affecting to emulate the Regent Duke of 
Orleans, his great grandfather's example, 
whose portrait was always suspended 
close to his bed ; he only imitated that 
prince in the hcentious depravity of his 
manners, and ihe abandoned nature of 
his amours. The regent, whether in 
Italy, where he was wounded in 1706, 
fighting desperately in the trenches be- 
fore Turin ; in Spain, where he com- 
manded the French armies with distin- 
guished lus!re ; or at home, while con- 
ducting the helm of affairs, during the 
minority of Louis the Fifteenth ; what- 
ever vices he displayed, redeemed them 
in some measure by his valour, loyalty, 
and capacity. His degenerate descend- 
dant incurred the abhorrence of all En- 
rope, overturned the throne of France, 
perished by the guillotine, and may be 
esteemed the most atrocious, as well as 
flagitious individual who has arisen in 
modern ages, for the calamity of man- 
kind, with the single exception of Bona- 
parte. 

Ri'turnlng to England in the summer 
of 1776, I went down soon afterwards, 
on a visit to Lord Nugent, at Gosfield in 
Essex ; a seat whicli has since, in the 
revolutionary events of the present times, 
afford. (1 a temporary asylum to the au- 
gust r: preseutaiive of the Capelian line, 
when expelled from a country over 
which his ancestors had reigfueil, in un- 



interrupted male succession, for above 
eight hundred years ! When I visited 
Gosfield, among the guests who attracted 
most attention, might justly be reckoned 
the late Lord Temple, then far advanced 
in life, and very infirm. In his person 
he was tall and large, though not inclined 
to corpulency. A disorder, the seat of 
which lay in his ribs, bending him al- 
most double, compelled him, in walking, 
to make use of a sort of crutch : but his 
mind seemed exempt from any decay. 
His conversation was animated, brilliant, 
and full of entertainment. Notwithstand- 
ing the nick name of " Squire Gawkey," 
which he had obtained '.n the satirical, 
or party productions of those limes, and 
which, we may presume, was not given 
him with good reason ; he had neverthe- 
less the air and appearance of a man of 
high condition, when he appeared with 
the insignia and decorations of the garter, 
seated at table, It is well known that 
George the Second, who, though he 
generally yielded to ministerial violence 
or importunity, yet manifested often 
great reluctance and even ill humour, in 
his manner of compliance on these occa- 
sions, strongly disliked Lord Temple. 
Being, however, compelled, in conse- 
quence of political arrangements very 
repugnant to his feelings, to invest that 
nobleman with the order of the garter, 
the king took so little pains to conceal 
his aversion, both to the individual, and 
to the act ; that instead of placing the 
ribband decorously over tiie shoulder of 
the new knight, his majesty, averting 
his head, and muttering indistinctly 
some expressions of dissatisfaction 
threw it across him, and turned his back 
at the same instant, in the rudest man- 
ner. 

George the Third, on such occasions, 
possessed or exerted more restraint over 
his passions, than did his grandfather. 
Yet even he did not always execute the 
commands of his minister, where they 
were disagreeable or revolting to him, 
witliout displayiuix some reluctance. I 
have been assured from high contempo- 
rary authority, that nt the ceremony of 
investing the present Manquis Camden 
with the order of ihe garter, after his re- 
turn from Ireland, where he had been 
lord lieutenant ; his majesty, who felt 
not a little unwillinji to confer it on him, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



63 



betrayed a considerable degree of ill hu- 
mour ill his countenance and manner. 
However, as he knew that it must be 
performed, Mr. Pitt liaving pertinaciously 
insisted on it ; the king took the ribband 
in his liaiid, and turning to an individual 
present, before the new knight approach- 
ed, asked of him, if he knew Lord Cam- 
den's christian name. The person thus 
addressed, after inquiring, informed him 
that it was Jolin Jeffreys. " AVhat ! 
what !" replied the king ; John Jeffreys ! 
the first " knight of tlie garter, I believe, 
that ever was called John Jeffreys." 
The aversion of George the Second to- 
wards" Lord Temple, originated parily 
in personal, but more from political mo- 
tives or feelings. His present majesty's 
disinclination to confer tiie garter on 
Lord Camden, probably arose merely 
from considering his descent, though 
most honourable and respectable, as not 
sufficiently illustrious. But the great 
talents and qualities of the first earl, had 
diffused a lustre over the name oi Pratt. 
In the eye of reason and of true philoso- 
phy, such a father conferred more dig- 
nity on his issue, than if tliey had derived 
their origin from Nell Gwynn, or from 
Mademoiselle de la Q.uerouaille, or from 
Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, 
by a prince like Charles the Second. 
We may exclaim with Pope on the oc- 
casion, 

" What, tho' thy ancient, but ignoble blood, 
Has crept thro' scoundrels ever since the flood!" 

Yet might the sovereign, when conferring 
the garter, justly consider the preten- 
sions of a Duke of St. Albans, as higher 
than those of Earl Camden ; although 
the latter was the heir and representa- 
tive of a man, who united in his legal 
and public character some of the most 
shining qualities that can elevate or 
adorn human nature. To tliese endow- 
ments of the father, the son originally 
owed the dignity of the peerage, which 
devolved on him. To Mr. Pitt's friend- 
ship he was subsequently indebted for 
the distinction of the garter. 

Lord Nugent was created an Irish 
earl during the time that I was at Gos- 
field, having antecedently been raised to 
the title of Viscount Clare, He formed 
a striking contrast to Lord Temple, in 



his manners and address. Of an athle- 
tic frame, and a vigorous constitution, 
though very far advanced in years, he 
was exempt from infirmity; possessing 
a stentorian voice, witli great animal 
spirits, and vast powers of conversation. 
He was indeed a man of very consider- 
able natural abilities, though not of a very 
cultivated mind. His talents seemed 
more adapted to active, than to specula- 
tive life ; to the drawing room, or the 
house of commons, than to the closet. 
Having sat in many parliaments, he 
spoke fluently, as ivell as with energy 
and force; was accounted a good debater, 
and possessed a species of eloquence, 
altogether unembarrassed by any false 
modesty or timidity. In the progress of 
a long life, he liad raised himself from a 
private gentleman, of an ancient family 
in Ireland, and a considerable patrimo- 
nial fortune, to an Irish earldom ; 
which dignity, together with his name, 
he procured to devolve on the late Mar- 
quis of Buckingham, then Mr. Grenville, 
who had married his only daughter. 
They were both likewise at Gosfield, 
during the time of which I speak ; and 
Lord Nugent having gone up to town, 
for the purpose of kissing the king's 
hand, upon his new creation, returned 
from thence on the followniir dav, as 
we were seated at table, after dinner. 
The object of his visit to St. James's 
was well known by every one pre- 
sent; but he immediately announced it, 
as soon as he had taken his place, by fill- 
ing out a glass of wine, aiitl U)asting his 
daughter's healih, as Ladi/ Mary Gren- 
ville. 

liOrd Nugent, when youn<r, had occu- 
pied a distinguished place in the favour of 
Frederic, Prince of VVales ; and was 
more than once destined to have filled an 
oflace in some of those imaginary ad- 
ministrations, commemoraled by Doding- 
ton, which were perpetually fabricated 
at Leicester house, during tlio long inter- 
val of near fourteen years that elapsed 
between the accession of George the 
Second, and his royal highness's decease 
in 1751. The prince died considerably 
in his debt ; nor was the sum so due 
ever liquidated, unless we consider the 
offices and dignities conferred on Lord 
Nugent by George the Third, at different 
periods of his reign, as having been in 



64 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the nature of a retribution for loans made 
to his father. In return for these marks 
of royal favour, he presented verses to the 
queen, accompanying a piece of Irish 
stuff, which her majesty graciously ac- 
cepted. Both the poetry and the manu- 
facture were satirically said io he Irish 
stuff. They began, if I recollect right, 

" Could poor lerne gifts afford. 
Worthy the mistress of her lord, 
Of sculptiir'd gold, a costly frame, 
Just emblem of her worth should flame." 

But, Lord Nugenl's muse will never 
rank him with Prior, nor even withLyt- 
telton and Chesterfield. He was a belter 
courtier than a poet; and he had always 
been distinguished by the other sex. 
Glover, when speaking of him, says, 
"• Niiii-ent, a jovial and voluptuous Irish- 
man, who had left Popery, for the pro- 
lesiaiu religion, money, and widows." 
His iirst wife, lady Amelia Plunket, 
daugliter of the Earl of Fingal, brought 
him only one son, Colonel Nugent, who 
died many years before his father. Mrs. 



joined a coarse and often licentious, but 
natural, strong, and ready wit, which no 
place, nor company, prevented him from 
indulging; and the effect of which was 
augmented by an Irish accent that never 
forsook him. It is well known, that , 
when a bill was introduced into the 
House of Commons, for better watching 
the metropolis ; in order to contribute 
towards effecting which object, one of 
the clauses went to propose, that watch- 
men should be compelled to sleep during 
the day-time ; Lord Nugent, with admi- 
rable humour, got up, and desired that 
" he might be personally included in the 
provisions of the bill, being frequently 
so tormented with the gout, as to be 
unable to sleep either by day, or by 
night." 

While I am on this subject, I cannot 
resist relating a frolic, which rendered 
Lord Nugent, or rather Mr. Nugent, he 
being then a commoner, not a little dis- 
tinguished, towards the end of George 
the Second's reign. George, Earl of 
Bristol, eldest of the three sons of the- 
famous Lord Hervey, whom Pope has. 



Kniuhi, sister and heiress of the cele- very unjusily, transmitted to posterity, 
brated. Craggs, secretary of state under as "Lord Fanny," and as " Sporus ;" 
George the First, buried in Westminster i like his father, inclined to a degree of 



Abbey (and who is immortalized by 
Pope'^s epitaph on him, more perhaps 
than by his talents or his actions) ; was 
liOrd Nugenl's second wife. She brought 
him neither felicity nor issue; but she 
brought him the house and estate at Gos- 
field, oneof the finest domains in Essex. 
To the Countess Dowager of Berkeley, 
he gave his hand a third time; though 
not under fortunate auspices, nor in a 
happy Iroiir. The late Marchioness of 
Buckingham was the only issue of this 
match, recognized by Lord Nugent. 
But, his devotion to the sex, which re- 
mained proof to all trials, animated him 
even to the close of life. Lord Temple 
and he, both, composed verses, after this 
lime, addressed to the same object. I 
believe it was ia the month of August, 
1776, that tiiese aged peers presented 
some couplets of their respective compo- 
sitions, to the late Duchfsss of Gordon, 
then in the meridian of her charms ; 



effeminacy iu his person, manners, and 
dress. Probably, these characteristics of 
deportment, while they exposed him to 
some animadversion or ridicule, led to a 
supposition that they were connected 
with want of spirit: and that he would 
not promptly resent insult. Certain it is 
that Mr. Nugent, then a man of con- 
sideration, fortune, and fashion, living in 
the highest company of the metropolis ;; 
being one evening at Lord Temple's 
house in Pall-Mali, where a splendid 
assembly of both sexes was collected; 
laid a singular bet with Lord Temple, 
that he would spit in the Earl of Bristol's 
hat. The wager was accepted, and Mr. 
Nugent instantly set about its accom- 
plishment. For this purpose, as he 
passed Lord Bristol, who stood in the 
door-way of ' one of the apartments,. 
very richly dressed, holding his hat un- 
der his arm, with the inside uppermost j 
Mr. Nugent, turning round as if to spit. 



when Lord Temple having entertained i and affecting not to perceive Lord Bris-. 
her and the duke at Stow, lighted up the I tol. performed that act in his hat. 
Grotto for her reception. Lord Nuijent, | Pretending the utmost concern and 
to a perfect knowledge of the. world, I distress at ihe unihieiitional rudeness 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



65 



that he had committed, Mr. Nugent 
made a thousand apologies to the earl 
for his indecorum, and entreated to be 
allowed to wipe off the affront with his 
pocket handkerchief: but. Lord Bristol 
calmly taking out his own, used it for 
that purpose ; besought Mr. Nugent not 
to be discomposed ; assured him that he 
was not discomposed himself; wiped 
the inside of his hat; and then re|)lacing 
it as before, under his arm, asked Mr. 
Nugent whether he had any farther oc- 
casion for it in the same way ? Having 
so done, the earl, wiihuut changing a 
muscle of his countenance, or manifest- 
ing any irritation, quilted the place where 
he stood; sat down to play wiUi the 
party he usually made at cards, finished 
his two or three rubbers, and returned 
home. Mr. Nugent, after triumphantly 
winning his bet, considered the matter 
as terminated ; but in this supposition 
he counted without his host. Early on 
the following morning-, before he was 
risen, he received a note, similar in its 
nature and contents to that which Gil 
Bias tells us he delivered to his master, 
Don Mathias de Sylva ; but, with the 
summons contained in which, Mr. Nu- 
gent did not manifest the same careless 
prompiilude to comply, as the Spanish 
grandee exhibited in the novel of Le 
Sage. The note acquainted him, that 
Lord Bristol expected and d.^manded 
satisfaction ior the insult of the j)receding 
night, without delay ; naming time, as 
well as place. An instant answer was 
required. 

Mr. Nugent now perceived that he 
had involved himself in a very serious 
affair of honour, wliere he had only meant 
to gratify a wanton moment of frolic. 
However personally brave, he felt that 
the exertion of his courage, in order to 
cover or justify a premeditated insult, 
which no sophistry could warrant or ex- 
cuse, would only aggravate his offence. 
Under this impression, having determined 
therefore to make reparation, he wrote 
to Lord Bristol, offering every possible 
apology for the act committed ; which, 
he admiiteil, would be inexcusable, if it 
had been meant as an affront. But, as 
the best extenuation of so gross a seem- 
ing violation of all decorum, he added, 
that it did not atise from the most re- 
mote intention of insulting the earl, the 
6* 



whole matter having originated in a bet 
He concluded by professing his readiness 
to aslc pardon in the most ample man- 
ner ; requesting that the business might 
not produce any further consequences. 
To this application Lord Bristol replied, 
that though he was disposed readily to 
admit, and to accept, the proffered repa- 
ration ; yet, as the affront had been com- 
mitted in public company, so must the 
exacted apology be made ; and he named 
the club-room at While's, as the place 
where he would receive it from Mr. Nu- 
gent. Not, however, by any means, 
Lord Bristol added, from him only; for. 
as he now understood that the act itself 
owed its rise to a wager, it became clear 
that there must be another person impli- 
cated in the transaction. He insisted 
therefore on ktiowing the name of that 
individual, from whom, as a participator 
in the frolic, he should equally exact an 
apology; and declaring that on no other 
condiiions would he relinquish his right 
to demand personal satisfaction. In con- 
sequence of so peremptory a requisition, 
Mr. Nugent owned that Lord Temple 
was the person to whom he had alluded ; 
and both the gentlemen were finally re- 
duced to comply with the terms, by ask- 
ing pardon in the club-room at White's. 
Lord Bristol then declared himself satis- 
fied, and the afiair at an end. 

The late Lord Sackville told me that 
when young, he was well acquainted 
with Lord JMark Kerr ; a nobleman 
whose person being, like Lord Bristol's, 
cast by nature in a very delicate mould, 
sometimes subjected him among strangers 
to insults, from a supposition that a man 
of so feminine a figure would not be prone 
to resent an affront. In this calculation 
they were, however, egregiously deceiv- 
ed, he being a person of decided courage. j 
Shortly after the battle of Detiingen, dur- 
ing the summer of the year 1743, the 
Earl of Stair, then commanding the Bri- 
tish forces in Germany, under George 
the Second, entertained at his table seve- 
ral French officers, who had been taken 
prisoners in that engagement. A nume- 
rous company sat down to dinner, in the 
tent of the commander-in-chief, among 
whom was Lord Mark; who being son 
to the Marquis of Lothian, and nearly 
related to Lord Stair, acted as one of his 
aids-de-camp. Lord Sackville was pre- 



66 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

— * — 



sent on the occasion. A difference of 
opinion having arisen during the repast, 
on some point which was maintained by 
one of the French ofKcers with great per- 
tinacity ; Lord Mark Kerr, in a very 
gentle tone of voice, ventured to set him 
right on the maiter of fact. But the 
Frenchman, unconscious of his quality, 
and perhaps thinking that a frame so de- 
licate, did not enclose a high spirit, con- 
tradicted him in the most gross terms, 
such as are neither used nor submitted 
to among gentlemen. The circumstance 
took place so near to Lord Stair, as un- 
avoidably to attract his attention. No no- 
tice whatever was taken of k at the time, 
and after dinner the company adjourned 
to another tent, where coffee was served. 
liOrd M<irk coming in about a quarter of 
an hour later than the others, Lord Stair 
no sooner observed him than calling him 
aside, " Nephew," said he, " I think it is 
impossible for yon lo pass by the affront 
ihat you received from the French officer 
at my table. You must demand satisfac- 
tion, however much I regret the necessi- 
ty for it." " Ob, my Lord," answered 
Lord Mark, with his characteristic gen- 
tienet^s of manner, " you need not be un- 
der any uneasiness on that subject. We 
have already fought. I ran him through 
the body. He died on the spot, and they 
are at this moment about to bury him. 
I knew too well what I owed to myself, 
and I was loo well convinced of your 
lordship's way of thinking, to lose a mo- 
ment in calling the officer to account." 

I passed the ensuing winter, of 1776-7 
in London ; a period which is now so 
distant, and the manners, as well as the 
inliabiiantsof the metropolis, have under- 
gone since that time so total a change, 
that they no longer preserve almost any 
similarity. 'J'he sinister events of the 
American war had already begun to shed 
a degree of political gloom over the capi- 
tal and the kingdom : but this cloud, dark 
as it was, bore no comparison with the 
terror and alarm which pervaded the 
Hrmesi minds in 1792 and 1793, after the 
first exph^sion of the French revolution, 
the deposition of Louis the Sixteenth, 
^nd the commenceineiit of the continen- 
tal war in Flanders, In 1777, we in fact 
only contended foreiwpire and dominion. 
No fears of subversion, extinction, and 
su'jugation to foreign violence, or to re- 



volutionary arts, interrupted the general 
tranquillity of society. L was subjected 
indeed, to other fetters, from which we 
have since emancipated ourselves; those 
of dress, etiquette, and form. The 
lapse of two centuries could scarcely 
have produced a greater alteration in 
these particulars than have been made 
by about forty years That costume, 
which is now confined to the levee, or the 
drawing-room, vvas then worn by per- 
sons of condition, with few exceptions, 
every where, and every day. Mr. Fox 
and his friends, who might be said to 
dictate to the town, affecting a style of 
neglect about their persons, and mani- 
festing a contempt of all the usages hith- 
erto established, first threw a sort of dis- 
credit on dress. From the House of 
Commons, and the clubs in St. James's 
street, the contagion spread through the 
private assemblies of London. But 
though gradually undermined, and insen- 
sibly perishing of an atrophy, dress 
aever totally fell, till the era of jacobin- 
isaj and of equality, in 1793, and 1794. 
It was then that pantaloons, cropped 
hair„ and shoe-strings, as well as the 
total abolition of buckles and ruffles, to- 
gether with the disuse of hair-powder, 
characterized the men : while ladies hav- 
ing cut off their tresses, which had done 
so much execution ; and one lock of 
which purloined, gave rise to the finest 
model of mock heroic poetry, which our 
own or any other language can boast ; 
exhibited heads rounded " a la vietinte, 
et a la guillotiney' as if ready for the 
stroke of the axe. A drapery, more 
suited to the climate of Greece or of Italy, 
than to the temperature of an island situ- 
ate in the fifty-first degree of latitude ; 
classic, elegant, luxurious, and pictu- 
resque, but ill calculated to protect against 
damp, cold and fogs ; superseded the 
ancient female attire of Great Britain ;■ 
finally levelling or obliterating almost all 
external distinction between the highest 
and the lowest of the sex, in this coun- 
try. Perhaps, with all its incmnbrances, 
penalties, and inconveniences, it will be 
found necessary, at some not very distant 
period, to revive, in a certain degiee, the 
empire of dress. 

At the time of which I speak, the- '^'■gens 
de lettres,^' or " bluestockings," as they 
were commonly denominated, formed a 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



67 



very numerous, powerful, compact pha- 
lanx, in tlie midst of London. Into this 
society, the two publications which I 
had recently given to the world ; one on 
the Northern Kingdoms of Europe ; the 
other on the History of France under the 
race of Valois ; however destitute of 
merit they might be, yet facilitated and 
procured my admission. Mois^^Lintague 
was then the Madame ihi Deffand orihe 
English capital ; and her house consti- 
tuted the central point of union, for all the 
persons who already were known, or 
who emulated to become known, by their 
talents and productions. Her supremacy, 
unlike that of Madame du Deffand, was 
indeed established on more solid founda- 
tions than those of intellect ; and rested 
on more tangible materials than any 
with which Shakspeare himself could 
furnish her. Though she had not yet 
begun to construct the splendid mansion 
in which she afterwards resided, near 
Portman Square, she lived in a very ele- 
gant house in Hill street. Lnpressed 
probably from the suggestions of her 
own knowledge of the world, with a deep 
conviction of the great truth laid down 
by Moliere, which no n^.an of letters ever 
disputed ; that " Le vrai amphi/tlrion 
est celui chez qui Ton dine ;" Mrs, Mon- 
tague was accustomed to open her house 
to a large company of both sexes, whom 
she frequently entertained at dinner. A 
service of plate, and a table plentifully co- 
vered, disposed her guests to admire the 
splendour of her fortune, not less than the 
Insire of her talents. She had found the 
same re.-^iths flowing from the same causes 
during the visits that she made to Paris, af- 
ter the peace of 1763 ; where she display- 
ed to the astonished literati of thai me- 
tropolis, the extent of her pecuniary, as 
well as of her menial resources. As this 
topic formed one of the subjects most 
gratifying to her, she was easily induced 
to launcli out on it, with much apparent 
complacency. The eulogiums lavished 
on her repasts, and the astonishment ex- 
pressed at tlie magnilnde of her income, 
which appeared prodigiously augmented 
by being transformed from pounds ster- 
ling into French livres ; seemed to have 
afforded her as much gratification, as the 
panegyrics bestowed upon the " Essays 
on the Genius and Writings of Shaks- 
peare," 



Mrs. Montague, in 1776, verged to- 
wards her sixtieth year ; but her person,, 
which was thin, spare, and in good pre- 
servation, gave her an appearance of less 
antiquity. From the infirmities often 
attendant on advanced life, she seemed 
to be almost wholly exempt. All the 
lines of her ccnintenance bespoke intelli- 
gence, and her eyes were accommodated 
to her cast of features, which had in them 
something satirical and severe, rather 
than amiable or inviting. She possess- 
ed great natural cheerfulness, and a flow 
of animal spirits ; loved to talk, and 
talked well on almost every subject ; led 
the conversation, and was qualified to 
preside in her circle, whatever subject of 
discourse was started: but her manner 
was more dictatorial and sententious, 
than conciliating or diffident. There 
was nothing feminine about her; and 
though her opinions were usually just, 
as well as delivered in language suited 
to give them force, yet the organ which 
conveyed them was not soft or harmoni- 
ous. Destitute of taste in disposing the 
ornaments of her dress, she nevertheless 
studied or affected those aids, more than 
would seem to have become a woman 
professing a philosophic mind, intent on 
higher pursuits than the toilet. Even 
when approaching to fourscore, this fe- 
male weakness still accompanied her ; 
nor could she relinquish her diamond 
necklace and bows, which like Sir Wil- 
liam Draper*s "■ blushing ribband," com- 
memorated by " Junius," formed, of 
evenings, the perpetual ornament of her 
emaciated person, I used to think that 
these glittering appendages of opulence, 
sometimes helped to dazzle the dispu- 
tants, whom her arguments might not al- 
ways convince, or her literary reputation 
intimidate. That reputation had not as 
yet received the rude attack made on it 
by Dr Johnson at a subsequent period, 
wlien he appears to have treated with 
much irreverence, her '• Essay on Shaks- 
peare," if we may believe his biographer 
Bos well. Notwithstanding the defects 
and weaknesses that I have enumerated, 
she possessed a masculine understanding, 
enlightened, cultivated and expanded by 
the acquaintance of men, as well as of 
books. Many of the most illustrious- 
persons in rank, no less than in ability, 
under the reigns of George the Second 



68 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



and Third, had been her correspondents, 

friends, pompanions, and admirers. — 

\ PuUney, Earl of Bath, whose portrait 

\hiing over llie chimney ])iece in her 

■drawing' room ; and George, the first 

Ujord Lytllelon, so eminent for iiis ge- 

inius, were among the number. She was 

Iconstantly surrounded by all that was 

[distinguished for attainments or talents, 

I male or female, English or foreign ; and 

fit would be almost ungrateful in me not 

I to acknowledge the gratification derived 

I from the conversation and intercourso of 

I such a society. 

I Though Mrs. Montague occupied the 
i first place among the " beaux esprils^' at 
I this period, she was not without female 
competiiors for so eminent a distinction. 
Mrs. Vesej might indeed be said to hold 
the second rank: but unlike Mademoi- 
selle de I'Espinasse at Paris, who under 
the auspices of d'Alembert, raised a se- 
parate literary standard from Madame dii 
Deffand ; Mrs. Vesey only aspiring to 
follow at a humble distance the brilliant 
track of Mrs. Montague. The former 
rather seemed desirous to assemble per- 
sons of celebrity and talents under her 
roof, or at her tabic, than assumed or pre- 
tended to form one of the number her- 
self. Thougli not lodged with the same 
magnificence as Mrs. Montague, yet she 
entertained with less form, as well as less 
ostentation. Mrs. Vesey's repasts were 
at once more select, and more delicate. 
Farther advanced in life than Mrs. Mon- 
tague, she possessed no personal advan- 
tages of manner, and studied no orna- 
ments of dress. Simplicity, accompa- 
nied by a sort of oblivious inattention to 
things passing under her very sight, cha- 
racterized her. In absence of mind, in- 
deed, she might almost be said to equal 
the Duke de Brancas, chamberlain to 
Anne of Austria, relative to whose con- 
tinual violation of common rides, Madame 
de Sevigne has consigned to us so many 
amusing anecdotes. With Mrs. Vesey 
this forgetfulness extended to such a 
point, that slie sometimes hardly remem- 
bered her own tiame. It will scarcely be 
credited, that she could declaim against 
second marriages, to a lady of quality 
who had been twice married, and though 
Mr. Vesey was her own second husband. 
When at last reminded of the circum- 
stance, she only exclaimed, " Bless me, 



my dear, I had quite forgotten it!" 
There was, indeed, some decay of mind 
in such want of recollection. Her sis- 
ter-in-law, who lived in the same house 
with her, and who formed, physically as 
well as morally, a perfect contrast to 
Mrs. Vesey, superintended all domestic 
arrangements. From their opposite 
figures, qualities and endowments, the one 
was called " body," the other " mind." 
In these two houses might then be seen 
many or most of the persons of both 
sexes, eminent for literary attainments, 
or celebrity of any kind. JNIr^s^. Tjjrale, 
slill better known by the name of Mrs. 
Piozzi, was to be met with frequently in 
this society, followed or attended by Mr. 
Thrale, and by Dr. Johnson. Of the 
former it is unnecessary to say any thing; 
and relative to the last, afier the labour- 
ed, minute portraits which have been 
drawn of him under every attitude, what 
is it possible to say new l — 1 will freely 
confess that his rugged exterior and garb, 
his uncouth gestures, his convolutions 
and distortions, when added to the rude 
or dogmatical manner in which he deli- 
vered his opinions and decisions on every 
point; — rendered him so disagreeable 
in company, and so oppressive in con- 
versation, that all the superiority of his 
talents could not make full amends, in. 
my estimation, for these defects. In his 
anger, or even in the warmth of argu- 
ment, where he met with opposition, he 
often respected neither age, rank, nor 
sex; and the usages of polished life im- 
posed a very inadequate restraint on his 
expressions, or his feelings. What are 
we to think of a man, wiio, by the tes- 
timony of his own biographer, denomi- 
nated Lord Russel and Algernon Sidney 
" rascals;" qualified Pennant by the epi- 
thet of " a dog," because in his political 
opinions he was a lohig ; gave to Field- 
ing the appellations of '• a blockhead, and 
a barren rascal;" and in speaking of 
King William the Third, invariably 
termed hirn "a scoundrel?" If not 
irascible, he was certainly dictatorial, 
coarse, and sometimes almost impracti- 
cable. Those whom he could not al- 
ways vanquish by the force of his intel- 
lect, by the depth and range of his argu- 
ments, and by the compass of his gigan- 
tic faculties, he silenci-d by rudeness ; 
and I have, myself, more than once, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



69 



stood in the predicament whiidi I here 
describe. Yet, no sooner was he with- 
drawn, and with him had disappeared 
these personal iinperi'eclions, than the 
sublime attainments of liis mind left their 
full effect on the audience ; for, such the 
whole assembly might be in some mea- 
sure esteemed, while he was present. 
His beanliful compositions, both prose 
and poetical, the unquestionable benevo- 
lence and philanthropy of his character, 
his laborious and uselul, as well as volu- 
minous and toilsome productions, when 
added to his literary fame and pre-emi- 
nence ; — all these combined qualities 
so overbore or subdued the few who 
ventured to contend with him, that sub- 
mission or silence formed the only pro- 
tection, and the ordinary refuge, to which 
they had recourse. 

We never can enough regret, that a 
man who possessed sucii poetic talents 
as are displayed in his two imitations of 
Juvenal; "London," and the "Vanity 
of Human Wishes ;" should have ne- 
glected or avoided that branch of composi- 
tion, in which he might have attained to 
such comprehensive eminence. If Pope's 
imitations of Horace have more suavity, 
delicacy, and taste, than Johnson's pro- 
ductions can boast ; the latter breathe a 
spirit of sublime and severe morality, 
mingled with a philosophic grandeur of 
thought, which is equally captivating, as 
it is impressive and instructive. How 
admirable is his picture of Charles the 
Twelfth, as opposed to that of Hanni- 
bal ! How fine is t!ie comparison drawn 
between JVolsey and Sejanus ! What 
can exceed tlie judgment shown in se- 
lecting Charles the Seventh, the Bava- 
rian emperor of 1741, as opposed to the 
Xerxes of tlie Roman satirist ! The 
English language offers, perhaps, no- 
thing more chaste, correct, and yet harmo- 
nious, than these verses, which are free 
from any pedantry, or affectation of 
learning. The fact, however, is, that 
Johnson did not dare to yield to the 
seductions of the muse, or to abandon 
himself to the inspiration of poetry. He 
was compelled to restrain his efforts, and 
to limit them to the more temperate walk 
of prose, however capable he felt himself 
to be of emulating Addison, or Gray, or 
Pope. It is well known, that he was 
constitutionally subject to a melancholy, 



morbid humour, which, advancing with 
his years, approached, on certain occa- 
sions, to something like alienation of 
mind. Well aware of this infirmity, he 
was apprehensive of its effects. Topham 
Beauclerk, who lived in great intimacy 
with him, often expressed to him the as-' 
tonisliment and regret, naturally excited 
by his apparent neglect of such poetic 
powers as nature had conferred on him. 
Johnson heard him in silence, or made 
little reply to these remonstrances. But, 
on Mr. Beauclerk's making the same re- 
mark to Mr. Thrale, that gentleman im- 
mediately answered, that "the real reason 
why Johnson did not apj)ly his faculties 
to poetry, was, that he dared not trust 
himself in such a pursuit, his mind not 
being equal to the species of inspiration 
which verse demands ; though in the 
walk of prose composition, whether 
moral, philological, or biographical, he 
could continue his labours, without appre- 
hension of any injurious consequences." 
If, nevertheless, after rendering due 
homage to his paramount abilities, which 
no testimony of mine can affect, I might 
venture to criticise so eminent a person, 
as having been deficient in any particular 
branch of information and polite know- 
ledge, I should say that his deficiency 
lay in history. Boswell has very aptly 
compared his understanding to an intel- 
lectual mill, into which subjects were 
thrown, in order to be ground to atoms, 
or pulverized. And Mrs. Piozzi some- 
where remarks, in better language than I 
can do it by memory, that "his mind 
resembled a royal pleasure garden, within 
whose ample dimensions every thing^ 
subservient to dignity, beauty, or utility, 
was to be found, from the stately cedar, 
down to the lowest plant or herb." That 
this assertion, if loosely and generally 
taken, is perfectly just, no person can 
dispute, who knew him. That he was 
even thoroughly conversant in the modern 
history of Europe, for the last two or 
three centuries, is incontestable; and 
still less will it be denied, that he inti- 
mately knew all the classic periods of 
Greek and Roman story, most of which 
he had studied or perused in the original 
writers. But, these attainments he shared 
with many of his contemporaries. In 
the history of Europe during the middle 
ages, by which I mean, from ihe destriic-- 



70 



HISTORICAL iMEMOIRS. 



lion of the Roman empire in the west, 
in the year 476, through tlie ten centuries 
thai nearly elapsed before the revival of 
letters, I always thought him very imper- 
fectly versed ; if not, on some porlions, 
uninformed and i<jnorant. To have com- 
pared his knowledge on these subjects, 
with the information which Gibbon, or 
which Robertson possessed, would have 
been an insult to truth. But, as far as I 
could ever presume to form an opinion, 
he was much below either Burke, or 
Fox, in alt general historical information. 
Even as a biographer, which consti- 
tutes a minor species of history, Johnson, 
however masterly, profound, and acute, 
in all that relates to criticism, to discri- 
mination, and to dissection of literary 
»e£ merit; has always appeared to me to 
have wanted many essential qualities, or 
to have evinced great inaccuracy and 
neglect. I do not mean to speak of his 
prejudices and political partialities, which 
liardly allow him to do justice to Milton, 
or to Addison, because the one was in his 
principles a violent republican, and the 
other was a whig; just as he calls our 
great Hampden, " the zealot of rebel- 
lion :" prejudices so deeply rooted in 
his mind, as to induce him to maintain 
the moral superiority of Charles the 
Second over liis late majesty King 
George the Second. I allude to errors 
that could only have arisen from an igno- 
rance of lads, with which he might and 
ought to have been acquainted. What 
shall we say, when we lind him telling 
us, that Siepney, the poet, was inviletl 
into public life by the Duke of Dorset?" 
The event in question must have taken 
place about 1683, towards the end of 
Gharles tlie Second's reign. But, the 
(■reation of the dukedom of Dorset only 
oritTiiiated under George the First, in 
1720. In like manner he informs us, 
that Prior published about 1706, "a 
volume of poems, with the encomiastic 
character of his deceased patron, the 
Duke of Dorset." No doubt he means 
to speak of Charles, Earl of Dorset, who 
died nearly at that time. His mistakes, 
or his omissions and defect of informa- 
tion, in narraliug the life of that distin- 
guished nobleman, are nmch more gross. 
Johnson makes him succeed to James 
Cranfield, second Earl of Middlesex, in 
1674, his uncle ; who was already dead 



many years antecedent. It was the third 
Earl of Middlesex, Lionel, to whose 
estates and title the Earl of Dorset suc- 
ceeded, or was raised by Charles the 
Second. On all the interesting particu- 
lars of his marriages, his private life, and 
his decease, relative to which objects 
curiosity must be so naturally and warm- 
ly excited, the biographer is either silent 
or misinformed. I may be told that these 
inaccuracies, chiefly chronological, are 
of little moment. So is it, whether the 
great Duke of Marlborough died in 1722, 
or in 1723. But he who undertakes to 
compose an account of Churchill's life, 
is bound to know, and accurately to re- 
late, all the leading facts that attended or 
distinguished it. Johnson, we may be 
assured, would have been, himself, the 
lirst to deie(!t and to expose such errors 
in another writer. 

Mrs. Thrale always appeared to me 
to possess at least as much information, 
a mind as cultivated, and more brilliancy 
of intellect, than Mrs. Montague ; but 
she did not descend among men from 
such an eminence, and she talked much 
more, as well as more unguardedly, on 
every subject. She was tlie provider 
and the conductress of Jofinson, who 
lived almost constantly under her roof, 
or more properly under that of Mr. 
Thrale, botli in town and at Slreathara. 
He did not, however, spare her more 
than other women, in his attacks, if she 
courted or provoked his animadversion. 
As little did he appear to respect or to 
manage Garrick, who frequently made 
one of the assembly. His presence al- 
ways diffuaed a gaiety over the room ; 
but he seemed to shrink from too near a 
contact with Johnson, whose superiority 
of mind, added to the roughness and 
closeness of his hugs, reduced Garrick 
to act on the defensive. Mrs. Carter, so 
well known by her erudition, the Ma- 
dame Dacier of England ; from her re- 
ligious cast of character and gravity of 
deportment, no less than from her intel- 
lectual acquirements, was more formed 
to impose some check on the asperity 
or eccentricities of Johnson. Dr. Bur- 
ney and his daughter, the author of 
" Evelina" a:ui " Cecilia," though both 
were generally present; I always 
thought, rather avoided, than solicited 
notice. Horace Walpole, whenever he 



HISTORICAL xMEMOIRS. 



71 



Appeared ihere, enriched and illuminaled 
the conversation, by anecdotes, personal 
and historical ; many of wiiich were 
rendered more curions or inlerestintr, 
from his having himself witnessed their 
existence, or received them from his 
father, Sir Robert Walpole. Sir Joshua 
Reynolds, precluded by his deafness 
from mixing in, or contrilintintr to tfene- 
ral conversation ; his trumpet held up 
lo his ear, was gratified by tlie attention 
of those who addressed to him their dis- 
course ; a notice wliich the resources of 
his mind enabled him to repay with in- 
terest. -^ 
Mrs nimpnnp, ]]r}i]pr one of the most 
re'piilsive exteriors that any woman ever 
possessed, concealed veT3''' superior at- 
tainments, and extensive knowledge 
Burke, though occupied in the toils of i 
parliamentary discussion, and of ministe- 
rial attack, which left him little leisure 
to bestow on literary men or subjects; 
yet sometimes unbent his faculties 
among persons, adapted by nature to un- 
fold the powers of delighting and in- 
structing, with which genius and study 
had enriched him. His presence was, 
however, more coveted, than enjoyed. 
Dr. Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, ac- 
companied by his daughter, Miss Ship- 
ley, afterwards married to Sir William 
Jones, miiiht be frequently seen there. 
The Abbe Raynal, who passed tliat 
winter in London, was readily admitted, 
and eagerly courted. It must be con- 
fessed that the variety of his information, 
and the facility, as well as readiness, 
with which he communicated the stores 
of his exuberant memory, would have 
rendered him a valuable accession to any 
circle ; but his loquacity generally fa- 
tigued even those whom it delighted 
and improved. The present Lord Ers- 
kine, who, thirty years later, attained to 
the great seal, had not yet commenced 
his career of jiiris{)rudence. But the 
versatility of his talents, the energy of 
his character, and the vivacity of his 
conversation, sufficiently manifested, 
even at that time, the effect which such 
a union of qualities might produce, when 
powerfully urged and impelled towards 
one object. Happily for liimself, jie did 
not want the strongest impulse, arising 
from domestic pledges and embarrass- 
ments, well calculated to call out every 



faculty of the mind. It is curious to re- 
flect,that if he had been born one step 
higher ; if, instead of being the younger 
son of a Scotch EarU his father had been 
a I\[nrquis, he never could have been 
called to the bar. His endowments, 
however great, assuredly would not, in 
any oilier profession, have raised him 
to the peerage, to fortune, and to fame. 
His celebrity, indeed, if we may believe 
Mr. Fox's biographer, had not extended 
across the Straits of Dover, even in 
1802, when the Corsican first consul 
appears not to have known his name. 

Mrjj^jQScawen, though iub^rior in li- 
terary reputation to Mrs, Montague, and 
perhaps possessed of less general infor- 
mation, yet conciliated more good-Vi'ill. 
She had an historical turn of mind ; and 
in the course of a long life passed among 
the upper circles of society, she had col- 
lected and retained a number of curious 
or interesting anecdotes of her own times. 
Mr. Pepys, now Sir William Pepys, to 
whose acquaintance and partiality I was 
not a little indebted, for facilitating my 
entrance into this assembly of distin- 
guished persons, is the last individual 
whom I shall enumerate. To a mind 
adorned with classic imsgfs, and conver- 
sant with classic authors, lie united great 
colloquial powe'-s. The friend of the 
first Lord Lyttelton, of Sir James Mac- 
donald, and of Topham Beauclerk, he 
was in principle a staunch wliig, and as 
Johnson might be justly esteemed a 
violent, as well as a bigoted tory, muoh 
political sparring occasional!)'' took 
place between them, in the progress of 
which, many sparks of historical or 
pliilosophical fire were elicited on both 
sides. 

'i'houffh literary reputation, or acknow- 
ledged talents and celebrity of sonie kind, 
seemed to constitute the primary title to 
a place in those conversations or socie- 
ties, from which every species of plav 
was altogether excluded ; yet rank and 
beauty were to' be found there, and con- 
tributed to render them interesting in 
the highest degree, 'i'lie late Duchess 
Dowager of Portland, grand daughter of 
the lord treasurer Oxford, herself a wo- 
man of dislinfiuished tasie in various 
branches of art or virtue, was a frequent, 
visitant. It was impossible to look on 
her, without reflecting that while still in 



72 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



early childhood, she had formed the ob- 
ject of Swift's poetic attention, and been 
the subject of Prior's expiring muse. I 
have seen the Duchess of Devonshire, 
then in the first bloom of youth, hanging 
on the sentences that fell from Johnson's 
lips, and contending for the nearest 
place to his chair. All the cynic mo- 
roseness of the philosopher and tlie mo- 
ralist, seem to dissolve under so flatter- 



blies, were perpetuated to a very late 
period of her life ; but the charm and 
the impulse that propelled them, had 
disappeared. They were principally 
supported by, and they fell with, the 
giant talents of Johnson, who formed the 
nucleus, round which all the subordinate 
members revolved. It became impos- 
sible, after his decease in 1784, to supply 
his place. Burke, as I have already ob- 



ing an approach ; to the gratification and served, had more powerful avocations, 
distinction resulting from vvhich, he was ! and aspired to other honours and emolu- 



nothing less than insensible. We may 
see in Boswell, how tractable, gentle, 
and accommodating lie became, while at 
Inverary, seated between the Duke and 
Duchess of Argyle. 

It is natural to ask, whether the lite- 
rary society of London, at the period of 
which I am speaking, could enter into 
any competition for extent of talents, and 
superiority of attainments, with the so- 
ciety of Paris, that met at the apart- 
ments of Madame du Deffand, and of 
Mademoiselle V Espinasse, under the 
reigns of Louis the Fifteenth and Six- 
teenth. In other words, whether the 
persons who formed the assemblies in 
the English capital, can support a com- 
parison for ability and for fame, with 
those who were accustomed to meet in 
the French metropolis. If I may pre- 
sume to give an opinion on this qtieslion, 
I should have no hesitation in saying, 
that neither in the period of its duration, 



ments, than those which mere literary 
distinction could bestow on him. Hume 
and Adam Smith, men of superior en- 
dowments, who might have contributed 
to support such a society, had retired to 
Scotland, or were already dead. Robert- 
son, Lord Kaimes, and Lord Mondoddo, 
resided at Edinburgh ; only visiting 
London occasionally, on business, or for 
recreation. Gibbon, I believe, never 
emulated to be a member of these assem- 
blies, and never attended them. He, 
too, like Burke, looked more to politics, 
than to letters, for his substantial recom- 
pense ; being at once a member of the 
house of commons, and alord of the board 
of trade. Perhaps, indeed, the freedom 
of Hume's and of Gibbon's printed 
opinions on subjects connected with re- 
ligion, might have rendered their admis* 
sion difticult, or their society dista.Ueful, 
to the principal persons who composed 
these parties ; where nothing like a re- 



nor in the number, merit, or intellectual | laxalion on points so serious found pro- 
eminence of the principal members, can I lection or support. Johnson, who, as 



the English society be held up on any 
parity, scarcely, indeed, in any compa- 
rison, with that of France. The latter 
assemblies may be said to have lasted 
near half a century, from 1725, or 1730, 
down to 1775, or 1780: either in the 
houses of Madame du Deffand, or of 
Mademoiselle V Espinasse, or in both. 
The " blue slocking" assemblies at Mrs. 
Montague's and Mrs. Vesey's, remained 
in their brilliant state, only for about 
fifteen years, from 1770, to 1785. Be- 
fore the last of those periods, Mrs. Vesey 
had yielded to the proirress of time, and 
of infirn)ity; while Mrs. Thrale, then 
become Mrs. Piozzi, had removed from 
the banks of the Thames, to those of the 
Arno. 

Mrs. Montague, indeed, survived ; 
and her dinners', as well as her asseni- 



we know, felt so great a repugnance to 
every species of scepticism on matters 
of religious belief, that when composing 
his Dictionary, lie would not cite Hobbes^ 
the celebrated philosopher, as an au- 
thority for any word or expression used 
bv that writer, merely because he held 
Hobbes'' s principles in aversion ; — John- 
son, who blamed Tyers, for oiilv doing 
justice to Hume, upon parts of his cha- 
racter wholly unconneciini with his 
writings ; and who said, that " he should 
just as soon have thought of praising a 
mad dog;" — he would hardly have re- 
mained in the same room with Hume 
and Gibbon; though when once taken 
by a sort of surprise, he did not refuse 
to dine ill company with Wilkes; of 
whom nevertheless Boswell supposes 
him to say, judging from Johnson's 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



73 



known prejudices, that " he would as 
soon dine with Jack Keicii, as with 
Jack Wilkes." It is, liovvever, to be 
recollected, that Wilkes had designated 
the doctor, in a note subjoined to one of 
his printed letters, by the name of ^'pen- 
sioner Johnson^ 

The case was widely different in 
Paris, where no political pursuits' dis- 
tracted men of letters ; and where in- 
fidelity, or even materialism, far from 
excitiuff alienation, would rather have 
conduced to recommend to notice the 
persons professing such tenets. Among 
the constellation of eminent men and wo- 
men, who met at Madame dii DrffancVs 
and at Mademoiselle V Espinasse''s, the 
greater number were indeed avowedly 
" f/es esprits forts f in other words, 
free thinkers, who not content with being 
so themselves, endeavoured lo make 
proselytes by their writings. It is evi- 
dent, therefore, that the circle in London 
was, from various causes, necessarily 
much more contracted than in France ; 
where every person distinguished by 
talents, with k\v exceptions, commonly 
resided altogether in the capital. For 
Voltaire was virtually banished beyond 
the French confines, by the government; 
and lived in the territory of Geneva, 
more by constraint, than by choice or 
inclination. Rousseau was a Genevese 
by birth, who only visited Paris from 
time to time ; sometimes indeed resident 
in its vicinity, but often a wanderer, 
proscribed and fugitive. After staling 
these facts, which may explain the 
causes of the superiority of the literary 
society, or assemblies of Paris, over 
those of London ; it would be idle to 
contest that they altogether eclipsed ours, 
in almost every point of genius, science, 
and intellectual attainment. Who, in 
fact, nietgiMr*. Monta2fu«'«, or at Mrs. 
Vesey's, that can compete with the 
names of Maupertuis, Helveiius, Monte- 
squiou, Fontenelle, Voltaire, Madame du 
Chatelet, the Marquis d'Argens, Made- 
moiselle de Launay, the President He- 
nault, D'AIembert, Diderot, Condamine, 
the Duchess de Choiseul, Marmontel, 
Raynal, the Duke de Nivernois, Man- 
vaux, the Abbe Barthelemi, Turgot, 
Condorcet, and so many other illustrious 
persons of both sexes, who composed 
the literati of the French metropolis ? 



We can scarcely be said to have any 
thing to oppose to such a cloud of emi- 
nent persons, except the single name of 
Johnson. 

There seems, indeed, to be something 
in the national character of the French ; 
at least there was so previous to the 
temporary extinction of the ancient mo- 
narchy, and the reign of Jacobinism, or 
military despotism ; more congenial to 
these mixed assemblies of persons of 
literary endowments, than is /found 
among us. From the middle of the se- 
venteenth century, as long ago as the 
regency of Anne of Austria, we find that 
such meetings existed at Paris, and en- 
joyed a great degree of celebrity. The 
Hotel de Rambouillet, situate in the vi- 
cinity of the Louvre, constituted, as early 
as 1650, the point of reunion for all the 
individuals of both sexes, distinguished 
in the career of letters, Catherine de 
Vivonne (the Madame du DefTand of 
that period), Marchioness of Rambouil- 
let, presided at them : an eminence for 
which she was qualified, by the elegance 
of her taste, and the superiority of her 
mind. In her house, which became a 
sort of academy, the productions of the 
time were appreciated, and passed in re- 
view. Dying in 1665, she was succeeded 
by Henrietta de Coligny, Countess de la 
Suze ; who, though with inferior repu- 
tation, continued to assemble the wits 
and " beau esprits" at her hotel. Her 
high birth, her extraordinary beauty, and 
her poetic talents, attracted to her circle 
every person eminent in the metropolis. 
It was on her, that the four classic lines 
were composed : 

" Quffi Dea sublitni vehitur per Inania Curru 1 
An Juno, an Pallas, an Venus ipsa venit 1 
!5i Genus inspicias, Juno : si scripta, Minerva: 
Si spectes Oculos, Mater Amoris erit." 

Subsequent to her decease in 1673, 
these conversations seem to have lan- 
guished for nearly fifty years, till they 
were revived and re-animalt-d by the 
Duchess du Maine, a princess of the royal 
blood, grand-daughter of the great Conde, 
married to the Duke du Maine, natural 
son of Louis the Fourteenth. After her 
release from the castle of Dijon, to which 
fortress she had been committed prisoner 
by the Regent Duke of Orleans in 1717, 
for her participation in the conspiracy of 



74 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



prince Cellamare ; about the year 1722, 
she began to assemble persons of literary 
celebrity under her roof, in whose so- 
ciety she passed the greater part of 
her leisure. These meetings, which 
were principally held, not in ilie capital, 
but at the palace of Seaux, about four 
leagues south of Paris, continued to exist 
down to the Duchess du Maine's de- 
cease, in 1753 ; and were attended by 
many of the persons of both sexes, who 
afterwards formed the circles at Madame 
du DefTand's, and at Mademoiselle I'Es- 
pinasse's apartments. During the same 
period of time, Madame de Tencin, sister 
to the cardinal of that name, one of the 
most captivating women in France, the 
Aspasia of that country, received at her 
hotel the "gens de lettres ;" and may 
be said to have rivalled the Duchess du 
Maine, as tlie protectress of taste and 
polite knowledge. Madame de Tencin 
was mother of d'Alembert, who owed 
his birth to illicit love. 

No meetings of a similar nature or de- 
scription, appear to have existed in Lon- 
don, between the restoration of Charles 
the Second in 1660, and the conclusion 
of the seventeenth century, except the 
society that met at the house of the 
famous Hortensia Mancini, Duchess de 
Mazarin, niece to the cardinal of that 
name: who, from 1667, to the period of 
her death in 1699, was accustomed to 
receive at her apartments the literati of 
both sexes. St. Eviemond, an exile, a 
foreigner, and a fugitive, like herself, 
constituted the principal support and the 
ornament of these parties ; where the 
Chevalier de Grammont, so well known 
by the Memoirs published under his 
name, was likewise to be found. It is 
curious to remark, that llie first " Blue 
Stocking" assemblies, and I believe, the 
only meetings deserving that name, which 
have ever been held in London, down to 
those of which we have been speaking, 
were set on foot by natives of France, 
expatriated and resident here. For, 
neither the letters, nor the writings of 
Addison, Gay, Steele, Swift or Pope, 
indicate that any s\icli meetings existed 
from 1700 down to the beginning of the 
present reign. Lady Wortley Montagu, 
Lady Hervey, the Duchess of Queens- 
berry, and various other females distin- 
guished by their talents, no less than by 



their high rank, adorned that period of 
time ; but they do not appear to have 
emulated the line which Mrs. Montague 
so successfully undertook, though they 
occasionally received in their drawing- 
rooms, the wits and poets of the reigns 
of Queen Anne, of George the First, and 
George the Second. Foreigners have 
indeed with reason reproached the Eng- 
lish, as too much attracted by the love of 
play, to clubs composed exclusively of 
men, to be capable of relishing a mixed 
society, wbere researches of taste and 
literature constitute the basis and the 
central point of union. 

I quitted England in the suinmer of 
1777, and made some stay at the Hague, 
where I was presented by our ambassa- 
dor. Sir Joseph Yorke, to the Prince of 
Orange; with whom I afterwards had the 
honour to sup at the " palace in the 
wood," as well as to meet him in private 
society. This prince has become so 
well known to us, since his precipitate 
retreat from Holland in the winter of 
1795, by his long residence in England, 
that it is unnecessary to enter into any 
minute details relative to his character 
and qualities. Even at the period to 
which I allude, he neither inspired pub- 
lic respect, nor excited private regard. 
His person, destitute of dignity, corre- 
sponded with his manners, which were 
shy, awkward, and altogether unfitted to, 
his high situation as stadtholder. If he 
displayed no glaring vices, he either did 
noi, or could not, conceal many weak- 
nesses, calculated to injure him in the 
estimation of mankind. A constitutional 
somnolency, which increased with the 
progress of age, was too frequently ac- 
companied by excesses still more inju- 
rious, or fatal to his reputation : I mean 
those of the table, particularly of wine. 
I have seen him at -the Hague, of an 
evening, in a large company, at Sir 
Joseph Yorke's, in the situation that I 
here describe. In vigour, ability, or re- 
sources of mind, such as might enable 
iiim successfully to struggle, like Wil- 
liam the Third, with difilcult or tumultu- 
ous times, he was utterly deficient. If 
William the Fifth had possessed the 
energies of tliat great prince, we should 
neitiier have been engaged in war with 
Holland, as happened towards the close of 
1780 ; nor would the stadtholderate have 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



75 



been overturned in 1795, and the Seven 
Provinces, wliich successfully resisted 
ail the power of Phiiip the Second, have 
ultimately sunk into an enslaved province 
of the Corsican ruler of France. 

The two brothers, John and Cornelius 
de Witt, became in every sense as for- 
midable opponents to William the Third, 
in 1672, as Van Berkel and Neufville 
proved to his successor in the last cen- 
tury : but, William the Fifth allowed the 
French faction at Amsterdam, acting 
under the direction of Vergennes, to con- 
solidate their strength, to conclude a 
treaty with the American insurgents, and 
to precipitate a rupture between the 
Dutch Commonwealth and England. His 
magnanimous predecessor, though he 
had scarcely then attained to manhood, 
opposed and surmounted all the efforts 
of the republican party, sustained by 
Louis the Fourteenth, with a view to 
subject Holland to French ambition. Van 
Berkel merited the fate which unjustly 
befell the two de Witts, and only escaped 
punishment by the inert and incapable 
conduct of the stadtholder, who permit- 
ted the fairest opportunity to pass, for 
calling him to public account, as a viola- 
tor of the laws of nations, a disturber of 
the public peace, and an enemy to his 
own country. Relative to William the 
Fifth's personal courage, no opinion can 
be formed, as it was never tried ; but he 
possessed neither the activity, nor any 
of the endowments fitted for the conduct 
of armies. It must however be admitted 
that his understanding was cultivated, 
his memory very retentive, his conver- 
sation, when unembarrassed, entertaining 
and even instructive, abounding with 
historical information that displayed ex- 
tensive acquaintance with polite letters; 
and that he joined to a fine taste in the 
arts, particularly in painting, a generous 
protection of their professors. In a 
period of repose he might have been 
tolerated ; but the stadtholderate, at every 
time since its commencement in the per- 
son of William the First, and the original 
revolt of the Low Countries from Philip 
the Second, has demanded the greatest 
energies in the individual who was placed 
at the head of the Dutch Commonwealth. 

Nature, which rarely confers great or 
eminent qualities of mind in hereditary 
descent, seemed to have departed from 



that rule in the house of Nassau-Orange ; 
where she produced five princes in suc- 
cession, all of whom were conspicuous 
in a greater or less degree, for courage, 
capacity, and the talents that insure or 
confirm political power. The five Ro- 
man emperors, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, 
and the two Antonines, who succeeded 
each other in antiquity, were altogether 
unallied by ties of consanguinity. Adop- 
tion alone, cemented by matrimonial 
alliances, constituted the connection ex- 
isting between them : and Commodus, 
whom we suppose to have been the son 
of Marcus Aurelius, the last of those five 
Cajsars, was only distinguished by his 
crimes or by his incapacity. William 
the First, and his two sons, though by 
diflerent wives. Prince Maurice, and 
Frederic-Henry, who may be said to 
have successively occupied the office of 
Stadtholder, or Captain-General of the 
United Provinces, during four-score 
years, from 1567, to 1647, without 
interruption ; were three of the most 
illustrious men whom we have seen in 
modern ages. Even William the Second, 
though his end was premature, and in 
some measure unfortunate, he having 
died in the flower of youth; yet mani- 
fested no less strength of character and 
vigour of mind, than his three predeces- 
sors. The whole existence of William 
the Third, from his twentieth year, down 
to the time of his dissolution, formed a 
perpetual display of fortitude, endurance, 
toil, and military, as well as civil exer- 
tion. With him expired, in 1702, the 
great line of Nassau-Orange. In 1747, 
the dignity and functions of stadtholder, 
which had been suspended for five and 
forty years, were revived in the person 
of William the Fourth, head of the branch 
of Nassaa-Diefz, collaterally related to 
the preceding race. However little fa- 
voured he migiit be by nature in his 
bodily formation, which was very defec- 
tive, resembling our popular idea of Rich- 
ard the Third ; and however moderately 
endowed with intellectual powers was 
William the Fourth, who married the 
Princess Anne, daughter of George the 
Second; heat least maintained during 
the few years that he survived his eleva- 
tion, an external dignity of deportment, 
and an irreproachable moral conduct. 
But in the hands of William the Fifth, 



76 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



his son, may be said in every sense to [ 
have bec;ome eclipsed, that great office of 1 
stadtholder, in itself only less than royal ; [ 
and under able management, perhaps 
even more formidable than the kingly 
dignity. 

The reception of the late Prince of 
Orange, by George the Third, when he 
sought refuge in this country, from the 
French invasion, early in 1795 ; was no 
less affectionate, hospitable, and cordial, 
than the treatment which James the Se- 
cond experienced in 1689 from Louis 
the Fourteenth. If James, justly expel- 
led by his English subjects for tyranny, 
political and religious, was lodged at the 
castle of St. Germain, and treated with 
royal honours, by the French monarch; 
William was equally placed in the palace 
at Hampton Court. The princes of the 
royal family, and the nation at large, 
vied in demonstrations of respect, com- 
passion, and attention towards him. The 
Princess of Orange, a woman of a far 
more elevated, correct and manly charac- 
ter than her husband, experienced as 
generous, and as kind a welcome, from 
the King and Q,ueen of Great Britain, as 
Mary of Modena, the consort of James, 
received in France. Of a stature exceed- 
ing the height of ordinary women, she 
extremely resembled in her figure the 
late King of Prussia, Frederic-William 
the Second, her brother, who was cast 
by nature in the same Colossal mould. 
Fortune, which had persecuted her in 
Holland, did not prove more favourable 
to her in England. Her second son. 
Prince Frederic of Orange, a young 
man who had excited the liveliest expec- 
tations, and gave promise of many vir- 
tues, had entered into the Austrian ser- 
. vice, after his father's expulsion from 
Holland. By his mother he was regard- 
ed with peculiar predilection, as formed 
to support the honour of the houses of 
Nassau and of Brandenburgh, from both 
which he equally descended. Exem- 
plary in the discharge of all his military 
duties, to this principle his premature 
death was to be attributed, which took 
place at Venice, in January, 1799 ; oc- 
casioned by a malign-int distemper or fe- 
ver, caught in consequence of visiting 
the sick soldiers confined in the hospi- 
tals of that city. 

His Britannic Majesty first read the 



account of it at the queen's house, in one 
of the French newspapers, on Thursday 
night, the 3ist of January, 1799. Shock- 
ed at the intelligence, and not being quite 
sure of its authenticity, he put the news- 
paper in his pocket, and taking the 
queen aside, communicated it to her with 
much concern. As the probabilities 
were greatly in favour of its truth, or ra- 
ther, as no doubt could reasonably be en- 
tertained on the point, they agreed not 
to delay announcing it to the Prince and 
Princess of Orange ; who might other- 
wise receive so melancholy a notification 
through the channels of the English di- 
urnal publications, or even from common 
fame. This determination they execu- 
ted on the following day, at the queen's 
house, where they detained the prince 
and princess for ivvo or three weeks, till 
the violence of the emotions occasioned 
by the loss of her son, had subsided. 
Some faint hopes, indeed, were enter- 
tained during eight or ten days after the 
arrival of the intelligence, that it might 
prove either premature or untrue. It 
was, however, soon fully confirmed. 
All mankind agreed that Prince Frederic 
eminently possessed talents, honour and 
courage. His unfortunate father, after 
arriving in this country under a dark po- 
litical cloud, and alter residing here many 
years, without acquiring the public es- 
teem, or redeeming his public character, 
finally and precipitately quilted England 
under a still darker cloud ; on\y to bury 
himself in the obscurity of Germany, 
there to expire, forgotten and almost un- 
known. Such has been the destiny in 
our time, of the representaiive of that 
august house, which in the sixteenth 
century, while it conducted the armies of 
Holland, opposed and humbled Spain ; 
and which in the seventeenth century, 
affixed limits to the ambiiion of France, 
under Louis the Fourteenth ! A Corsi- 
can adventurer has since enslaved, plun- 
dered, and conscribed during many years, 
the country over whose councils, Barne- 
velt, the two de Witts, and Heinsius, 
once presided ; for which Van Tromp 
and Kuyler fought, conquered and fell; 
and where the spirit of Ireedom seemed 
to have animated every individual, when 
the Duke of Alva overian, and desolated 
those provinces. It is in making these 
reflections on the modern Dutch, and con- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



77 



trasting their conduct with the heroism 
of their ancestors, that we invohmtarily 
exclaim with Goldsmith, 

"Gods ! how unlike tlieir Belgic sires of old !" 

At the time when I visited the Hague, 
in July, 1777, Prince Louis, one of the 
brothers of the then reigning Duke of 
Brunswic Wolfenbuttel, and commander- 
in-chief of the Dutch forces, enjoyed a 
much higher place in the public consi- 
deration than did the stadtholder. I 
have rarely seen in the course of my life 
a man of more enormous bodily dimen- 
sions. William, Duke of Cumberland, 
son of George the Second, whose corpu- 
lency was extreme, fell nevertheless far 
short of him in bulk. But, this prodigious 
mass of flesh, which it was natural to 
suppose, would enervate or enfeeble the 
powers of his mind, seemed neither to 
have rendered him indolent or inactive. 
The strength of his character, and the 
solidity of his talents, while they sup- 
plied in some measure the defects of the 
Prince of Orange, animated and impelled 
the vast machine that he inhabited. Prince 
Louis manifested no somnolency when 
in company ; nor was he ever betrayed 
at table into excesses injurious to his re- 
putation. On the parade, and in his 
military capacity, he displayed equal 
animation and professional knowledge. 
Attached to the interests of the House of 
Orange, and to those of Great Britain, 
he became naturally obnoxious to the 
French faction in Holland ; which power- 
ful party finally affected his removal from 
the post that he held in the service of the 
republic, and compelled him to retire out 
of the Dutch dominions, a kw years 
later than the period of which 1 am 
speaking. He died, I believe, in 1788. 
His dismission and departure prepared 
the way for the overthrow of the stadt- 
holderate, notwithstanding the temporary 
triumph of the late Duke of Brunswic, 
and the capture of Amsterdam, efl'ected 
in the summer of 1787 by the Prussian 
forces. 

His brother, Prince Ferdinand of 
Brunswic, who commanded the allied 
army with so much reputation, during 
the " Seven Years War," from 1757 down 
to 1763 ; and who occupied at that time 
so distinguished a rank in the history of 



Europe ; proved himself unquestionably 
an able general, and a good tactician ; 
but he was by no means endowed with 
superior talents of any kind. In order 
to have secured the degree of fame that 
he had acquired in the field, it may be 
asserted that he ought not to have sur- 
vived his last campaign ; precisely as 
Juvenal says of Marius, that he should 
have breathed his last, immediately after 
his victory over the Cimbri, 

" Cum de Teutonico vellet descendere Curru." 

For, Prince Ferdinand soon afterwards 
abandoned himself to the doctrines and 
reveries o{ ihe Illumine s ^ an association 
of men, who, it is well known, obtained 
such an ascendant about that time in 
Germany. They reduced his mind to a 
degree of imbecility which could only 
excite compassion. It will hardly be 
believed that before the year 1773, he 
was so subjugated by them, as frequently 
to pass many hours of the night in church- 
yards, engaged in evoking, and attempt- 
ing to raise apparitions. They practised 
successfully on his credulity, making 
him conceive that he beheld spectres, or 
aerial forms. These occupations, which 
afforded sufficient proofs of intellectual 
decline, having impelled the great 
Frederic, whose sound understanding 
despised the Illumines, to dismiss Prince 
Ferdinand from his situation in the Prus- 
sian service ; or, as Thiebault asserts in 
his " Souvenirs de vingt Ans" (which 
perhaps is more probable), the king 
having liberated from arrest an officer 
whom the prince had confined, he re- 
signed. Which ever was the fact, he 
then retired to Magdeburgh, of the chap- 
ter of which secularized archbishoprick 
he was dean, or chief. 

In that city he principally resided till 
the time of his decease, divested of any 
military command, living in a sort of re- 
treat ; but keeping a good table, and re- 
ceiving at dinner, strangers of condition 
who visited Magdeburgh. His income, 
a considerable part of which consisted 
in a pension from the crown of Great 
Britain, enabled him to maintain an es- 
tablishment becoming his rank. An in- 
timate friend of mine, now, I regret, no 
more ; who was about that time minister 
of England at the court of Dresden, Mr. 



78 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Osborn, being well acquaintetl with 
Prince Ferdinand, used frequently to 
dine vvitii him. Tlie prince, who treat- 
ed him with great regard, wisliing. to 
make a proselyte of him, one day pro- 
posed that they should go together to a 
certain church-yard on that same night ; 
promising him that a ghost would infal- 
libly appear to them. Mr. Osborn agreed 
to accept the proposal, and to accompany 
his serene highness to the scene of these 
supernatural exhibitions, provided that 
he would order six grenadiers, their 
pieces loaded with ball cartridge, to at- 
tend them ; and would enjoin the grena- 
niers to fire upon whatever object might 
assume the appearance of a ghost. But 
the prince by no means relished the 
idea, and the party therefore did not take 
place. Of the accuracy of this anecdote 
I can have no doubt, as it was related to 
me by Mr. Osborn himself, whose honour 
and veracity were indisputable. Prince 
Ferdinand continued till the period of 
his death, in July, 1792, to be a dupe 
and a convert of the Illumines. 

Sir Joseph Yorke, afterwards created 
Lord Dover, maintained a distinguished 
rank among the members of the corps 
diplomatique, in 1777, at the Hague. 
His table, splendid and hospitable, was 
open to strangers of every country. 
Educated under Horace, Lord Walpole, 
and under the first Lord Hampden, his 
manners and address had in them some- 
thing formal and ceremonious ; but, the 
vigilance and ability which he displayed 
during aI)ove five-and-twenty years that 
he was embassador of England to the 
states-general, more than compensated 
for these defects of external deportment. 
Never, perhaps, at any period of modern 
time, except by Sir William Temple, 
under Charles the Second, were the in- 
terests of Great Britain so zealously, yet 
temperately sustained, as by him ; for 
whom the stadiholder felt and expressed 
a sort of filial regard. In 1777, the Eng- 
lish sovereign and nation still continued 
to preserve an ascendancy in the Dutch 
councils ; till the augmenting misfortunes 
and accumulated disgraces of the Ameri- 
can war, which finally enabled France 
to obtain a predominating influence, 
compelled Lord North to recall Sir 
Joseph Yorke from the Hague. 

With another of his majesty's foreign 



ministers, Mr. Wroughton. who became 
afterwards Sir Thomas Wroughton, I 
passed a considerable part of the summer 
of 1778, in the court and capital of Po- 
land. Warsaw, destined to become in 
more recent periods, the theatre of car- 
nage and revolution, then enjoyed a de- 
lusive calm ; while Austria, Saxony and 
Prussia, were involved in war relative to 
the Bavarian succession. Wroughton, 
at the time of which I speak, was about 
forty six. He had been very handsome 
in his youth, and though grown some- 
what corpulent, still preserved many of 
the graces, and much of the activity of 
that period of life. His education if it 
had not given him a very cultivated mind, 
had completely fitted him for the world; 
and a residence of more than twenty 
yeais at the two courts of Poland and 
Russia, in a public character, rendered 
his conversation upon all points connect- 
ed with the history of tlie north of Eu- 
rope, no less entertaining than informing. 
From him I learned a number of curious 
facts respecting the two Russian em- 
presses, Elizabeth and Catherine ; which \ 
though they assuredly would have been 
transmitted to posterity by Brantome, ' 
cannot, without violating decorum, be 
commemorated in the present age. i 

Sir Thomas Wroughton was sent, at { 
three or four and twenty, to Peiersburgh, 
where he subsequently became British 
consul, during the reign of the former of 
those princesses. No man was better 
acquainted with her character, as well as 
with the political intrigues which dis- 
tinguished the concluding years of Eli- 
zabeth's life. He assured me that she 
died a victim to her own excesses, and 
almost with a saucer of cherry brandy 
at her lips; it having been found im- 
possible, by any injunctions of her 
physicians, to prevent the female attend- 
ants about her person and bed, from in- 
dulging her in this pernicious gratification. 
The last princess of the Stuart line who 
reigned in this country, has been accused 
of a similar passion, if we may believe 
the secret history of that time, or trust 
to the couplet which was affixed to the pe- 
destal of her statue, in front of St. Paul's, 
by the satirical wits of 1714. The Em- 
press Elizabeth's amours were such as 
the Messalinas and Faustinas of antiquity 
are asserted to have carried on in the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



79 



capital of the Roman world, without de- 
licacy, shame or restraint. Suetonius 
might have found it difficult to relate, 
and Juvenal, as impossible to exagge- 
rate, the particulars of Elizabeth's gal- 
lantries. 

Of Catherine, Sir Thomas Wroughton 
always spoke with admiration and re- 
spect, though with freedom. To her no- 
tice he was indeed greatly indebted for 
his elevation in lii'e ; she having been in- 
strumental in procuring him the appoint- 
ment of consul to Pelersburgh. As he 
was in the flower of his age at that time, 
and of an imposing figure, he attracted 
her attention, and was honoured by her 
with such distinguishing marks of predi- 
lection, as to draw upon him the resent- 
ment of the grand duke, her husband ; 
who, when he ascended the throne, early 
in 1762, by the name of Peter the Third, 
obtained, during his short reign, Wrough- 
ton's removal from Russia. He was 
then sent, by orders from his own court, 
to Dresden, as minister to Augustus the 
Tiiird, Elector of Saxony, in his^capacity 
of King of Poland ; and he accompanied 
or followed that monarch from Saxony 
to Warsaw, in the last visit that Augus- 
tus made to his Polish dominions. As 
Wroughton had become an object of Pe- 
ter's unconcealed dislike or jealousy, and 
as Catherine had distinguished him by 
personal attentions of the most flattering 
nature : it was not an improbable sup- 
position, that she might have carried, to 
the utmost extent, her preference of him. 
But he always assured me, even in mo- 
ments of the greatest confidence and un- 
reserve, that he had never violated for an 
instant the limits of the most profound 
respect towards her; nor had ever re- 
ceived from her encouragement for such 
presumption on his part. "Count Po- 
niatowski," said he, •' was her lover. I 
was only her humble friend and servant." 
He told me, that the first time he ever 
heard the name of Orloff mentioned, or 
ever saw the officer who afterwards be- 
came, as*Prince Orlofl^, the avowed fa- 
vourite of Catherine in every sense, was 
on the following occasion. Crossing the 
court of the winter palace at Petersburg!!, 
some time during the year 1760, the 
grand duchess, who leaned on his arm, 
pointed out to him a young man in the 
uniform of the Russian guards, then in 



the act of saluting her with his spontoon ; 
and added, " Fotis vnyez ce beaujeiine 
homme. Le cotinoissez-voiis?^' Wrough- 
ton replied in the negative, "// s'appelle 
Orloff,'' said Catherine ; ''Croiriez-vous 
qiCil a en la hardiesse de me /aire 
r amour?'' ''11 est hien hardi, Ma- 
dame," answered he, smiling. The con- 
versation proceeded no farther ; but it 
remained deeply printed upon Wrough- 
ton's recollection, who from that moment 
silently anticipated the future favour of 
OrlofT." Sir 'i'homas Wroughton always 
spoke to me of Catherine's participation 
or acquiescence in the death of Peter the 
Third, as involuntary, reluctant, and the 
result of an insurmountable necessity. 
He even considered her knowledge of 
the destruction of the unfortunate Empe- 
ror Ivan, who was stabbed by his own 
guards at Schlusselbourg, in 1764, with 
a view to prevent his being liberated by 
Mirowitsch, as exceedingly problemati- 
cal. But he believed, in common with 
all Poland, that Catherine had found 
means to entrap, and to transfer to Pe- 
tersburgh, the Princess Tarrakanoflf, a 
daughter of the Empress Elizabeth ; 
where, as was asserted, she had perished 
ii» prison, by the waters of the river Neva 
entering the room in which she was con- 
fined. There can be no doubt that 
Alexis OrlofT, so well known in the annals 
of Catherine's reign, who then com- 
manded the Russian fleet in the Mediter- 
ranean ; became on that occasion the in- 
strument of her vengeance, or rather of 
her appprehensions, by enticing on board 
his ship, in the port of Leghorn, the un- 
happy female in question. This accusa- 
tion, sustained by many strong facts and 
apparent proofs, narrated at great length, 
has since been submitted to the tribunal 
of Europe, in "Z« Vie de Catherine Se- 
conde," by Castera, published in 1797, 
soon after the empress's decease. Sir 
John Dick, who at the time of the sup- 
posed princess's seizure by Alexis OrlofT, 
was British consul at Leghorn ; is named 
in the work to which I allude, as having 
been an accomplice in the act of ensnar- 
ing, and carrying her oflf to the Russian 
admiral's ship. His wife is likewi-^e 
charged with a participation in so foul a 
conspiracy. 

I lived during several years in habits 
of familiar acquaintance with Sir John 



80 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Dick, who retained at fourscore, all the 
activity of iniildle life, together with the 
perfect possession of his memory and 
faculties. He was an agreeable, enter- 
taining, and well bred man, who had 
seen much of the world. Dining in a 
large company, at Mr. Thomas Hope's, 
in Berkeley Square, on Sunday, the lOlh 
of February, 1799, I sat by Sir John 
Dick; and well knowing his intimacy 
with Alexis Orlofl', I inquired of him, 
where the count then was ; " He is," 
answered Sir John Dick, " at present at 
Leipsic, from which place he wrote to 
me only three weeks ago. The Empe- 
ror Paul commanded him to travel, after 
having made him and Prince Baratinskoi, 
both of whom assisted in the termination 
of Peter the Third's life, assist likewise 
at the funeral ceremonies of that prince. 
They held the pall, and actually mounted 
guard over the body, in the church of the 
citadel of Petersburgh ; remaining the 
whole night with the corpse. Alexis 
went through this function with perfect 
composure." Encouraged by the frank- 
ness of this reply, I ventured to ask him, 
if he had read the narrative of the Prin- 
cess Tarrakanofl[''s seizure, related in 
"Za Vie de Catherine Seconde?^'' "I 
have certainly perused it," said he, "and 
not without some concern, as I am there 
accused by name, no less than my wife, 
of having been a party to the act of trans- 
porting, by violence, a young, unsuspect- 
ing, and innocent princess, on board the 
Russian fleet. I will relate to you, as a 
man of veracity, all the part that I took, 
and all I know, relative to the pretended 
princess in question ; who is there as- 
serted to have been a daughter of Eliza- 
beth, Empress of Russia, by Alexis Ra- 
zoumoffsky. 

"During the time that the Russian 
squadron lay in the harbour of Leghorn, 
in 1771, Alexis OrlofT, who was the Ad- 
miral, resided frequently, if not princi- 
pally, at Pisa, where he hired a splendid 
house. One morning, about eleven 
o'clock, a Cossack, who was in his ser- 
vice, and who acted as his courier, arrived 
at my door ; charged with a message, to 
inform me that his master, with some 
company, in three carriages, meant to 
dine with me on that day. I accordingly 
ordered a dinner to be prepared for his 
reception. When he arrived, he brought 



with him a lady, whom he introduced to 
my wife, and to myself: but he never 
named her, only calling her, " Questa 
Damay She was by no means hand- 
some, though genteel in her figure ; ap- 
parently thirty years of age ; and had 
the air of a person who had suffered in 
her health. There seemed something 
mysterious about her, which excited my 
curiosity, but which I could not pene- 
trate. Considering her with attention, 
it struck me forcibly that I had seen her 
before, and in England. Being deter- 
mined, if possible, to satisfy myself oa 
this point, as we stood leaning against 
the chimney piece in my drawing-room, 
before dinner, I said to her, ' I believe, 
Ma'am, you speak English.' ' I speak 
only one little,' answered she. AVe sat 
down to dinner, and after the repast, 
Alexis OrlofF proposed to my wife, and 
to another lady who was there present, 
to accompany liim and the female stran- 
ger, on board his ship. They both de- 
clining it, Orloft" took her with him in the 
evening. The boom or chain was then 
stretched across the harbour ; but a boat 
came from the Russian admiral's ship, 
into which he put the lady, and accom- 
panied her, himself, safe on board. 

"On the ensuing morning, when OrlofF 
came on shore, he proceeded to my 
house. His eyes were violently in- 
flamed, and his whole countenance be- 
trayed much agitation. Without ex- 
plaining to me the cause or the reason of 
this disorder, he owned that he had 
passed a very unpleasant night; and he 
requested me to let him have some of 
the most amusing books in my library, 
in order to divert the lady who was on 
board his ship. I never saw her again : 
but, I know that soon afterwards, she 
was sent by Alexis, in a frigate, to Cron- 
stadt ; where, without being ever land- 
ed, she was transferred up the Neva, to 
the fortress of Schlusselbourg, at the 
mouth of the lake Ladoga. Catherine 
there confined her, in the very lyom that 
Peter the Third had caused to be con- 
structed, with intent to shut up herself 
in it. The lady unquestionably died in 
that prison of chagrin ; but she was not 
drowned by the water of the Nevacoming 
into her apartment, as is asserted in " La 
Vie de Catherine Secondc.'" 

" Having stated to you," continued Sir 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



81 



John Dick, " these circumslances, I will 
now iiiroriii you, who, and of what de- 
scriplion, wa% the lady in question. Far 
from bein*r, as is pretended, adaughterof 
Elizabeth, Empress of Kussia, lier father 
was a baker of Nuremberg; in Franconia. 
If, on this point, my testimony should 
appear to you doubtful or suspicious, the 
present Margrave of Anspach, wiio is in 
this country, and who knew her well, is 
ready to testify the same fact. She was 
a woman of pleasure during a short time, 
both in Paris, and here in London ; at 
which last nieiitioned city she had picked 
up a few words of English. Prince Ni- 
cholas Radzivil, who was driven out of 
Poland by the Russians, having met with 
her, made her his mistress, and carried 
her with him into Italy. In order to 
revenge himself on Catherine, who had 
expelled him from his native country, 
and confiscated his immense estates in 
Lithuania, he resolved on calling her the 
Princess Tarrakanofi', pretending that she 
was Elizabeth's daughter. Such she 
was in (act considered to be by many 
who saw her; and the report acquiring 
strengtii, soon reached Pelersburgh. 
Catherine, naturally alarmed at the exist- 
ence of a female pretender, who might 
lay claim to the very throne of Russia ; 
and being informed that Prince Radzivil 
asserted her right to the empire, as a le- 
gitimate daughter of Elizabeth by Ra- 
zoumofl':?ky, to whom she had been se- 
cretly married ; thought that not a mo- 
ment was to be lost, in securing the per- 
son of so dangerous a rival. She issued 
private orders therefore to Alexis Orloff, 
enjoining him to gain possession of the 
pretendeil princess, at all events, and by 
every possible means, either of money or 
of violence. To so great a height did 
the empress's apprehensions rise, that 
OrlofT avowed to me, he had received 
the positive commands of her majesty, to 
pursue her even to Ragusa, if neces- 
sary ; where it was understood she had 
retired ; to demand her from tlie govern- 
rnent of tir.it small republic ; and if they 
should refu.'^e to give her up, to bombard 
the city, and to lay it in ashes. But 
Alexis found means to entrap, or to en- 
tice her, without either disturbance or 
hostility. He treated her as his mistres-, 
while he resided at Pisa, and while she 
lay on board his ship al Leghorn. These 



are all the particulars that I know rela- 
tive to her, and all the share that I had 
in her detention, or her misfortunes." 

It is probable that this recital, however 
natural and plausible it may appear, or 
however tiiie it may be in point of fact, 
will nevertheless by no means carry 
conviction to every mind. I confess that 
it neither produced that sentiment in me, 
at the time when Sir John Dick related 
it ; nor on the fullest consideration, am I 
thoroughly persuaded that the person 
in question, was not the daughter of 
Elizabeth. It seems to be universally 
admitted, and I have ahvays been so as- 
sured, that the empress did privately es- 
pouse Razoumoffsky ; that she had by 
him, between the years 1740 and 1745, 
various children ; one of whom was 
brought up, and calleil the Princess or 
Countess Tarrakanolf. Prince Radzivil 
might, as is asserted in " La Vie de Ca- 
therine S'econde,^^ have contrived means 
to carry her off; and after accompanying 
her to Rome, might there have quitted or 
deserted her. It is unquestionable, even 
by Sir John Dick's account, that Cathe- 
rine dreaded her ; and that Orloff by her 
orders, decoyed, ensnared, and made 
himself master of the person of this un- 
fortunate female. But that in order to 
effect his base and barbarous purpose, 
Orloff actually married her, or pretended 
so to do ; that she passed several days 
under Sir John Dick's roof, in amuse- 
ment and dissipation ; that " the consul, 
his wife, and the wife of rear Admiral 
Greig, took their seals by her in the 
barge, which conveyed her on board the 
Russian squadron ;" finally, that a British 
consul would dishonour himself, his so- 
vereign, and his nation, by openly fa- 
cilitating so perfidious an act; — all these 
assertions of Caslera, and many others 
relative to her treatment on board OrlofTs 
ship, appear to me wholly undeserving 
of credit. They are, indeed, completely 
disproved by Sir John Dick's narrative 
to me, unless we suppose him utterly 
devoid of truth and honour. On the 
other hand, that he should have re- 
mained silent under such a charge, made 
in- the face of all Europe, without at- 
tempting to repel, or to disprove it, in 
as public a manner as it was brought 
torward, seems almost like a negative 
admission of its veracity. His denial 



82 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



of the accusation, given in private con- 
versation to me, could not redeem his 
character to the world at large. Sir 
John, we may likewise remember, lay 
under personal obligations to Catherine 
the Second, who had conferred on him 
one of the Russian orders of knighthood; 
and from his connexion with whom, 
while OrlofF lay at Leghorn with her 
fleet, he had derived great pecuniary 
advantages. The manner in which 
Alexis treated him, by bringing to his 
house a stranger, without previously so- 
liciting permission : whom he never an- 
nounced to Sir John, or to his wife by 
name ; and with whom he lived as his 
mistress; — these facts seem to imply 
great subservience on the part of the 
British consul ; and will probably induce 
us to pause, before we give implicit be- 
lief to his assertions. I leave, however, 
the decision on this point to every man's 
own opinion. 

But was the lady in question, the 
daughter of Elizabeth, or not ? It seems 
to me impossible, for want of evidence, 
to reply satisfactorily to the question. I 
confess, however, that I think it more 
probable she should have been, as Sir 
John Dick asserted, a German woman, 
whom Prince Radzivil had instructed, or 
induced, to assume the name and title of 
Princess TarrakanofF. It is even very 
difficult altogether to condemn the Em- 
press Catherine, for endeavouring to get 
possession of her person. For, had she 
passed over to Ragusa, and from thence 
into the Ottoman dominions, she would 
have been, when once in the hands of 
the Turks, with whom Russia was at 
war, a most dangerous competitor to the 
throne. We must recollect that Cathe- 
rine herself had attained the imperial 
dignity by a revolution, and the conse- 
quent destruction of her husband, without 
any right of descent. To her, an impos- 
tress was nearly as formidable as a right- 
ful pretender to the crown. The history 
of the false Demetrius, in the beginning 
of the seventeenth century, so famous in 
tne Muscovite Annals, might justly inspire 
her with apprehension. Similar scenes 
might be renewed under her own reign, 
in the interior of that vast empire. Pu- 
gatclieft' had long been considered, by a 
great part of the Russian people, as the 
Emperor Peter the Third. These con- 



siderations must, at least in a political 
point of view, justify Catherine for 
taking measures to prevent the lady in 
question from being made an instrument 
in the hands of vindictive or ambitious 
individuals, to accomplish their projects 
of vengeance against herself. In the 
eyes of morality and of humanity, the 
whole reign and administration of that 
empress, however brilliant and imposing 
it may appear through the medium of 
Voltaire's, or of the Prince de Ligne's 
writings, cannot bear a close examina- 
tion, or support a severe scrutiny. 

The first Grand Duchess of Russia, 
Wilhelmina, Princess of Hesse Darm- 
stadt, who, on her marriage with the 
Duke Paul, assumed the name of Natalia 
Alexiewna , perished, like the pretended 
Princess Tarrakanoff, in the prime of 
life, and under circumstances that ex- 
cited at the time much commisseration. 
I have seen the grand duchess in ques- 
tion, at the drawing-room at the palace 
of Peterhoff, in 1774, soon after her 
marriage. She had been chosen in pre- 
ference to two of her sisters, who ac- 
companied her on the journey from 
Germany to Russia. Those princesses 
must have been very deficient in personal 
attractions, if Paul'.s selection resulted 
from her superiority in that respect, 
above her sisters. I have rarely beheld 
a young person less favoured by nature. 
She had a scorbutic humour in her face, 
nor did her countenance indicate either 
intelligence or dignity ; but she was said 
to be amiable and pleasing in her man- 
ners. To the great joy of Catherine, as 
well as of the empire at large, which 
anxiously expected the birth of an heir, 
she became pregnant in 1775. That she 
died about two years subsequent to her 
marriage, during the confinement inci- 
dent to her accouchement, is certain ; but 
the precise nature of her death is not 
well ascertained and produced various 
reports, some of which were injurious to 
the empress's reputation. I have, my- 
self, heard them, while I resided at 
Vienna, from persons of the highest dis- 
tinction, particularly from two princes of 
Hesse Philipstahl, within three or four 
years after the grand duchess's decease: 
but I believe they were not entitled to 
credit. It was likewise generally as- 
serted that the princess in question had 



HISTORICAL 
— ♦- 

formed a strong attachment for one of 
tlie handsomest, as well as mo:it accom- 
plished young nobleman about the court 
of Petersburgh, with whom she had en- 
tered into a correspondence of a delicate 
description. The circumstance becoming 
known to Paul, occcasioned him no or- 
dinary uneasiness. A fact which seemed 
to give probability to the story, is that 
the nobleman himself to whom I allude, 
was then resident at Vienna; to which 
city he had been sent, as cofnmon fame 
affirmed, by Catherine, on the complaints 
of her son, immediately after the death of 
the unfortunate princess in question. I 
knew him very familiarly, while at Vi- 
enna. He since tilled the post of envoy 
from the Empress of Russia, at an Italian 
court ; where he was believed to have 
carried his temerity, and his success, 
even higher than he had done at Peters- 
burgh. Few men whom I have ever 
seen or known, were more formed by 
nature to be beloved by women. His 
figure was advantageous ; his manners, 
though lofty, yet were gay and captivat- 
ing, whenever he desired to conciliate 
good-will ; and his countenance, which 
somewhat resembled that of a Calmuck, 
had in it, nevertheless, an air of great 
distinction, spirit, and intelligence. He 
had served in the Russian fleet, under 
Alexis Orloff ; was present at the memo- 
rable victory of Tschisme, on the coast 
of Natolia, in 1770, where the Turkish 
squadron in that bay was destroyed; and 
had acquired, under Admirals Elphiii- 
stone and Greig, not only a knowledge 
of naval tactics, but of the English lan- 
guage likewise, which he spoke with 
admirable ease and fluency. The secret 
history of the imperial family of Russia, 
from the reign of Peter the First inclu- 
sive, down to the present time, has al- 
ready furnished, and will, as it gradually 
becomes known, continue to afford mat- 
ter of the most curious, as well as inte- 
resting nature. When we reflect that 
three emperors, Peter, Ivan, and Paul, 
have sucessively perished by violent 
means, within little more than lialf a cen- 
tury; and when we consider that this stu- 
pendous empire, embracing so vast a por- 
tion of the globe, has been governed al- 
most exclusively by women, from the 
year 1725, down to 1796, including a 
space of more than seventy years ; — 



MEMOIRS. 



83 



lastly, when we recollect that of the four 
females who have successively swayed 
the sceptre of Peter the Great, two, 
namely, Catherine the First and Second, 
were Germans or Livonians, unconnected 
except by marriage, with the ancient 
czars or sovereigns of Muscovy ;— when 
we contemplate these facts, we cannot 
be surprised if this Asiatic empire, newly 
assimilated to our European monarchies 
and states, should present scenes alto- 
gether unlike the manners of London, 
Paris, or Vienna. 

After the death of the grand duchess, 
Catherine was at least determined to lose 
no time in providing for her son a second 
wife. For this purpose, she applied, 
almost immediately subsequent to the de- 
cease of the unfortunate Natalia Alexi- 
ewna, to the great Frederic, King of 
Prussia, requesting him to select for Paul 
a German princess, to supply the vacancy 
occasioned in the imperial family. She 
even sketched out with her own hand 
the prominent qualities of person and of 
mind, which she considered as princi- 
pally requisite in the object of his choice. 
This delicate commission Frederic exe- 
cuted with great ability ; and, having 
fully ascertained the ground, he recom- 
mended the Princess Sophia of Wirtem- 
berg to the empress, for her future 
daughter-in-law. It was perhaps impos- 
sible to have made a more judicious 
selection for such a dangerous eminence, 
which frequently conducted to a convent, 
to Siberia, or to a grave. She was not 
quite seventeen years of age ; and she 
possessed, besides the graces of youth, 
personal attractions, well calculated to 
retain the grand duke's affections. Her 
understanding solid, and her deportment 
blameless, secured universal esteem ; 
while, at the same time, she neither dis- 
|)layed such talents, energy of character, 
or ambition, as could render her an ob- 
ject of Catherine's apprehension. Paul, 
accompanied by Marshal Romanzoff, 
whose victories over the Turks have 
rendered him so justly celebrated, was 
sent by Catherine, in 1770, to Berlin ; 
where Frederic, after contributing to pro- 
cure him a wife, entertained him atPotz- 
dam in the most splendid manner. 

At one of these entertainments, given, 
if I recollect right, in the new palace 
near Sans Souci ; in the midst of the 



84 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



dinner, a large piece of the ceiling fell 
down on the table, involving the room 
and the company in dust, confusion, and 
astonishment: not unlike the accident 
which Fundanius relates as happening at 
Nasidienus's supper. The king, with 
admirable presence of mind, instantly 
throwing his arms round Paul, who sat 
next him, held the grand duke closely 
embraced, without suffering him to stir, 
till tiie cause, as well as the consequences 
of the disaster, were ascertained. When 
it was discovered to have arisen only 
from a defect in the plaster of the ceil- 
ing, and to have been altogether casual, 
a courier was immediately despatched to 
Petersburgh, stating the particulars to 
Catherine ; assuring her, at the same 
time, that her son was in perfect safety. 
We cannot help admiring the quickness 
of Frederic's perception, which, ignorant 
as he was from what cause so unusual 
and alarming an event originated, led 
him, without a moment's delay, to parti- 
cipate the danger and the misfortune, if 
such existed, with the grand duke. In 
fact, they must have perished together, 
if they perished at all. The malignity 
of mankind would unquestionably have 
suspected or attributed treachery of some 
kind, had any fatal accident, in which 
the king was not enveloped, befallen his 
guest. Frederic, by his promptitude, 
obviated the possibility of misrepresen- 
tation, either at Petersburgh, or in any 
other of the courts of Europe. 

During the first ten or fifteen years of 
the reign of Catherine the Second, it was 
commonly believed ; and in Poland, 
where men ventured to state their opi- 
nions in conversation, with more freedom 
than they dared to do in Russia, I have 
heard it often maintained in private so- 
ciety, that the Grand Duke I-*aul would, 
sooner or later, disappear, as Peter the 
Third did in 1762, and as the unfortunate 
Emperor Ivan did in 1764. If Catherine 
had dreaded her son, such an event might 
have been not impossible : but she knew 
him, and did not fear him. The strong- 
est mark of her superiority to all appre- 
hension from his maciiinations, or efforts 
to ascend the Russian throne before his 
time, was the permission which she gave 
him to travel over Germany, France, and 
Italy. Peter the First never extended 
such a degree of emancipation to his son, 



Czarowitz Alexis. Paul v/as accom- 
panied on his tour by the grand duchess, 
for whom he then manifested the utmost 
fondness ; though the testimonies which 
he gave her of his affection, were not 
always regulated by delicacy or pro- 
priety. Sir William Hamilton told me, 
that when Paul arrived at Naples in 
1783, he had the honour to accompany the 
grand duke and duchess on their excur- 
sions round that city, in order to view 
Portici, Pompeii, and the other principal 
objects of curiosity visited by travellers. 
" The first time." said Sir William, 
" that I was with them in a coach, we 
had not proceeded far, when Paul, as if 
unconscious that I was present, throwing 
his arms about the grand duchess, began 
to kiss her with as much warmth, as he 
could have shown if they had been alone 
and newly married. I was somewhat 
embarrassed at this unusual display of 
matrimonial attachment, hardly knowing 
which way to direct my view; for there 
was no other person with us in the car- 
riage : and as I sat opposite to their im- 
perial highnesses, I could not easily 
avoid seeing all that passed, though I 
affected to look through the glass at the 
objects without. At length, the grand 
duke addressing himself to me, said, 
♦ Monsieur le Chevalier, faime beau- 
coup ma femme.'' It was impossible not 
to credit the assertion, after the proofs 
which he had just exhibited. But 
we had not proceeded a mile further, 
wlien he recommenced the same demon- 
strations of attachment, which he repeat- 
ed many times before we arrived at 
Portici : usually observing to me each 
time, ' Vous voyez que f aime beauconp 
ma femme.'' I could only express my 
satisfaction at his felicity, concealing my 
astonishment at the testimonies of it 
which I had witnessed." It would have 
been happy for this violent and infatu- 
ated prince, if he had never ascended the 
Russian throne, but had always continued 
in the state of political annihilation to 
which his mother had reduced him, and 
in which she retained him to the end of 
her life. 

The pretended Princess Tarrakanoff 
and the first Grand Duchess of Russia, 
were not the only females of high rank, 
who expired by a premature death, un- 
der Catherine's reign. Augusta Caroline, 



HISTORICAL MEMOmS. 



85 



eldest daughter of the late t-elebrated 
Duke of Brunswic-Wolfenbuttel, who 
fell at Auerstadt in 1800, is supposed to 
have perished in a manner equally mys- 
terious. This prini'iess, who was horn 
towards the end of the year 1764, before 
she attained the age of sixteen, was 
married to the Prince of Wirtemberg, 
since elevated by Bonaparte to the dig* 
nity of a king. He was then about 
twenty-six years old, and might be con- 
sidered as eventual presumptive heir to 
his uncle, the reigning Uuke of Wirtem- 
berg, Charles Eugene, who had no issue. 
When I was at the court of Brunswic, in 
the autumn of 1777, at which time the 
princess was near thirteen, 1 saw her 
more than once in the apartments of her 
mother. She had a very fair complexion, 
light hair, pleasing features, and an in- 
teresting figure. Some years after her 
marriasre, she accompanied the prince 
her luisband into Russia, when he en- 
tered into the military service of that 
crown ; to the heir of which, as has 
been already stated, his sister was mar- 
ried. They resided during some time 
at Pelersburgh, or in other parts of the 
Russian empire; but in 1787 he quitted 
Catherine's service and dominions ; 
leaving his wife behind, of whose con- 
duct, it was asserted, he had great reason 
to complain. They had then three 
children living, two sons and a daughter, 
whom the empress permitted him to take 
away, when he withdrew from her em- 
ploy ; but she retained the princess un- 
der her own protection. At the end of a 
year or two, it was notified to the Prince 
of Wirtemberg, as well as to the Duke 
of Brunswic, by ortler of the empress, 
that the consort of the one, and the dauc:h- 
ter of the other, was no more. The d\ike, 
her father, immediately demanded in most 
pressing terms, that her body might be de- 
livered up to him : but this request was 
never granted, nor did he even receive 
any such authentic proofs of her decease, 
and still less of the circumstances altend- 
inff it, as could satisfy him on the sub- 
ject. Doubts were not only entertained 
whether she died a natural death, but it re- 
mained questionable whether she did not 
still survive, and was not existing in Si- 
beria, or in the Polar Deserts ; like many 
other illustrious exiles of her own family, 
who had been banished thither by the em- 
8 



press Elizabeth, vvhen she ascended the 
throne in 1741, on the deposition of Ivan. 

In May, 1797, the Princess Royal of 
Enjjiand was married to the Prince of 
Wirtemberg ; who, before the conclusion 
of that year, became duke, by the de- 
cease of Frederic Eugene his father. 
Early in the summer of 1798, a gentle- 
man, conversing with me on the subject 
of the first Princess of Wirtemberg's 
death, assured me that he had seen and 
perused all the papers relative to her im- 
prisonment and decease; wiiich at the 
desire of the prince himself, and by his 
authority, had been transmitted to George 
the Third ; who, after a full inspection 
of them, became perfectly convinced of 
his having had no part, direct or indi- 
rect, in that dark and melancholy trans^ 
action. 

" Frederic William, reigning Duke of 
Wirtemberg," said he, " entered when 
young, as is well known, into tlie Prus^ 
sian service. Old Frederic liked and 
di-;tinguished him. Wishing to attach 
him to the house of Brandenburoh by 
permanent ties, and considering him as A 
man of promising abilities, the king him- 
self set on foot, and finally concUlded his 
marriage with the eldest daughter of his 
own favourite nephew and general, the 
Duke of Brunswic. This event took 
place in 1780. About five years after- 
wards, Frederic being disposed to form a 
second alliance with the family of Wir- 
temberg, by marrying his great nephew, 
the present Kinij of Prussia, as soon as his 
age would allow, with the Princess Eli- 
zabeth, sister to the prince ; despatched 
him to Petersburgh for tnat purpose. 
His instructions were, to apply to his 
sister the grand duchess, for the exertion 
of her influence at the court of Stiiigard, 
in order to prevail on the duke to pro* 
mise his niece to the eventual heir of the 
Prussian monarchy. This negotiation 
was however rendered unsuceessful bv 
the demand which the Emperor Joseph 
the Second made about the same lime, of 
the Princess Elizabeth of Wirtemberg, 
for his nephew, Francis, hereditary- 
Prince of Tuscany, now Emperor of 
Austria ; a marriage which was actually 
accomplished early in 1788. 

'' When the Prince of Wirtemberg ar- 
rived in the capital of the Russian empire, 
this Austrian alliance was already set- 



86 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



tied ; or at least, was too far advanred in 
its progress, to be overturned by hi-s in- 
terference. After making, therefore, 
every effort in his power, through the 
grand duchess, to prevent its accomplish- 
ment; and finding these exertions fruit- 
less, he returned to Potzdam. Whether 
Frederic suspected any duplicity or in- 
sincerity on his part ; or whether it was 
the result merely of disappointment ; it 
is certain that he received the prince very 
coldly: and the Empress of Russia hav- 
ing soon afterwards invited him into her 
service, he quitted that of Prussia, and 
tevisited Petersburgh. She employed 
him in the war that began in 1787 against 
the Turks ; and he commanded one of 
the three armies which took the field. 
The van, consisting of forty thousand 
men, was entrusted to him. He is said 
to have displayed great military talents, 
to have distinsfuished himself much., and 
to have rendered essential services to 
Catherine. ' 

" At the time that he entered the Rus- 
sian service, he carried the princess, his 
wife, with him to Petersburgii, as well as 
the two sons and daughtei which slie 
had brought him. Being in the flower 
of her youth, endowed with many amia- 
ble qualities of mind and of deportment, 
she soon became a favourite of Cathe- 
rine ; in whose society and intimate con- 
fidence she occupied a distinguished 
place. It can hardly however excite as- 
tonishment, that such an intercourse 
should have been calculated to corrupt 
her morals. The court and palace of the 
empress were scenes of dissipation and 
licentiousness. Yet, when the prince 
went to serve against the Turks, he, of 
necessity, left his wife exposed to all 
these temptations. In eflect, during his 
absence, she conducted herself so impru- 
dently, that when he returned after the 
conclusion of the campaign, to Peters- 
burgh, he found himself forced to adopt 
some strong measures respecting her. 
Being placed in this painful situation, he 
wrote to her father the Duke of Bruns- 
wic, informing him of his daughter's 
misconduct, and consulting him on the 
mode of action proper to be pursued un- 
der those circnimstances. It was agreed 
between them, that as a preliminary step, 
she should be removed out of Russia ; and 
the prince accordingly demanded Cathe- 



rine's permission to quit her dominions, 
together with his wife and family. The 
empress allowed him to retire, and to take 
with him his children ; but she peremp- 
torily refused to permit him to carry his 
consort back to Germany. All remon- 
strance proving vain, the princess there- 
fore remained behind, and he quitted 
Petersburgh with his sons and daughter, 
to return to Wirtemberg. 

" About a fortnight after his departure, 
the princess, without any reason assign- 
ed, was sent by order of Catherine, to the 
castle of Lhode, about two hundred miles 
from Petersburgh ; but in what part or 
province of that vast empire, I am una- 
ble to assert. There it seems, underdose 
confinement, she remained about eigh- 
teen month? : but all her German attend- 
ants, male and female, were withdrawn 
from her. At the end of that time, the 
prince received letters from the empress, 
informing him that his wife was dead of 
a hemorrhage. Similar information was 
conveyed by Catherine to the Duke of 
Brunswic, the unfortunate princess's fa- 
ther, Mo particulars were stated ; nor, 
as far as appears, were any other circum- 
stances ever known respecting her. Thus 
situated, the Duke of Brunswic, con- 
scious that he could neither bring his 
daughter to life, nor call the empress to 
account, acquiesced patiently in the ca- 
lamity : but during some years, he did 
not communicate to the duchess his wife, 
the intelligence of her daughter's death. 
She therefore remaining in ignorance of 
the catastrophe, continued to believe that 
the princess was still confined at Lhode, 
or existing somewhere in the deserts of 
Russia. The duchess used even to speak 
of her, as being alive in Siberia; and this 
fact will account for the universality of 
the report." 

If the account given me by Sir John 
Dick, relative to the supposed Princess 
Tarrnkanofi", left many circumstances 
obscure and unexplained in the history 
of that female ; it must be owned that, 
after considering this narrative, no les.«» 
unceriainty still pervades the story of tiie 
Princess of Wirtemberg. It is natural 
to ask, why did Catherine cause the 
princess to be imprisoned ? Her gallant- 
ries, however culpable or notorious they 
might be, yet constituted no crime against 
the Empress of Russia ; who exhibited 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



87 



in her own cnnducl, an example of 
einancipulion from all rosiraiiit and de- 
corum on the ariicle of female irrej^ii- 
larilies ol deporlmciii. It was the |)rince 
her liiishaiul, wlioin slie had (iKslioiioiired 
and incensed. Wiial proof is adduced, 
except |a.>sertion, that he did noi know of 
the inteniions of Catherine to confine 
and bani<h her ? In the case of the two 
emperors, Peter the Third, and Ivan ; 
as well as in the instance of the pretend- 
ed Princess Tarrakanofi"; the motives 
which might impel her to deprive them 
of life, are obvious. But none such ap- 
pear in tlie instance before us. There 
are, moreover, other particulars which 
may lead us to hesitate in forming a de- 
cisive opinion on tlie subject. The death 
of the princess of Wirtemherg at Lhode, 
was announced and stated in all the Ger- 
man almanacs, printed by authority, to 
have taken place on " the 27th Septem- 
ber, 1788." Her husband remained a 
widower near eigitt years after that evenl, 
before he aspired to tlie hand of ihe Prin- 
cess Royal of Great Britain. During so 
long a period of time, he seems to have 
adopted no measures for repelling the 
calumnious reports circulated all over 
Europe; reports which, however false 
(and such I esteem them to have been), 
yet had made the most unfavourable im- 
pression even in England. George the 
Third became, indeed, perfectly convinc- 
ed of his innocence, before he consent- 
ed to the union of the prince with his 
eldest daughter. But, though the king 
yielded to the undeniable proofs brought 
upon this point, yet from paternal fond- 
ness or solicitude^ he did it with reluc- 
tance. So far, indeed, was he froih push- 
ing forward the alliance, that I know, 
from good authority, he offered the prin- 
cess, after all the preliminaries were ad- 
justed, and the marriage was fixed, to 
break it off, if she chose to decline it, 
taking on himself personally, the whole 
responsibility of its failure. Over the 
precise nature of the first princess of 
Wirtemberg's illness and death, a deep 
Of impenetrable veil is drawn. We must 
leave it to time to unfold, if it does not ra- 
ther remain, as is more probable, forever 
problematical. 

Before I quit this subject, I cannot 
help remarking, that during the course 
of the eighteenth century, the family nf 



Brunswic, in its difTerent branches, pro- 
duced no less than live princesses, who 
exhibited in succession, ihe most con^ 
spicuoiis examples of human infelicity. 
The first of them was Sophia of Bruns- 
wic Ze/l, married to George the Fust; 
who, for her alleged, but unproved gal- 
lantries with Count Konigsmark, was 
confined during near forty years, at the 
sequestered seat or castle of Ahlden, in 
the electorate of Hanover, where she 
expired in 172(5. Charlotte-Christina 
of Brunswic JJlanckenberg, who espous- 
ed, in 1711, the Czarowitz Alexis, only 
son of Peter the Great; a princess en- 
dowed by nature with almost every amia- 
ble and estimable quality of body and 
of mind ; equally beautiful and virtuous ; 
fell a victim, in the flower of her youth, 
to the ferocious treatment that she expe- 
rienced from her husband. She died at 
Petersburgh, in child-bed, at twenty-one 
years of age, in 1715; or at least, she 
disappeared: — for her death has been 
contested in the strongest manner: la- 
uiented by the whole empire, except by 
Alexis, whose brutal character rendered 
him incapable of apprei;iating her value. 
Brunswic JVolfenbuttei furnished the 
next instance, in the person of Elizabeth, 
married in 1765, to the late King of 
Prussia, then only prince royal ; divorc- 
ed four years afterwards for her irregu- 
larities ; confined at Stettin, where I 
have seen her in 1774 ; and relative to 
whose private history I couh! state from 
high authority the most minute as well 
as curious particulars, if I were not re- 
strained by motives of respectand delicacy 
towards the illustrious persons who are 
connected with her by descent or by al- 
liance. I believe she still survives, for- 
gotten and unknown, in some part of the 
Prussian dominions ; after having wit- 
nessed the temporary subversion of her 
own house, and the calamities inflicted 
on that of Brandenburgh, by Bonaparte. 
Caroline Matilda of Brunswic Lunen- 
burgh, posthumous daughter of Frede- 
ric, late Prinre of Wales, and sister of 
George the Third, is the fourth in this 
enumeration. To her I had the honour 
of being well known, have dined fre- 
quently at her table, and was employed 
by her during the year preceding her 
decease, in conducting negotiations of 
the deepest importance to her future 



88 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



greatness, as well as felicity. Banished 
by a revolution, from Denmark in 1772, 
effected in the name of Christian the 
Seventh, her imbecile husband ; she only 
survived it about three years, terminating 
her short career, in the prime of life, at 
Zell, in 1775. Augusta Caroline of 
Brunswic TVolfenbuttel, whose melan- 
choly history, and whose ambiguous 
end, we have been surveying, continues, 
but does not terminate the list. It must 
be esteemed singular, that in the lapse of 
scarcely a hundred years, such a fatality 
should seem to have marked and still to 
pursue, so many females of that illustri- 
ous family. 

In the autumn of 1778, 1 visited Dres- 
den for ilie second time: a court which 
was rendered peculiarly agreeable to tlie 
English ai that period, by the hospitality 
and polished manners of his maje>ty's 
minister lo Saxony, Sir John Stepney ; 
one of the finest gentlemen who have 
been employed on foreign missions dur- 
ing llie course of the present reign. 
Dresden was then a place where the 
illitinines liad made a deep and general 
impression on the public mind ; Schrep- 
fer liaving chosen it, only a ^e\v years 
earlier, for the scene of his famous ex- 
hibition of the apparition of the Cheva- 
lier de iSaxe. Having given in a former 
woik some account of that extraordinary 
imposition, I shall not resume the sub- 
ject heiH ; but I cannot help relating an- 
ther somewliat similar story, which was 
told fiie during my residence in Dresden, 
by the Count de Felkesheim. He was 
a Livonian gentleman, settled in Saxony, 
of a very improved understanding, equal- 
ly superior to credulity as to supersti- 
tion. Being together on an excursion 
of pleasure, in the month of October, 
1778, and our discourse accidentally 
turningon the character and performances 
of Schrepfer; " I have conversed," said 
he to me, " with several of the indivi- 
duals who were present at the scene of 
the sceptre or phantom, presented by him 
in the gallery of the palace of the Duke 
of Courland, They all agreed in their 
account of the leading particulars. 
Though I do not pretend to explain by 
what process or machinery, that business 
was conducted, I have always considered 
him as an artful impostor, and his audi- 
ence as dupes.^ Yet ai^i I uotso deci- 



dedly sceptical on the possibility of su- 
pernatural appearances, as to treat thera 
with ridicule, because they may seem to 
be unphilosophical. I received my edu- 
cation in the University of Konigsberg, 
where I enjoyed the advantage of attend- 
ing lectures in ethics and moral philoso- 
phy, delivered by a professor who was 
esteemed a very superior man in those 
branches of science. He had, neverthe- 
less, though an ecclesiastic, the reputa- 
tion of being tinctured with credulity on 
various points connected with revealed 
religion. When, therefore, it became 
necessary for him in the course of his 
lectures, to treat on the nature of spirit, 
as detached matter ; to discuss the im- 
mortality of the soul.; and to enter on 
the doctrine of a future state ; I listened 
with more than ordinary attention to his 
opinions. In speaking of all these mys- 
terious subjects, there appeared to me lobe 
so visible an embarrassment, both in his 
language and his expressions, that I felt 
the strongest curiosity to question him 
further respecting them. Finding my- 
self alone with him soon afterwards, I 
ventured to state to him my remarks on 
his deportment, and I entreated him to 
tell me if they were well founded, or only 
imaginary suggestions." 

" The hesitation which you noticed," 
answered he, •' resulted from the con- 
flict that takes place vvithin me, when I 
am attempting to convey my ideas on a 
subject where my understanding is at 
variance with the testimony of my senses. 
I am, equally from reason and reflection, 
disposed to consider with incredulity and 
contempt, the existence of apparitions. 
But, an appearance which I have wit^ 
nessed Willi my own eyes, as far as 
they, or any of the perceptions can be 
conflded in ; and which has even re- 
ceived a sort of subsequent confirmation, 
from other circumstances connected with 
the original fact, leaves me in that state 
of scepticism and suspense which per- 
vaded my discourse. I will communi- 
cate to you its cause. Having been 
brought up to the profession of the church, 
I was presented by Frederic William the 
First, late Kin^ of Prussia, to a small 
benefice situated in the interior of the 
country, at a considerable distance south 
of Konigsberg. I repaired thither, in 
order to take possession of my living j 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



89 



.and found a very neat parsonage house, 
where I passed the night in the bed- 
chamber which had been occupied by 
my predecessor. It was in the longest 
days of summer; and on the following 
morning, which was Sunday, while 
lying awake, the curtains of the bed being 
undrawn, and it being broad daylight, I 
beheld the figure of a man, habited in a 
sort of loose gown, standing at a reading 
desk, on which lay a large book, the 
leaves of which he appeared to turn over 
at intervals. On each side of him stood 
a lilde boy, in whose faces he looked 
earnestly from time to time ; and as he 
looked, he seemed always to heave a 
deep sigh. His countenance, pale and 
disconsolate, indicated severe distress of 
mind. I had the most perfect view of 
these objects ; but, being impressed with 
too much terror and appreliension to 
rise, or to address myself to the appear- 
ances before me, I remained, for some 
minutes, a silent and breathless specta- 
tor, without uttering a word, or altering 
my position. At length the man closed 
the book, and then taking the two chil- 
dren, one in each hand, he led them 
slowly across the room ; my eyes eagerly 
following him, till the three figures 
gradually disappeared, or were lost be- 
hind an iron stove, which stood at the 
farthest corner of the apartment. 

" However deeply and awfully I was 
affected by the sight which I had wit- 
nessed, and however incapable I was of 
explaining it to my own satisfaction, yet 
I recovered sufficiently the possession of 
my mind to get up ; and having hastily 
dressed myself, I left the house. The 
sun was long risen, and directing my 
steps to the church, I found that it was 
open ; but, the sexlon had quilted it, and 
on entering the chancel my mind and 
imagination were so strongly impressed 
by the scene which had recently passed, 
that I endeavoured to dissipate the recol- 
tion, by considering the objects around 
me. In almost all the Lutheran churches 
of the Prussian dominions, it is an esla- 
blislic'i iisHiie to lian<r up against the walls 
of tjoine [)a.t of the liiiildino;, ilie portraits 
ol ihe successive [)asttir!! or clergymen 
who have held the living. A number of 
these paintings, rudely performed, were 
suspended in one of the aisles. But I 
had no sooner fixed my eyes on the last 
8* 



in the range, which was the portrait of 
my immediate predecessor, than they 
became rivetted to the ctbject; as I in- 
stantly recognized the same face which I 
had beheld in my bed-chamber, though 
not clouded by the same deep expression 
of melancholy or distress. 

'* The sexlon entered as I was still con- 
templating this interesting head, and I 
immediately began a conversation with 
him, on the subject of the persons who 
had preceded me in the living. He re- 
membered several incumbents, concern- 
ing whom, respectively, I made various 
inquiries, till I concluded by the last, 
relative to whose hislory I was particu- 
larly inquisitive." " We considered 
him," said the sexton, "as one of the 
most learned and amiable men who have 
ever resided among us. His charities 
and benevolence endeared him to all his 
parishioners, who will long lament his 
loss. But he was carried off in the mid- 
dle of his days, by a lingering illness, 
the cause of which has given rise to 
many unpleasant reports among us, and 
which still forms matter of conjecture. 
It is however commonly believed that he 
died of a broken heart." My curiosity 
being still more warmly excited by the 
menlion of this circumstance, I eagerly 
pressed him to disclose to me what he 
knew or had heard on the subject. 
" Nothing respecting it," answered he, 
" is absolutely known ; but scandal 
had propagated a story of his having 
formed a criminal connexion with a 
young woman of the neighbourhood, by 
whom, it was even asserted, that he had 
two sons. As a confirmation of the re- 
port, I know that there certainly were 
two children, who have been seen at the 
parsonage ; boys of about four or five 
years old. But they suddenly disap- 
peared, some time before the decease of 
their supposed lather ; though to what 
[)lace they are sent, or what is become 
of them, we are wholly ignorant. It is 
equally certain, that the surmises and 
unfavourable opinions formed respecting 
this mysterious business, which must 
necessarily have reached him, precipita- 
ted, if they did noi produce, the disorder 
of which our late pastor died : but he is 
gone to his account, and we are bound 
to think charitably of the departed." 

" It is unnecessary to say with what 



90 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



emotions I listened to this relation, which 1 forded to strangers. He honoured me 
recalled to my imagination, and seemed | with his friendsliip, which he continued 
to give proof of the existence, of all that [to tiie end of his life. In his person, 



I had seen. Yet, unwilling to sufler 
ray mind to become enslaved by plian- 
toms which might have been the efTtict 
of error or deception, I neither commu- 
nicated to the sexton the circumstance 
which I had just witnessed, nor even 
permitted myself to quit the chamber 
where it had taken place. I continued 
to lodge there, without ever again wit 



though tad and meagre, with a dark com- 
plexion, a very aquiline nose, and a 
figure, which always reminded mei of 
Rolando in " Gil Bias ;" he had never- 
theless such an air of intelligence, blend- 
ed with distinction in his countenance, 
as powerfully attracted and conciliated 
every beholder. His mother, J^ady 
Archibald Hamilton, enjoyed, as is well 



nessing any similar appearance ,• and the i known, a very distinguished place in the 
recollection itself insensibly began to ! favour of Frederic, late Prince of Wales ; 
wear away as the autumn advanced, land Sir William himself was brought up 
When the approach of winter rendered ! tVom early life, with his present majesty, 
it necessary to light fires through the | to whom he became, after his accession 
house, I ordered the iron stove tliat stood j to the crown, an equerry. At a very 
in the room, behind which, the figure j early period he entered into the army, 



which I had beheld, together with ih 
two boys, seemed to disappear, to be 
heated for the purpose of warming the 
apartment. Some difficulty was ex- 
perienced in making the attempt, the 
stove not only smoking inlolerabl_y, but 
emitting a most offensive smell. Having, 
therefore, sent for a blacksmith to inspect 
and repair it, he discovered in the inside, 
at the farthest extremity, the bones of 
two small human bodies, corresponding 
perfectly in size, as well as in other re- 
spects, with the description given me by 
the sexton, of the two boys who had 
been seen at the p;irsonage. This last 
circumstance completed my astonish- 
ment, and appeared to confer a sort of 
reality on an appearance, which might 
otherwise have been considered as a de- 
lusion of the senses. I resigned the 
living, quitted the place, and returned to 
Konigsberg: but it has produced upon 
my mind the deepest impression, and 
has, in iis effects, given rise to that un- 
certainty and contradiction of sentiment 
which you remarked in my late dis- 
course." Such was Count Felkesheim's 
.story, which, from its singularity ap- 
peared to me deserving of commemora 



and was at the battle of Fontenoy, as 
well as, I think, at that of La Feldt. 

The versatility of Sir William Hamil- 
ton's character, constituted one of the 
most interesting features of his composi- 
tion. Endowed with a superior uniler- 
sianding, a philosophic mind, and a 
strong inclination to the study of many 
branches of science, or of polite letters, 
which he cultivated with distinguished 
success ; he was equally keen as a sports- 
man, in all the exercises of the field. 
Alter being actively occupied in studying 
the Phsenomena of Vesuvius, like the 
elder Pliny; or in exploring the antiqui- 
ties of Pompeii and of Stabia, with as 
much enthusiasm as Pausanias did those 
of ancient Greece ; he would pass whole 
days, and almost weeks, with the King 
of Naples, either hunting or shooting in 
the royal woods ; or more laboriously 
engaged in an open boat, exposed to the 
rays of a burning sun, harpooning fish 
ill the bay of Castellamare. When be- 
yond seventy years of age, lie preserved 
undiminished his love of these sports, 
particularly of fishing, which he followed 
with great ardour ; thus mingling pursuits 
or passions of the mind and of the body, 



lion, in whatever contempt we may j rarely united in the same man. \ have 
justly hold similar anecdotes. j seen him, not more than two years be-- 



One of the most interesting portions 
of my life, was the time that 1 passed at 
Naples, in the summer of 1779. Sir 
William Hamilton, his majesty's minis- 
ter, constituted in himself the greatest 
source of entertainment, no less than of 
instruction, which that capital then af- 



fore liis decease, perform the " Taren- 
tella;" an Apulian dance, which, as it is 
undoubtedly a copy of the Bacchant 
Amusements of antiquity, demanded no 
slender portion of animal strength and 
spirits. The occasion was so remarka- 
ble, that I am Lixduced to relate the par- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



91 



ticulars, InleMigence of the glorious 
victory obtained by the English fleet 
under Lord Nelson, before Copenhagen, 
arrived m London, on Wednesday, the 
15lh of April, 1801. Sir William Hamil- 
ton then resided opposite the Green 
Park, in Piccadilly. About ten o'clock 
that eveninof, I went to his house with 
Sir John Macpherson. We found as- 
sembled there, the Dukes of Gordon and 
Queensberry, Lord William Gordon, 
Monsieur de Calonne, Mr. Charles 
Greville, Sir William's nephew;" the 
Duke de Niiia, a Neapolitan nobleman ; 
Mr. Kemble, the celebrated comedian, 
and his wife; the Reverend Mr. Nelson, 
now earl of that name, with some other 
persons. Lady Hamilton, inspired by 
the recent success of Lord Nelson against 
the Danes, of which victory he had 
transmitted her, with his remaining 
hand, all the particulars as they occur- 
red, from the 1st, up to the 8lh of April,, 
the day when despatches came away ; 
after playing on the harpsichord, and ac- 
companying it with her voice, undertook 
to dance the " Tarentella." 

Sir William began it with her, and 
maintained the conflict, for such it might 
Well be esteemed, during some minutes. 
Whea unable longer to coutinue it, the 
Duke de Niiia succeeded to his place : 
but he too, though near forty years 
younger than Sir William, soon gave in, 
from extenuation. Lady Hamilton then 
sent for her own maid servant ; who, be- 
ing likewise presenUy exhausted, after a 
short time another female attendant, a 
Copt, perfectly black, whom Lord N el- 



familiar with the altitudes of the antique 
statutes, than was Lady Hamilton ; nor 
more capable of transporting the specta- 
tors to the Vatican palace, or to the Me- 
dicean gallery at Florence, by her accu- 
rate and picturesque imitation of the 
models there preserved, with which she 
seems at tim€s to identify herself. Cas- 
tagnettes, and the Tambour de Basque, 
constitute essential accompaniments of the 
performance ; which, at ks termination, 
from the physical exertions necessary, 
left her in a state of dissolution, like the 
Delphic priestess, overcome by the in- 
spiration of Apollo; or perhaps, more 
like Semele, as Corregiohas painted her 
after her interviews with Jove. We 
must recollect that the two performers- 
are supposed to be a satyr and a nymph ; 
or rather, a fawn and a bacchant. It was 
certainly of a nature not to be performed 
t^xcept before a select company ; as the 
!-cre:ims, attitudes, starts, and embraces, 
with which it was intermingled, gave it 
a peculiar character. 

1 here mention it, principally in order 
to show Sir William Hamilton's activity 
and gaiety at that advanced period of life. 
Though a finished courtier, he preserved- 
such an independence, of manner, with- 
out any mixture of servility or adulation, 
as seemed eminently to qualify him for 
the diplomatic profession. His conver- 
sation offered a rich diversity of anec- 
dote. With these qualifications, it can- 
not excite wonder that he formed the de- 
light and ornament of the Court of 
Naples. No foreign minister, not even the 
family embassadors of France and Spain 



Mui had presented her, on h.s return resident there, enjoyed in so eminent 



Irom Egypt, relieved her companion. It 
would be difficult to convey any adequate 
idea of this dance; but the Fandango 
and Seguedilla of the Spaniards, present 
an image of it. Madame de S'.acI has 
likewise attempted to describe it, and 
has made " Cormna" perform it at a ball 
in Rome, with the Prince of Amalfi, a 
Neapolitan, for her partner: but she has 
softened down the voluptuous features 
that render it too powerfitl over the 
imagination and the senses. Yet she 
admits ^the "Melange de Pudeur et de 
Volupte," inherent in the exhibition, 
which conveyed au idea of the Bayade- 
res or Indian dancing girls. Madame de 
Slael's "Coriana" could not be more 



degree, the favour or affection of his 
Sicilian majesty. Nor was the attach- 
ment of that prince to Sir William, 
merely limited to hunting or fishing par-- 
lies. He gave the Euglish envoy many 
solid proofs of sincere regard ; a regard 
that extended to the British crown and 
nation. One strikifig instance of this 
partiality took place in June, 1779, while 
I was at Naples. The King of Spain, 
Charles the Third, having written con- 
fidentially 10 [lis son Ferdinand, that he 
should probably be induced soon to take 
part with Louis the Sixteenth, by enter- 
ing into a war with Great Britain, as he 
effectively did immediately afterwards ; 
the King of Naples, though enjoined bj 



92 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



his fatlier to secrecy, communicated (he 
letter itself to Sir William Hamilton. 
He even accompanied the disclosure, 
with the assurance of his deep regret at 
the ailoption of such a line of policy; 
and his own firm determination never to 
enter into the hostile combination against 
England, though himself a prince of the 
House of Bourbon, and included in " tiie 
family compact" by name. Sir William 
transmitted the king's communication, as 
well as his assurance on the point, with- 
outdelay to Lord North, then first minis- 
ter. I received this anecdote from him- 
.self at Naples. 

It WIS in Sir William's, and the first 
Lady Hamilton's company, that I learn- 
ed a mimber of curious, as well as au- 
thentic particulars, relative to the King 
and Queen of Naples. Ferdinand the 
Fourth, was then in the twenty ninth 
\'ear of his age ; tall, muscular, and ac- 
tive ill his frame, capable of immense 
fatigue, and apparently formed for long 
life. His features were coarse and harsh, 
ids nose immoderately long, like that of 
his father and brother, Charles the 
Third, and Charles the Fourth, Kings of 
Spain : but, nevertheless, though the 
component parts of his face might sepa- 
rately be esteemed ugly, the general 
expression of his countenance had in it 
someiliing intelligent and even agreeable. 
There was an unpolished simplicity, or 
rather a rude nature, in his manner, at- 
titudes, deportment and conversation, 
which pleased for a double reason ; on 
account of its own intrinsic claim to be 
liked, and as being rarely found on a 
throne, where we naturally expect dis- 
guise, artifice, and habits of concealment. 
If he conversed little with strangers, he 
seemed at least, when he talked, always 
to say what he thought ; and he betrayed 
no defect of natural understanding, though 
he was altogether destitute of that ele- 
gance and art, which frequently veil the 
want of information. He always re- 
minded me of a rustic, such as Abdo- 
lonymus, elevated by fortune or accident 
to a crown: but it was an amiable, ho- 
nest, sensible, well-intentioned rustic, not 
altogether unworthy of such an elevation. 

The Queen of Naples, who was not 
quite twenty-seven years old at this time, 
seemed much better fitted to represent the 
majesty of the throne, and to do the ho- 



nours of a court. Though neither posses- 
sing beauty of face, or loveliness of person, 
yet was she not absolutely deficient in 
either respect; and if her figure might be 
esteemed too large, still it wanted neither 
grace, dignity, nor even attractions. She 
is the only queen whom I ever saw weep 
in public, before a crowd of both sexes, 
assembled in her own palace on a gala 
day. The festival on which I was pre- 
sented to her, happened to be the anni- 
versary of the loss of her eldest son, who 
expired exactly a year before, in 1778. 
He was a very fine boy of promising ex- 
pectations, to whom his mother was pas- 
sionately attached. The ignorance of 
the Neapolitan physicians, as it was be- 
lieved, had caused his death : for, being 
seized with violent sickness and pain in 
his stomach, from which, an emetic, 
promptly administered, might probably 
have relieved him, they had the impru- 
dence to bleed him, and thereby brought 
on fatal convulsions. Such was the 
queen's distress at the recollection of the 
event which had taken place on this pain- 
ful anniversary, that she was unable to 
repress her emotions. In the presence 
chamber of the palace at Naples, she 
stood under a canopy, her right hand 
,held out to the nobility and courtiers, as 
they approached to kiss it ; holding in 
her left, a handkerchief with which she 
per[)etually wiped her eyes, that were 
sufi'used in tears. It was difficult not to 
be favourably impressed towards a prin- 
cess, capable of giving such an involun- 
tary testimony of her maternal tenderness, 
in a place and situation, where it was 
impossible to suspect her of artifice or 
affectation. 

Having drawn this imperfect outline 
of the King and Q,ueen of Naples, from 
my own personal observations, I shall 
enumerate some of the particulars re- 
specting them, which I collected in the 
course of conversation from Sir William 
or Lady Hamilton. I mean his first wife, 
who was a most accomplished and su- 
perior woman. 

".No European sovereign, without ex- 
ception," said Sir William, " has been 
so ill educated as the King of Naples. 
He is not even master of any language 
except Italian, without making a painful 
efTort ; and his ordinary Italian is a 
Neapolitan dialect, such as the lowest of 



J 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



93 



his subjects, the lazaroni, speak in their 
intercourse with each otlier. It is true 
that he untlerslands Freiicli, and con- 
verses in it when indispensable ; but he 
rarely reads any Frencii author, and slill 
more rarely atlenipis lo write in that lan- 
guage. All the correspondence that takes 
place between him and his father, the 
King of Spain, is carried on in the com- 
mon Neapolitan jargon. Tiiey write 
very frequently and largely to each other; 
but seldom does this intercourse embrace 
political subjects ; their letters, of which 
I have seen numbers, being iilled with 
accounts of the quantity and variety of 
the game respectively killed by them, in 
which the great ambition of each prince 
is to exceed the other. Ferdinand, in- 
deed, who scarcely ever reads, considers 
as the greatest of misfortunes, a rainy 
day, when the weather proves too bad for 
him to go out to the chace. On such 
occasions, recourse is had to every expe- 
dient by which time may be killed, in 
order to dissipate his majesty's ennui, 
even to the most puerile and childish 
pastimes. The king's education was 
systematically neglected ; for Charles 
the Third, alarmed at the imbecility of 
his eldest son, Philip, Duke of Calabria, 
who on account of his recognized de- 
bility of understanding, was wholly set 
aside from the right of succession ; 
strictly ordered, at his departure for 
Spain in 1759, that this, his third son, 
should not be compelled to apply to any 
severe studies, or be made to exert any 
close application of mind. 

I have frequently seen the unfortunate 
Duke of Calabria, who has only been 
dead a few years, and who was by his 
birth, heir to the Spanish monarchy. 
He attained to manhood, and was treated 
with certain distinctions, having cham- 
berlains placed about him in constant 
attendance, who watched him with un- 
remitting attention ; as otherwise he 
would have committed a thousand ex- 
cesses. Care was particularly taken to 
keep him from having any connection 
with the other sex, for which he mani- 
fested the strongest propensity ; but it 
became at last impossible to prevent him 
altogether from attempting to emancipate 
himself in this respect. He has many 
times eluded the vigilance of his keepers, 
and oia seeing ladies pass through the 



apartments of the palace^ would attack 
lliem with the same impetuosity, as Pan 
or the Satyrs are described by Ovid, 
when pursuing the nyn)phs ; and with 
the same intentions. More than one 
lady of the court has been critically 
rescued from his embraces. On parti- 
cular days of the year, he was allowed 
to hold a sort of court or levee, when the 
foreign ministers repaired lo his apart- 
ments, to pay their compliments to him ;. 
but his greatest amusement consisted in 
having his hand held up by his attend- 
ants, while gloves were put upon it, 
one larger than another, to the number 
of hfteen or sixteen. His death was 
justly considered as a fortunate event, 
\inder such circumstances of incurable 
imbecility. 

Before the present king fully attained 
his seventeenth year, the Marquis Ta- 
nueci, then })rime minister, by directions 
sent from the court of Madrid, provided 
him a wife. The Archduchess Josephs, 
one of the daughters of the Empress 
Maria Theresa, being selected for Queen 
of Naples ; and being presented to young 
Ferdinand, as a princess equally amiable 
in her mind, as she was agreeable in her 
person; he expected her arrival with 
srreat pleasure, mingled even with some 
impatience. So much more severely 
was it natural that he should feel the 
melancholy intelligence, when it arrived 
from Vienna, that she was dead of the 
small-pox. In fact, he manifested as 
much concern at the event, as could per- 
haps be expected in a prince of his dis- 
position, and at his time of life, for the 
death of a person whom he had never 
seen. But a circumstance which greatly 
augmented his chagrin on the occasion 
was, its being considered indispensable 
for him not to take his usual diversion of 
himting or fishing, on the day that the 
account reached Naples. Ferdinand re- 
luctantly submitted to such a painful and 
unusual renunciation : but having con- 
sented to it from a sense of decorum, he 
immediately set about endeavouring to 
amuse himself within doors, in the best 
manner that circumstances would admit; 
an attempt in which he was aided by the 
nobleman in waiting about his person. 
They began, therefore, with billiards, a 
game which his majesty likes, and at 
which he plays with skilK When they 



94 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



had continued it for some time, leap-frog 
was tried, to which succeeded various 
other feats of agility or gambols. At 
length, one of the gentlemen, more in- 
genious than the others, proposed to cele- 
brate the funeral of the deceased arch-du- 
chess. The idea, far from shocking the 
king, appeared to him, and to the whole 
company, as most eiiiertaining ; and no 
reflections, either on the indecorum, or 
want of apparent humanity, in the pro- 
ceeding, interposed to prevent its imme- 
diate realization. Having selected one 
of the chamberlains, as proper, from his 
youth and feminine appearance, to repre- 
sent the princess, they habited him in a 
manner suited to the mournful occasion ; 
laid him out on an open bier, according 
to the Neapolitan custom at interments ; 
and in order to render the ceremony 
more appropriate, as well as more accu- 
rately correct, they marked his face and 
hands with chocolate drops, which were 
designed to imitate the pustules of the 
small-pos. All the apparatus being 
ready, the funeral procession began, and 
proceeded through the principal apart- 
ments of the palace at Portici, Ferdinand 
officiating as chief mourner. Having 
heard of the arch-duchess's decease, I 
had gone thither on that day, in order to 
make m}"^ condolence privately to his 
majesty on the misfortune ; and enter 



accompanied him, having inquired of 
his majesty how he liked her ; ' Dorme 
com un amazzatu,^ replied he, ' et suda 
com un Porco.^ Such an answer would 
be esteemed, any where except at Na- 
ples, most indecorous ; but here we are 
familiarizeii to far greater violations of 
propriety and decency. Those acts and 
functions which are never mentioned in 
England, and whicli are there studiously 
concealed, even by the vulgar, here are 
openly performed. When tiie king has 
made a hearty meal, and feels an incli- 
nation to retire, he commonly commu- 
nicates that intention to the noblemen 
around him in waiting, and selects the 
favoured individuals, whom, as a mark 
of predilection, he chooses shall attend 
him, ' Sono ben pransato,' says he, lay- 
ing his hand on his heWy, '■ Jldessobi' 
sogna un buona panchiata.^ The per- 
sons thus preferred, then accompany his 
majesty, stand respectfully round him, 
and amuse him by their conversation, 
during the performance." 

However strong this fact may appear, 
and however repugnant to our ideas of 
decency ; it has been for successive 
centuries, perfectly consonant to the 
manners of the Italians in general, and 
scarcely less so to those of the French. 
D'Aubigne, a grave writer, in the " Me- 
moirs of his Own Life," does not hesitate 



ing at the time, I became an eye-witness | to relate in the most circumstantial man- 



of this extraordinary scene, which, in 
any other country of Europe, would be 
considered as incredible, and would not 
obtain belief. 

" The Arch-Duchess Caroline being 
substituted in the place of her sister, and 
being soon afterwards conducted from 
Vienna to Naples, the king advanced in 
person, as far as the ' Portella,' where 
the Neapolitan and Papal territories 
divide, in order to receive his new 
bride. She was then not sixteen years 
old, and though she could not by any 
means be esteemed handsome, yet she 
possessed many charms. Ferdinand 
manifested on his part, neither ardour 
nor indifference for the queen. On the 
morning after his nuptials, which took 
place in the beginning of May, 1708, 
when the weather was very warm, he 
rose at an early hour, and went out as 
usual to the chace, leaving his young 



wife 



ner, the narrow escape which Henry 
the Fourth, his master, had of being 
knocked on the head, while engaged in 
this necessary function. Nay, D'Aubigne 
composed a '• Quatrain'''' on the adven- 
ture, which he has transmitted to pos- 
terity. The story is so naturally re- 
lated, and is so characierintic of the 
nation, that I can't resisi giving it in the 
words of the author, Henry, who was 
then only King of Navarre, having 
effected his escape from Paris, in 1575, 
on which occasion D'Aubigne accom- 
panied him; they passed the river Seine 
at Poissy, and soon afterwards stopped 
to refresli themselves in a village. Here, 
says D'Aubigne, the king " etant alii 
faire ses affaires dans un tet a cochons, 
une Vieille, qui le surprit en cat etat, lui 
auroit f endue la tetepar derriere, d'un 
coup de serpe, say^s moi qui parari le 
coup.'''' It is clear from this circum- 



bed. Those courtiers who stance, that D'Aubigne must have been 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



95 



close to his royal master at the time, ' 
Then follows the ludicrous epiiaph 
which he made for the occasiou, on a 
siipposilioii that the old wmjuiuu had 
killed the king. 

" Cy git un Roi, grand par nirrvcille, 
Qui inouriu conime Diou jjcnnet, 
D'un cou|) (Jc sorpe d'nti V'ieille, 
Ainsi qu'il cliioit daus un let." 

His predecessor, Henry the Third, it 
is well known, was .slabbed in the belly, 
of which wound he died, in 1589, while 
sitting on the chaise perc^e, in whi(;h 
indecorous situation he did not scruple 
to give audience to Clement, the regicide 
monk, who assassinated him. Marsiial 
Suwarrow, in our own time, received 
his aids du camp, and his general 
ofTicers, precisely in a similar manner, 
Madame de Maintenon, as the Duke de 
St. Simon informs us, thnuglu those mo- 
ments so precious, that she commonly 
accompanied Louis the Fourteenth to the 
" garderobe." So did Louvois, when 
minister of state. The Duke de Vendome, 
while commanding the armies of France 
in Spain and Italy, at the commence* 
nientof the last century, was accustomed 
to receive the greatest personages, on 
public business, in the same situation. 
We have Cardinal Alberoni's authority 
for this fact. If we read the account 
written by Du Bois, of the last illness of 
Louis the Thirteenth, we may there see 
what humiliating functions Anne of 
Austria performed for that prince, in the 
course of his malady ; over which, an 
English writer, more fastidious, would 
have drawn a veil. Mademoiselle de 
Montpensier, and the Palatine Duchess 
of Orleans, though women of the highest 
birth and rank, as well as of unimpeached 
conduct, conceal nothing on these points 
in their writings. The former, speaking 
of the Duchess of Orleans, her step-mo- 
ther, second wife of Gaston, brother of 
Louis the Thirteenth, says, " She had 
contracted a singular habit of always 
running into another room, /)owr se pla- 
cer sur la chaise percee, when dinner 
was announced. As she never failed in 
this particular, the grand maitre, or 
lord steward of Gaston's household, who 
performed the ceremony of summoning 
their royal highnesses to table ; observed, 
smelling to his baton of office, that there 



must certainly be either senna or rhubarb 
in its composition, as it invariably pro- 
duced the effect of sending the duches? 
to the garderobe." 1 have, myself, 
seen the late Electress Dowager of Sax- 
ony, daughter of the Emperor Charles 
the Seventh, at her own palace, in the 
suburbs of Dresden, rise from ike table 
where she was playing, when the room 
has been full of co npany of both sexes ; 
lay down her cards, retire for a few 
minutes, during which time the game 
was sns|)ended, and then return, observ- 
ing to those near her, '■'•Tai pris me- 
decine aujonrWhuy.''' These circum- 
stances sufliciently prove that Ferdinand, 
however gross his manners or language 
seem to us, by no means shocked the 
feelings, orexcited thedisgusl of his own 
courtiers. ' 

" In all the exercises or exertions of 
body, that demand vigour and address," 
continued Sir William, " tlie King of 
Naples excels. He might have contend- 
ed lor the prize at the public games of 
ancient Greece, at Elis, or at Olympia, 
with no ordinary prospect of success. 
He likes, in particular, wrestling; and 
having heard that a young Irish gentle- 
man of the name of Bourke, who visited 
Naples not long since, was an expert 
wrestler, he caused it to be signified, that 
he should like to try a fall witli that 
foreigner : but Bourke had the good sense 
to decline a contest for the honours of 
the Palaestra, with a crowned head. He 
dances violently at the court balls ; on 
one of which occasions, some years ago, 
] witnessed a scene irulv original, as well 
as comic. When his brother-in-law, the 
Em])eror Josepli, being on his progress 
through Italy, arrived here, a superb ball 
was given in honour of his visit ; at 
which entertainment, however, he de- 
clined mixing personally in the dance. 
While his imperial majesty was standing 
near the dancers, engaged in conversa- 
tion with me I Ferdinand having gone 
down the set, and being in a most pro- 
fuse state of perspiration, pulled open his 
waisicoat : then taking Joseph's hand, he 
applied it sudilenly to his own shirt behind, 
exclaiming at the same lime, '■Sentite qui, 
Fratdlo mio.'' Tlie emperor instantly 
withdrew his hand, not without mani- 
festing great discomposure ; and the two 
sovereigns remained for a few seconds 



96 



HtSTOmCAL MEMOIRS. 



iooking in each other's faces. Surprise [dissects tiie principal pieces of game, 



was equally painted in the features of 
both ; for, as the one had never before 
been invited to try such an experiment, 
so the other liad never found any indi- 
vidual who dill not esteem himself ho- 
noured by the famdiarity. I had no little 
difficulty to restrain the muscles of my 
countenance on the occasion." 

"Joseph, who held his brother-in- 
{aw's understanding in great contempt, 
endeavoured to assume over him the sort 
of superiority, arrogated by a strong, 
over a weak mind* But Ferdinand, 
though confessedly his inferior, in culti- 
vation and refinement, was by no means 
disposed to adopt his political opinions 
or ideas. He even manifested in various 
conversations, and on many occasions, 
that, defective as his education had been, 
he possessed as mucli plain sense, and 
even acute discernment, as the emperor, 
his brother Leopold, Grand Duke of 
Tuscany. Joseph did not indeed inspire 
any very high 'admiration, by his depori- 
ment or general conduct, while he re- 
mained at Naples. He was irritable. 
and even irascible, where he should 
have shown good humour, or command 
of temper. I accompanied him to the 
summit of Vesuvius, and with concern 
savr him break his cane over the shoul- 
ders of the guide, Bartolomeo, for some 
slight oft'ence which he had given his 
imperial majesty. 

" Ferdinand's passions are all swal- 
lowed up in his rage for the pleasures of 
the field ; hunting, shooting, and fishing : 
for, this last diversion, peculiarly adapt- 
ed to the climate of Naples, must be in- 
cluded in the number. He thinks no 
fatigue, and no privations, too great to 
undergo for its indulgence. The quan- 
tity of game, by which I principally 
mean deer, wild boar, of all ages, and 
stags of every kind, preserved in the 
royal woods or parks, at Astruni, at 
Caserta, Caccia Bella, and other places, 
exceeds belief. And the slaughter made 
of them in some of the hunting parties, 
is equally beyond credibility. I have 
frequently seen a heap, composed only 
of the offal or bowels, reaching as high 
as my head, and many feet in cinnim- 
ference. The king rarely misses a shot ; 
but when he is tired with killing, then 
commences another operation. He next 



which he presents to favoured courtiers, 
or distributes among his attendants. In 
order to perform this part of the diver- 
sion, having first stripped, he puts on a 
flannel dress, takes the knife in hand, 
and, with inconceivable dexterity, cuts 
up the animal. No carcass-butcher in 
Smithfield, can exceed him in anatomi- 
cal abUiiy ; but he is frequently besmear- 
ed widi blood from head to foot, before 
lie has finished, and exhibits an extra- 
ordinary Sjiectaide, not easily to be ima- 
gined by those who have never witnessed 
It. The queen herself is sometimes 
obliged to be present at the scene, though 
more, as may be supposed, in compliance 
with the king's wish, than from her own 
inclination. He is equally indefatigable 
on the water, in harpooning or in catch- 
ing fish ; particularly the pesce spada, or 
sword fish r and he neither reijards heat, 
nor cold, nor hunger, nor danger. On 
these occasions, he is usually or always 
attended by a number of chosen Liparots, 
natives of the Lipari islands, who have 
been in all ages most expert sjiilors, di- 
vers, and fishermen. 

" It is thus that Ferdinand passes the 
greatest portion of his lime; whde the 
potentates of Germany, England, France 
and Spain, are engaged in war. Not 
that he is indifferent to the felicity of his 
subjects, or regardless of the security 
and prosperity of his dominions. On 
the contrary, his heart, which is anima- 
ted with the best emotions towards his 
people, impels him to manifest it by all 
his measures ; but his defects of educa- 
tion, render him shy, embarrassed, and 
awkward ; nor have his ministers any 
wish to awaken, or to invigorate the 
faculties of his mind. Neither Tanucci, 
who governed Naples during his mino- 
rity, nor Sambuca, the present first 
minister, desire to see him assume an 
active part in the administration of pub- 
lic affairs. The Chevalier Acton, who 
is at the head of the marine, has how- 
ever begun to put the Neapolitan navy 
in a more respectable condiiion, than it 
has been for several centuries. Already 
it affords some protection to the coasts of 
Calabria and of Sicily ; which have been 
perpetually infested by the Algerines, 
Tunisians, and other pirates; who were 
accustomed to land, and to carfy ofT 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



97 



whole villages into slavery, precisely as 
Dragut and Barbarossa did two hundred 
years ago. Such calamities are even 
now by no means unusual. It is a fact, 
that I narrowly escaped, myself, some 
time since, in one of my maritime excur- 
sions round tlie southern provinces of 
the kingdom, being surprised |in a Spa- 
ronara, while lying close under Cape 
Spartivento. Lady Hamilton was of that 
party, and those barbarians would not 
have respected my official character ; nor 
siill less would they have regarded the 
reclamiUions of this government. 

"The power of tlie Neapolitan kings 
is moreover fettered by many impedi- 
ments, which even a prince of the 
greatest talents, or of the most vigorous 
character, would find difficult to sur- 
mount. In Apulia, as well as in Cala- 
bria and Sicily, the great feudal barons 
still retain privileges that render them 
almost independent of the crown ; and 
which they con!«ider as imprescriptible, 
having constituted iheir birth-right for 
ages, under the various dynasties that 
have reigned over this beautiful country. 
The church enjoys revenues and immu- 
nities, not less incompatible in many 
respects with civil order and obedience. 
But Ferdinand is greatly beloved by his 
people, who know, and who do justice, 
to his good intentions. He is even far 
more popular than ihe queen. That 
princess, who possesses an active mind, 
and very considerable parts, as well as 
ambition and love of power, has assumed 
a share in the administration, for which 
she is by no means unqualified : yet is 
she less esteemed than her husband ; 
who, if he is not ardently attached to her 
as a wile, treats her at least with great 
consideration, kindness, and confidence. 
They live together in conjugal union, 
though her majesty is not exempt from 
the frailties and weaknesses of her sex. 
Indeed, the air, manners, and society of 
this capital, are all very inimical to female 
virtue. From the time of the first Jane, 
Queen of Naples, so famous in the an- 
nals of gallantry, down to the present 
day, these countries have exhibited scenes 
of dissolute pleasure, or rather, of unre- 
strained licentiousness. They will pro- 
bably ever so remain. " Yet," concluded 
Sir William, " if I were compelled to be 
a king, I would choose Naples for my 
9 



kingdom. Here a crown has fewer 
thorns than in any other country. His 
very want of political power ensures his 
repose ; and the storms which desolate 
Europe, pass over his head without in- 
jury. Placed at the extremity of Italy, 
he is removed out of the way of contest 
and hosiility, A delicious clin)ale, shores 
to which the Romans retired when mas- 
ters of the world, in order to enjoy 
a luxury unattainable elsewhere, and 
which are still covered with the remains 
of Roman splendour, or Grecian magnifi- 
cence ; all the productions of the Levant 
which are to be found here, blended with 
those of the Mediterranean ; a splendid 
capital, palaces, woods, game, every 
thing seems assembled in this enchanting 
bay, that can conduce to human enjoy- 
ment. Such is the favoured position, 
and the enviable lot of Ferdinand the 
Fourth." Such, indeed, as here de- 
scribed, it might be considered without 
exaggeration, in 1779 ; though during 
the awful convulsions which have shaken 
Europe since that period, produced by 
the French revolution, his throne was 
subverted, and himself compelled to take 
refuge at Palermo during many years. 

The impunity with which the great 
nobility perpetrated the most atrocious 
crimes, and the facility that they found 
in evading inquiry, or in eluding justice, 
then constituted one of the worst features 
of the Neapolitan administration. Ladj' 
Hamilton, who had been several years 
resident at Naples, where she died not 
long afterwards, related to me various 
instances illustrative of this fact. " Some 
time ago," said she, " a Sicilian lady of 
high rank, was, by order of the court, 
brought prisoner here from that Island. 
She had committed so many assassina- 
tions or murders, that her own relations 
having denounced her, called on the 
government to arrest the further course 
of her crimes. It was believed that she 
had despatched ten or eleven per-<ons by 
the dagger, or by poison ; particularly 
by that species of poison, denominated, 
' aqua tophana.' 1 had the curiosity to 
visit her during her confinement. She 
received me sitting in her bed, conversed 
with great cheerfulness, offered me 
chocolate, as well as other refreshments, 
and seemed to labour under no agitation 
of mind. In her person she was dell- 



98 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



cate, feminine, and agreeable, her man- 
ners polite and gentle. Her age did not 
exceed three or four and twenty. From 
her deportment, one could not have sus- 
pected her to be capable of such atroci- 
ties. Though her guilt was unquestiona- 
ble, she was not put to death. Confine- 
ment for life, in a convent of a severe 
order, together with certain acts of reli- 
gious mollification or penance, which 
they are compelled to undergo ; — these 
constitute the punishments usually in- 
flicted here on culprits of high birth." 

The vicinity of the Northern Pro- 
vinces of the kingdom of Naples to the 
papal territories, and the ease with which 
malefactors of both countries, respectively 
gained an asylum, by passing the fron- 
tiers, opened another door to the com- 
mission of the most flagitious acts. Con- 
versing ai Portici, on this subject, with 
Lady Hamilton, she related to me the 
following story, which I shall endeavour 
to give in her own words. "About the 
year 1743, a person of tlie name of Ogil- 
vie, an Irishman by birth, who practised 
surgery with great reputation at Rome, 
and who resided not far from the ' Piaz- 
za di Spagni,' in that city; being in bed, 
was called up to attend some strangers 
who demanded his professional assist- 
ance. They stopped before his house 
in a coach ; and on his going to the door 
he found two men masked, by whom 
he was desired to accompany them im- 
mediately, as the case which brought 
them, admitted of no delay, and not to 
omit taking with him his lancets. He 
complied, and got into the coach; but 
no sooner had they quitted the street in 
which he resided, than they informed him 
that he must submit to have his eyes 
bandaged ; the person to whom they were 
about to conduct him, being a lady of 
rank, whose name and place of abode it 
was indispensable to conceal. To this 
requisition he likewise submitted ; and af- 
ter driving through a number of streets, 
apparently with a view to prevent his 
forming any accurate idea of the part of 
the city to which he was conducted, the 
carriage at length stopped. The two 
gentlemen, his companions, then alight- 
ing, and each taking him by the arm, 
conducted him into a house. Ascending 
a narrow staircase, they entered an apart- 
ment, where he was released from the 



bandage tied oves his eyes. One of them 
next acquainted him, that it being neces- 
sary to deprive of life a lady who had 
dishonoured her family, they had chosen 
him to perform the office, knowing his 
professional skill ; that he v/ould find 
her in the adjoining chamber, prepared 
to submit to her fate ; and that he must 
open her veins with as much expedition 
as possible ; a service, for the execution 
of which, he should receive a liberal re- 
compense. 

" Ogilvie at first peremptorily refused 
to commit an act, so highly repugnant to 
his feelings. But the two strangers as- 
sured him, with solemn denunciations of 
vengeance, that his refusal could only 
prove fatal to himself, without affording 
the slightest assistance to the object of 
his compassion ; that her doom was ir- 
revocable, and that unless he chose to 
participate a similar fate, he must sub- 
mit to execute the office imposed on him. 
Thus situated, and finding all entreaty or 
remonstrance vain, he entered the room, 
where he found a lady of a most interest- 
ing figure and appearance, apparently in 
the bloom of youth. She was habited 
in a loose undress ; and immediately af- 
terwards, a female attendant placed be- 
fore her a large tub filled with warm wa- 
ter, in which she immersed her legs. 
Far from opposing any impediment to 
the act which she knew he was sent to 
perform, the lady assured him of her per- 
fect resignation ; entreating him to put 
the sentence passed on her into execution 
with as little delay as possible. She 
added, that she was well aware, no par- 
don could be hoped for from those who 
had devoted her to death, which clone 
could expiate her trespass : felicitating 
herself that his humanity would abbre- 
viate her suff'erings, and soon terminate 
their duration. 

"After a short conflict with his own 
mind, perceiving no means of extrication 
or of escape, either for the lady, or for 
himself; being moreover urged to expe- 
dite his work, by the two persons with- 
out, who, impatient at his reluctance, 
threatened to exercise violence on him, if 
he procrastinated ; Ogilvie took out his 
lancet, opened her veins, and bled her to 
death in a short time. The gentlemen 
having carefully examined the body, in 
order to ascertain that she was no more ; 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



99 



after expressing their satisfaction, offered 
him a purse of Zecliins, as a remunera- 
tion ; but lie declined all recompense, 
only requesting to be conveyed from a 
scene, on which he could not reflect 
without horror. With this entreaty they 
complied, and having again applied a 
bandage to his eyes, they led him down 
the same staircase, to the carriage. But 
it being narrow, in descending the steps, 
he contrived to leave on one, or both of 
the walls, unperceived by his conductors, 
the marks of his fingers, which were 
stained with blood. After observing pre- 
cautions similar to those used in bring- 
ing him thither from his own house, he 
was conducted iiome ; and at parting, the 
two masques cliarged him, if he valued 
his life, never to divulge, and if possible, 
never to think on the past transaction. 
They added, tliat if he should embrace 
any measures with a view to render it 
public, or to set on foot an inquiry into 
it, he should be infallibly immolated to 
their revenge. Having finally dismissed 
him ai his own door, they drove off, 
leaving him to his reflections. 

*' On the subsequent morning, after 
great irresolution, he determined at what- 
ever risk to his personal safety, not to 
participate, by concealing so enormous 
a crime. It formed, nevertheless, a deli- 
cate and difficult undertaking to substan- 
tiate the charge, as he remained alto- 
gether ignorant of the place to which he 
had been carried, or of the name and qua- 
lity of the lady whom he had deprived of 
life. Without suffering himself, how- 
ever, to be deterred by these considera- 
tions, he waited on the secretary of the 
apostolic chamber, and acquainted him 
with every particular; adding, that if 
the government would extend to him pro- 
tection, he did not despair of finding the 
house, and of bringing to light the perpe- 
trators of the deed. Benedict the Four- 
teenth (Lambertlni), who then occupied 
the papal chair, had no sooner received 
the information, than he immediately 
commenced the most active measures for 
discovering the offenders. A guard of 
the sbirri, or officers of justice, was ap- 
pointed by his order, to accompany Ogil- 
vie ; who judging from various circum- 
stances, that he had been conveyed out 
of the city of Rome, began by visiting 
the villas scattered without the walls of 



that metropolis. His search proved ul- 
timately successful. In the villa Papa 
Julio, constructed by Pope Julius the 
Third (del Monte), he there found the 
bloody marks left on tiie wall by his fin- 
gers, at the same time that he recognized 
the apartment in which he had put to 
death the lady. The palace belonged to 
the Duke, de Bracciano, the chief of 
which illustrious family, and his brother, 
had committed the murder in tlie person 
of their own sister. They no sooner 
found that it was discovered, than they 
fled to this city, where they easily eluded 
the pursuit of justice. After remaining 
here for some time, they obtained a par- 
don, by the exertions of their powerful 
friends, on payment of a considerable 
fine to the apostolic chamber, and under 
the further condition of affixing over the 
chimney-piece of the room where the 
crime had been perpetrated, a plate of 
copper, commemorating the transaction, 
and their penitence. This plate, together 
with the inscription, still continued to 
exist there till within these few years." 
However extraordinary many circum- 
stances of this story may appear, similar 
events or accounts have been circulated 
and believed in other countries of Europe. 
I have often been assured, both at Vien- 
na, and in various places of the German 
empire, that an occurrence not less ro- 
mantic and more enigmatical in its na- 
ture, took place in 1774 or 1775 ; for 
some uncertainty prevailed as to the pre- 
cise time when the fact was pretended to 
have happened. It is well known that 
the " Bourreau," or public executioner 
of the city of Strasburgh, although that 
place formed a part of the F'rench mo- 
narchy ever since the reign of Louis the 
Fourteenth ; yet was frequently employ- 
ed during a great part of the last century, 
to execute the functions of his office, on 
the other side of the Rhine, in Swabia, 
on the territories of Baden, and in the 
Brisgaw ; all which countries constitute 
a portion of Germany. Some persons 
who arrived at Strasburgh about the pe- 
riod to which I have alluded ; having re- 
paired, as it is said, to the house of the 
executioner, during the night, demanded 
that he should instantly accompany them 
out of the town, in order to execute a 
criminal of condition ; for which service 
he should, of course, receive a liberal re- 



100 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



mimeration. They particularly enjoined 
him to bring the heavy two-edged sword 
with which he was accustomed, in the 
discharge of his ordinary functions, to 
behead malefactors. Being placed in a 
carriage with his conductors, he passed 
the bridge over the river to Kehl, the 
first town on the eastern bank of the 
Rhine ; where they acquainted him that 
he had a considerable journey to perform ; 
the object of which must be carefully 
concealed, as the person intended to be 
put to death, was an individual of great 
distinction. They added that he must 
not oppose their taking the proper pre 



The most generally adopted belief rested 
on the Princess of Tour and Taxis, Au- 
gusta Elizabeth, daughter of Charles 
Alexander, Prince of Wirtemberg. She 
had been married at a very early period 
of life, to Charles Anselm, Prince of 
7'our and Taxis. Whether it proceeded 
from mutual incompatibility of character, 
or, as was commonly pretended, from 
the princess's intractable and ferocious 
disposition, the marriage proved emi- 
nenily unfortunate in its results. She 
was accused of having repeatedly at- 
tempted to take away her husband's life, 
particularly while they were walking to- 



cautions to prevent his knowing the | gether near the castle of Donau-Stauff, 
place to which he was conveyed. He | on the high bank overhanging the Da- 
acquiesced, and allowed them to hood- nube, when, it was said, she endeavoured 
wink him. On the second day they ar- 1 to precipitate him into the river. It is 
rived at a moated castle, the drawbridge | certain, that about the year 1773 or 1774, 
of which being lowered for the purpose, 1 a final separation took place between 
they drove into llie court. After waiting j them, at the prince's solicitation. The 
a considerable time, he was then con- ] reigning Duke of Wirtemberg, her bro- 



ducted into a spacious hall, where stood 
a scaflold hung with black cloth, and in 
the centre was placed a stool or chair. 
A female shortly made her appearance, 
habited in deep mourning, her face 
wholly concealed by a veil. She was 
led by two persons, who, when she was 
seated, having first tied her hands, next 



ther, to whose custody she was consign- 
ed, caused her to be closely immured 
in a castle within her own dominions, 
where she was strictly guarded, no ac- 
cess being allowed to her. Of the last 
mentioned fact, there is little doubt ; but 
it may be considered as much more pro- 
blematical, whether she was the person 



fastened her legs with cords. As far as he i put to death by the executioner of Stras- 
could form any judgment from her gene- i burgh. I have dined, in the autumn of 
ral figure, he considered her to have I the year 1778, with the Prince of Tour 
passed the period of youth. Not a word and Taxis, at his castle or seat of Donau- 
was uttered ; neither did she make any '' StaufT, near the northern bank of the 
complaints, nor attempt any resistance. Danube, a few miles from the city of 
When all the preparations for her execu- j Ratisbon. He was then about forty -five 
tion were completed, on a signal given he ' years of age, and his wife was understood 
unsheathed the instrument of punishment, j to be in confinement. I believe that her 
according to the practice adopted in the j decease was not formally announced as 
German empire, where the axe is rarely, having taken place, till many years snb- 
or never, used for decapitation; and her 1 sequent to 1778: but this circumstance 
head being forcibly held up by the hair, i by no means militates against the possi- 



he severed it at a single stroke from her 
body Without allowing him to remain 
more than a few minutes, he was then 
handsomely rewarded, conducted back to 
Kehl by the same persons who had 
brought him to the place, and set down 
at the end of the bridge leading to Stras- 
burgh. 

I have heard the question frequently 
agitated during my residence in Germany, 
and many different opinions stated, rela- 
tive to the name and quality of the lady 
thus asserted to have been put to death. 



bility of her having suffered by a more 
summary process, if her conduct had ex- 
posed her to merit it ; and if it was 
thought proper to inflict upon her capital 
punishment. The private annals of the 
great houses and sovereigns of the Ger- 
man empire, if they were divulged, 
would furnish numerous instances of 
similar severity exercised in their own 
families, during the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth cent\iries. Some of these stories 
might realize the tragical adventu^gs 
commemorated by Boccace, or rel 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



101 



Margaret, Queen of Navarre, sister of 
Francis the First, in her " Tales ;" which 
last mentioned productions, however ro- 
mantic some of lliein may appear, are 
not fictions but faithful delineations of 
the gallantries, or crimes that took place 
in the court of Pau, where she resided, 
near the front of the Pyrenees. Count 
Konigsmarck fell a victim at Hanover, to 
the resentment of Ernest Augustus, fa- 
ther of King George the First: and we 
know how narrowly the great Frederic, 
afterwards King of Prussia, escaped pe- 
rishing by the same weapon which be- 
headed his companion Katt, arbitrarily 
sacrificed by Frederic William the first, 
for only endeavouring to facilitate the 
prince's evasion from his father's court. 

While I am engaged on the subject of 
extraordinary events, I shall record one 
more fact, which may appear equally 
curious with either of the stories that I 
have just recounted. During the first 
winter that I passed at Vienna, in 1778, 
I became acquainted with tlie Count and 
Countess Podotski. She was one of the 
most beautiful and accomplished women 
of high rank whom I have seen on the 
continent. Her husband, a great Polish 
nobleman, hereditary cup-bearer, or 
" grand echanson" of the crown, had 
become in some measure an Austrian 
subject, in consequence of the first parti- 
lion of Poland, which took place in 1772. 
His patrimonial estates lying principally 
in that southern portion of the kingdom 
which fell to the share of Maria Theresa, 
he of course repaired frequently to 
Vienna : between which capital and 
Warsaw he divided his time. During 
the winter of 1776, as the Count and 
Countess Podotski were on their way 
from Vienna to Cracow, the wolves 
which abound in the Carpathian moun- 
tains, rendered more than ordinarily 
bold and ferocious, in consequence of 
the severity of the season ; descending 
in great numbers, began to follow the 
carriage between the two little towns of 
Oswiezk and Zalor ; the latter of which 
places is only a few leagues distant from 
Cracow. Of two servants who attended 
him, one had been sent forward to Zator. 
for the purpose of procuring post horses. 
The other, a Heyduc, to whom he was 
much attached on account of his fidelity, 
finding the wolves rapidly gaining ground 
^9* 



I on them, rode up, and exhorted the 
Count to permit him to abandon to these 
animals his horse ; as such a prey would 
naturally arrest their impetuosity, and 
allow time for the count and countess 
to reach Zator. Podotski immediately 
agreed to the proposal ; and the Heyduc, 
mounting behind the carriage, left his 
horse, who was soon overtaken, and 
torn in a thousand pieces. 

They continued their journey mean- 
while with all possible speed, in the 
hope of getting to the town, from which 
they were at an inconsiderable distance. 
But their horses were fatigued ; and the 
wolves, become more ravenous, as well 
as eager, by having tasted blood, already 
were nearly up with them. In this ex- 
tremity, the Heyduc said to his master, 
" There is only one way left to save us. 
We shall all be devoured in a few 
minutes. I am ready to sacrifice myself, 
by going to meet the wolves, if you will 
swear to be a father to my wife and 
children. I shall be destroyed ; but 
while they are occupied in falling upon 
me, you may escape." Podotski, after 
a moment's reluctance to accept such an 
ofTer, pressed nevertheless by the pros- 
pect of imminent destruction to them all, 
and seeing no prospect of any other 
means of extrication, consented ; and 
assured him, that if he were capable of 
devoting himself for their common pre- 
servation, his family should find in him 
a constant protector. The Heyduc in- 
stantly descending, advanced to meet the 
wolves, who surrounded and soon de- 
spatched him. But his magnanimou.s 
sacrifice of himself, by checking the 
ardour of their pursuit, allowed Count 
Podotski time to reach the gates of 
Zator in safety. I ought not to omit that 
the Heyduc was a dissident or protes- 
tant, while his master professed tlie ca- 
tholic religion ; a circumstance which 
greatly added to the merit and effect of 
the sacriiice. I believe that Count 
Podotski most religiously fulfilled his 
engagement, to befriend the family of 
his faithful servant. For the honour of 
human nature, we ought not to suppose 
it possible that he could fail on such a 
point. I cannot say that 1 have heard him 
relate this story himself; but I have re- 
ceived it from those persons who knew 
its aulhenticilv, and who recounted it to 



102 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



me at Vienna, while the connt was en- 
gaged in the same room at play, in the 
hotel of the French embassador, the 
Baron de Breleuil, only about two years 
after it took place. An instance of more 
prompt, cool, and generous self-devo- 
tion, is perhaps not to be found in the 
history of mankind; nor ought its value 
to be in any degree diminished by the 
consideration, that even if the Heyduc 
had not acted as he did, they must all 
probably have perished togetlier. 

If Naples, in 1779, oflered a number 
of enchanting objects to the imagination 
and the senses; Florence, where I like- 
wise passed a considerable time in the 
same year, presented others not less cap- 
tivating to the mind. The "Palazzo Vec- 
chio," once inhabited by the elder 
Cosmo, and by Lorenzo de' Medicis : 
names which will be for ever vener- 
a'ed ; — the chapel of St. Lorenzo, where 
reposed the remains of so many princes 
or individuals of that illustrious family, 
whose monuments were adorned by the 
hand of Michael Angelo ; — the gallery 
constructed for the reception of all those 
master-pieces of ancient and of modern 
genius, which taste and expense h^d col- 
lected in the lapse of ages ; — even the 
surrounding scenery, the river Arno, 
Fiesole, Vallombrosa, and every object, 
awakened classic, or poetic recollections. 
Sir Horace Mann, who was then the 
British minister at the court of Tuscany, 
had long outlived the extinction of the 
House of Medicis ; for which race of 
princes he seemed to preserve the same 
predilection, which Brantome always 
manifests for the family of Valois, above 
the line of Bourbon. He remembered, 
and personally knew, the last grand duke 
of the Medicean line, John Gaston, who 
died in 1737; in conseqaence of whose 
decease without issue, those beautiful 
portions of Italy, con>~tituling his domi- 
nions, were finally transferred to a prince 
of Lorrain. 

Conversing with Sir Horace Mann, on 
this topic, which always exfiled his re- 
gret ; "John Gaston," observed he to 
me, " was one of the most superior and 
accompli-hed men, whom the present 
century has witnessed, if his immoderate 
pursuit of pleasures had not enervated 
his mind, and debilitated his frame. He 
became, long before his death, incanable 



of continuing his family; but that in- 
ability did not produce its extinction. A 
sort of fatality seemed to overhang the 
house of Medicis, and to render inefl'ec- 
tual all the measures adopted for its pro- 
longation. When the fact became per- 
fectly ascertained, that John Gaston 
could not perpetuate his line, the Cardi- 
nal Hippolito de Medicis, his uncle, was 
selected for that purpose ; a dispensation 
from his ecclesiastical vows being pre- 
viously obtained from the papal see. 
The only, and the indispensable object 
of the marriage,' being the attainment of 
heirs ma'e to the grand duchy, in order 
to prevent its seizure by foreign violence, 
or its incorporation with the Austrian, 
French, or Spanish monarchies ; all Italy 
j was searched, with the view of finding 
. a young and handsome princess, from 
; whom might be expected a numerous 
\ family. A princess of Mirandola, on 
' whom the selection fell, seemed to unite 
every requisite qualifii-ation. The nup- 
j tiais were solemnized;' and the bride- 
groom being of a feeble constitution, as 
well as advanced in. life, it was plainly 
insinuated to the lady, that for reasons 
of state necessity, connected with the 
very political existence of Tuscany un- 
der the reigning house, she must produce 
an heir. The most agreeable youths and 
pages about the court were purposely 
thrown in her way, and every facility 
was furnished, that might conduce to the 
accomplishment of the object. But, so 
sacredly did she observe the marriage 
vow, that no seductions could make an 
impression on her, and she remained 
without issue. Her husband died, and 
was followed by John Gaston. France 
having acquired Lorrain, and Don Car- . 
los being made sovereign of Naples, 
Tuscany was delivered over by the great 
continental powers, as a conquered or 
forfeited country, to Francis, Duke of 
Lorrain. But, no sooner had these events 
taken place, than Hippolilo's widow, 
who had surmounted every temptation 
to inconstancy during his life, gave the 
reins to her inclinations, and brought 
into the world two or three children, 
within a few years. It was thus that 
Florence, the re[)Ository of so many in- 
valuable monuments of Greek and Ro- 
man sculpture, collected during succes- 
sive centuries, by llie princes of Medicis, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



103 



together with the territories dependant 
on it, passed inlo the Austrian family." 
Sir Horace Utile foresaw at that time, 
the new and more calamitous revolutions ; 
impending over Tuscany, about to issue 
from the volcano of the French revolu- 
tion. 

That beautiful country, tlie cradle of; 
the fine arts, in 1779, under the mild and 
parental government of the Grand Duke 
jjeopold, enjoyed a great degree of feli- 
city, as well as prosperity ; perliaps as ; 
much, or more, than at any period of its j 
history; either when a coniiuonweallh, j 
or under the administration of the house i 
of Medicis. While his father, the Em- 
peror Francis, retained the sovereignty 
of Tuscany, that portion of Italy was | 
considered only as a detached province 
of the Austrian monarchy, rarely visited; 
and the internal control of which, Fran- 1 
cis committed to Germans, or to subjects 
of Lorrain. But, with the accession of j 
Leopold, as grand duke, Florence as- 1 
sumed a new aspect; and though he oc- 
casionally repaired to Vienna, in order i 
to pay his duty to the Empress Maria i 
Theresa his mother, yet he was not par- 
tial to the climate or manners of Austria. 
He loved the banks of the Arno, far more j 
than those of the Danube ; dividing his 
time between the occupations of civil go- 
vernment, the education of his numerous 
family, which he superintended in person 
with great care ; and the researches of 
natural philosophy, particularly chemis- 
try ; for which last mentioned pursuit, 
like the Emperor Francis, he nourished 
a strong preddeclion. In imitation of 
other royal philosophers, ancient and 
modern, with the single illustrious ex- 
ceptions, I believe, of tlie great Frederic, 
King of Prussia, and of Charles the 
Twelfth of Sweden ; he sought in ihe 
gratificatioi'is of female society, the best 
relief from the toils and cares of state. 
An English lady, the Countess Cowper, 
became at this time distinguished by his 
attachment; and the exertion of his in- 
terest with Joseph the Second his bro- 
ther, procured her husband, Earl Cow- 
per, to be created soon afterwards a 
prince of the German empire : an honour 
which, 1 believe, had not been conferred 
on any British subject, since the begin- 
ning of the last century, when John 
Churchill, t!ie great Duke of Marlbo- 



rough, was raised to the dignity of Prince 
of Mildenheim, by the Emperor Joseph 
the First, after the memorable victory of 
Blenheim. 

While I am engaged on the subject of 
the two brothers, Joseph and Leopold, 
who were successively Emperors of Ger- 
many, as well as Kings of Hungary and 
Bohemia, I shall make a kw observa- 
tions relative to both these princes. The 
reign of Joseph, comprising more than 
nine years, from November, 17S0, to 
February, 1790, may be considered as 
one of the most unfortunate and injurious 
in its effects to the House of Austria, 
which occurs in the annals of that family. 
He possessed nevertheless many emi- 
nent virtues ; activity, IVugality, enlarge- 
ment of mind, facility of access, indefa- 
tigable application, great renunciation of 
pleasure, the desire of acquiring know- 
ledge, and of ameliorating the condition 
of his people. But he was theoretical, 
of an irritable temper, precipitate, ambi- 
tious, despotic ; and led astray by his 
anxiety to appear, like his contemporary, 
Frederic the Second, King of Prussia, 
his own general and minister. That 
great prince last named, became, himself, 
on more than one occasion, during the 
" Seven Years War," as is well known, 
the victim of his temerity or pertinacity 
in rejecting the advice of his com- 
manders. Joseph attempted, with far 
inferior talents, to conduct the military 
operations ; but disaster perpetually at- 
tended him in the field. Laudohn was 
reduced to the necessity of forcing him 
to quit the camp in Lower Hungary, 
during the war carried on against the 
Turks ; and his arms never penetrated 
beyond the Danube, into Servia, till he 
left the army, and retired to Vienna. His 
alliance with Catherine the Second, and 
his visits to the Crimea in her company, 
of which romantic journeys the Prince 
de Ligne has given us such amusing de- 
tails ; produced no permanent advantages 
to his crown, or real benefit to his people. 
We know that he haJ actually made with 
the Russian empress, a partition of all 
the European portion of the Turkish do- 
minions, and of some of the Asiatic pro- 
vinces lying along the shore of the Black 
Sea: but the two sovereigns found it 
easier to divide Poland, than to dismem- 
ber Turkey. Joseph's imprudent, arbi- 



104 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



trary, and impolitic infractions of the 
privileges, or constitutional rights of his 
Flemish subjects, when aggravated by 
his suppression of many of the monastic 
establishments ; produced either an in- 
surrection, or a dangerous fermentation 
among the Hungarians, and throughout 
the Austrian Netherlands. Whiie he 
fondly anticipated the conquest of the 
Ottoman provinces beyond Belgrade, 
which Prince Eugene had subjected to 
Charles the Sixth, seventy years earlier ; 
the Hungarians opened a secret negotia- 
tion of the most dangerous nature, with 
the court of Berlin; and the Flemings 
overturned tlie imperial government at 
Brussels. Even the archduchy of Aus- 
tria, and the kingdom of Bohemia, ma- 
nifested symptoms of disaffection: while 
the French revolution, which had com- 
menced in tlie summer of 1789, advanc- 
ing with gigantic steps towards demo- 
cracy, anarchy, and external violence, 
painfully attracted his attention on that 
vulnerable quarter, which he had im- 
prudently dismantled and laid open to 
invasion. Such was the critical and 
convulsed state of the Austrian monarchy, 
when Joseph expired at Vienna, in the 
spring of 1790, at the age of forty-nine ; 
leaving no issue by either of his wives ; 
but, extenuated by diseases, caused or 
accelerated in their progress, by his own 
irritability of temper, agitation of mind, 
and the augmenting embarrassments of 
his affairs, 

Leopold, who succeeded him, and who 
was unquestionably a prince of deep re- 
flection, enlarged capacity, and sound 
judgment ; perceived the misfortunes 
which had flowed from the spirit of in- 
novation, reform, and restless activity or 
ambition, that had characterized his bro- 
ther. But, it was not easy for him to 
withdraw from the political connexions 
formed by Joseph witli the Empress Ca- 
therine the Second. Yet, alarmed at the 
state of Flanders and of Hungary, while 
he dreaded the issue of the revolutionary 
struggle in which liis brother-in-law, 
Louis the Sixteenth, was involved with 
his subjects ; Leopold, after many doubts 
and much hesitation, finally determined 
to quit the alliance of Russia. A cir- 
cumstance which took place not long 
after his accession, confirmed him in the 
resolution. Potemkin, who then go- 



verned his imperial mistress and the court 

of Petersburgh ; commanding the armies 
of that power in the vicinity of Oczakow, 
on the coast of the Black Sea, pushed his 
conquests against the Turks, so far to the 
westward, in Moldavia and Walachia, as 
to approach the Austrian frontier, on the 
Lower Danube, in Servia. Uneas)' at 
the advances of such a neighbour, the em- 
peror addressed a letter to him, couched 
in very obliging language ; but, intima- 
ting his imperial majesty's wishes that 
he would desist from prosecuting his ad- 
vantages any further on that side. Po- 
temkin, intoxicated with favour, brutal in 
his manners, insolent, and restrained by 
no considerations of policy, or of respect 
for the dignity of the writer, had the au- 
dacity to throw the letter on the ground, 
ill the presence of various persons, to spit 
upon it, and to trample it under foot ; 
adding the most injurious or insulting 
epithets relative personally to Leopold. 
These barbarous and impolitic ebullitions 
of his rage, were reported soon after- 
wards to the emperor, by Foscari, the 
Venetian embassador at the court of 
Petersburgh ; who, having returned to 
Venice, and there meeting his imperial 
majesty, acquainted him with the facts. 
Leopold heard the narration with great 
apparent calmness, but such an insult did 
not make the less deep impression on 
his mind. We may, however, assume 
with probability, that before Potemkin 
would have ventured on so outrageous 
an act of contempt toward his sovereign's 
ally, he had good reason to believe that 
the existing ties between the two courts 
or sovereigns, were about to be dissolved, 
and new alliances to be formed by 
Austria. 

In fact, Leopold, from an early period 
of his reign, turned all his views towards 
the two courts of Berlin and London. 
After concluding a treaty at Reichenbach, 
with the King of Prussia, he made peace 
with the Turks at Sistova ; wisely re- 
nouncing all his brother Joseph's con- 
quests in Bosnia and Servia, restoring 
Belgrade to the Porte, and abandoning 
his connexions with Catherine. Impel- 
led by an anxious desire of arresting the 
course of those French revolutionary 
principles, which, he foresaw, would, if 
not checked, eventually involve Europe 
in the greatest calamities, he set on foot 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



105 



the celebrated intervieiv of P Unit z. In 
the summer of 1791, havinir repaired 
with his eldest son, the ])rehent emperor 
Francis, to the castle or hunting; seal of 
that name, belonging to the Elector of 
Saxony, -situate near Dresden; Frederic 
William, accompanied in like manner by 
his future successor, the reigning Kingof 
Prussia, there met Leopold. 'JMieir confer- 
ences led to a treaty, which adopted, as its 
fundamental basis, the resolution "not to 
make war on France., but to arm against 
the introduclioa of French revolutionary 
principles into Germany and the Low 
Countries." 'J'he emperor, who had form- 
ed an opinion to which he systematically 
adhered, ihattlie republican faction in Pa- 
ris would only be aided by aifgression and 
hostility, thought that war must therefore 
be avoided : but, he conceived that the 
great powers of Europeshould arm aorainst 
French principles, by forming a military 
cordon round France ; thus shutting in, 
if I may so express myself, the moral 
or political infection, and leaving them to 
exhaust their democratic rage on each 
other. 

Such was the unquestiotiable object 
and scope of that memorable treaty of 
Pilnitz, relative to which so much has 
been said or written within the last 
twenty years, and whose very existence 
has been called in question. How far 
the plan might have proved efficacious, 
if it had been generally acted upon by 
all the Germanic body, as early as 1791 ; 
and if f^eopold, who framed it, had lived 
to conduct its operations ; it is difficult 
to venture a decided opinion : but, for the 
authenticity of the fact itself, I think I 
may challenge contradiction. Perhaps, 
moral and political principles are not to 
be shut in or compressed by any defen- 
sive precautions which can be adopted 
by human wisdom. I am fully con- 
vinced at least, that when Mr. Pitt, early 
in 1793, declared oj)en hostility on 
France, ho could not have saved England 
by ten)[iorizing measures. Nay, I thought 
at the time, and I continue so to think 
now, after the lapse of more than twenty 
years, that Mr. Fox would have formed 
the same estimate, and would have acted 
precisely in the same manner, if he had 
been seated in Mr. Pitt's place, as first 
minister, on the treasury bench The 
whole difference in their mode of seeing 



and appreciating the tendency of the 
Frenci) revolution, lay in the possession, 
or the negation, of political power. In- 
deed, the fact was practically proved, 
when Fox, after Pitt's decease in 1806, 
arrived at employment. It soon became 
evident h(jw much his attainment of a 
seat in the cabinet, had illuminated his 
understanding, as well as invigorated his 
measures, in opposition to revolutionary 
principles and their consequences. Fox's 
masterly yj)eech on the cession of the 
two Margraviates of Anspach and Ba- 
reith to Bavaria, by Frederic William 
King of Prussia, and his acceptance of 
Hanover from Bonaparte, as a compen- 
sation ; sufficiently demonstrated that he 
then saw through the optics of Pitt and 
Burke. The present Earl of Chatham, 
if he had been seated under the gallery 
at the time, might have exclaimed with 
Isabella in "lAIeasure for Measure," on 
hearing the secretary's harangue, 

" There spake luy brother. There my father's 
grave 
Did utter forth a voice !" 

I return to Leopold. So anxious was 
he to form a defensive league against 
the French republican contagion, that 
on the very day succeeding his corona- 
tion at Frankfort, as Emperor of Ger- 
many, in the autumn of 1790, he de- 
spatched a confidential agent, whom I 
well know, and who is still living, to the 
court of Berlin, empowered to open a 
private negotiation with Frederic Wil- 
liam. It was confined personally to the 
two sovereigns ; their respective first 
ministers, Kaunitz and Hertzberg, being 
excluded from any knowledge of the 
transaction. The King of Prussia, who 
came readily into Leopold's views, em- 
ployed BischofTswerder, his favourite, to 
carry back his assent. But no final or 
effectual measures, as they well knew, 
could be settled, without the participation 
of England. Mr. Pitt and Lord Gren- 
ville entered ardently into the plan, 
which had principally in view two ob- 
jects; to arrest the arms of Catherine on 
the shore of the Euxine, and to coerce 
the republicans of Paris, without making 
otTensive war on France. The former 
of these points would unquestionably 
have been attained, if Mr. Fox had not 
excited so formidable an opposition in 



106 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the House of Commons, as compelled 
the ministry reluctantly to recede from 
their engagements. He at the same time 
sent Mr. Adair, as his own private agent, 
to Petersburgh ; an act, for which many 
persons thought that he deserved im- 
peachment, far more than Hastings 
merited prosecution on account of his 
conduct while Governor-General of In- 
dia. Leopold, apprehensive of Cathe- 
rine's resentment, doubtful of Mr. Pitt's 
and Lord Grenville's sincerity, nor with- 
out alarm at the murmurs which he fore- 
saw would arise among his own troops, 
on the evacuation of Belgrade, and the 
restitution of his conquests in Servia ; 
said to a gentleman, a native of Great 
Britain, deep in his confidence, with 
whom he was accustomed to unbosom 
his thoughts, and who had formed the 
medium of his intercourse with Frederic 
William, " J^d sigue la Paix avec les 
Turcs : mais, la Grande Bretagne, est- 
elle sincere ? Me tiendra-t-elle scs en- 
gagemcns ? Catherine sera inexorable. 
Je fai vu en Songe, Hier, la niiit, le 
Poignard a la Mainy He even disap- 
proved and lamented the line of conduct 
adopted by Pitt towards the empress, in 
the business of Oczakow, as severe, ir- 
ritating, and calculated to render her im- 
placable. " Why," observed Leopold, 
speaking to the same friend, " rob the 
empress of her laurels, and humiliate 
her in the eyes of Europe ? It is neces- 
sary that her head should be encircled 
with glory, in order to hide her feet, 
which are all stained with blood." In 
fact, Catherine, vvho never forgave either 
Austria, Prussia, or England, for their 
conduct towards her, propelled those 
powers to commence war on France in 
1793 ; but, she extended no assistance to 
them in the contest. On the contrary, 
she compelled Frederic William to with- 
draw from the great alliance, and to re- 
turn home, by attacking Poland. "If," 
said the king, addressing himself to the 
distinguished individual already alluded 
to, " I had not marched my army back 
into my own dominions, she would not 
only have taken Warsaw, but have en- 
tered Berlin likewise with her troops." 
It was Russia, therefore, which acted as 
one great cause of the overthrow of the 
first confederacy formed against republi- 
can France. 



During the autumn of the year 1791, 
Leopold being on his way from Vienna 
to Florence, stopped, for the purpose of 
refreshment, at a small post house in the 
duchy of Styria; where, while he re- 
mained, a crowd of his own subjects, 
pressed round to look at him. Among 
them he remarked an old woman, who, 
when he got into his carriage, approach- 
ed it ; and knocking against the glass 
with her hand, addressed some words to 
him in a tone of great violence and as- 
perity, accompanied with gestures indica- 
tive of resentment: but, as she spoke in 
the Slyrian dialect, he was wholly una- 
ble to comprehend her meaning. Ap- 
prehending that she might have some 
complaint to prefer, or might have re- 
ceived some injury demanding redress, 
he ordered his attendants to question her 
on the subjectof her application. They 
manifested considerable reluctance in ex- 
plaining to him its nature ; but on his 
insisting to be informed, one of them 
answered that she said, " Render justice 
promptly. We know all that the Pois- 
sardes have done at Paris." The em- 
peror made no reply ; but, when he 
recounted the story to the gentleman 
who related it to me, and to whom he 
was used to speak without reserve, he 
added, " You may suppose that I have 
read and reflected much upon the French 
revolulion and its consequences : but, all 
that has been said, or can be written 
upon it, never carried such conviction to 
my mind, as the few words uttered by 
the old woman in Styria." They forci- 
bly remind us of the female, who ob- 
served to Alexander the Great, that if he 
was not at leisure to hear abuses, and to 
redress grievances, why did he reign ? 

Notwithstanding all the efforts made 
by the emigrants, for inducing Leopold 
to commence war with France, he re- 
mained inflexibly steady to his system 
of arming against the revolution, but of 
never attacking the French nation. It 
was not till after his decease, under 
Francis, his successor, in the summer of 
1792, that the Austrians entered Cham- 
pagne, in conjunction with the Prussian 
forces. Leopold's death took place on 
the first day of March, that very year, 
at Prague ; to which city he had repair- 
ed for the purpose of being there crown- 
ed King of Bohemia. I think I may 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



107 



venture to assert with confidence, that he 
was poisoned ; and that the poison was 
administered in conlectionery, which a 
lady presented him at a masquerade. 
Every endeavour was used to conceal 
the fact ; and with that view, it was pre- 
tended that his end had been produced \ 
by some drugs or incentives, which he 
himself prepared in his own labora- 
tory: — for, he passed much time in 
chemical researches and processes. But, 
Agusius, his physician, who opened liis 
body, did not entertain any doubt that 
he fell a victim to poison. 

During the spring of the year 1798, 
chancing to be alone with a foreign noble- 
man, in London, whose name I do not 
think proper to mention, he being still 
alive, but whose veracity was unques- 
tionable; and who, as having been the 
embassador of a crowned head, at the 
court of Vienna, when Leopold's death 
happened, must have possessed the best 
means of obtaining information ; I ven- 
tured to interrogate him on the subject. 
" I was accustomed," answered he, 
" during the last year of the emperor's 
life, to see him frequently, and to have 
long audiences of him, on business in his 
closet. During these interviews, I be- 
held him when divested of any disguise ; 
and I can pronounce, as a matter of cer- 
tainty, that the force of his mind was 
then altogether broken, and his faculties 
enfeebled. His memory in particular had 
become so weakened, that he could no 
longer retain from one day to another, 
the facts or images committed to it. He 
rarely recollected the conversation of the 
preceding morning. This premature de- 
cay of his intellectual powers, resulted 
from his inordinate passion for the other 
sex, which had characterised him at 
every period of his life, and which he 
continued to indulge when it proved de- 
structive to his frame. The brain was 
particularly affected. In my audiences 
of Leopold, he always walked up and 
down the apartment, during the whole 
time. On his table lay a number of rolls 
of wax, which he bit from one minute to 
another, spitting out the pieces on the 
floor. When he quitted the room, whe- 
ther any other persons were present, or 
whether we were alone, he never ad- 
vanced forward in a straight line ; but 
he went round the sides of the chamber. 



touching with his hand the wainscot, or 
the window shutters. No circumstance 
could more strongly indicate a disordered 
or enfeebled understanding. As to the 
nature of his death, 1 am unable posi- 
tively to pronounce upon the fact. Cer- 
tainly, his body, when opened, ex- 
hibited every mark of poison. But, if he 
v/as poisoned, by whom was it adminis- 
tered, or with what object ? I cannot 
pretend to guess, or even to form a con- 
jecture." Two opinions, as I have been 
assured, prevailed at Prague, respecting 
it; both of which were alike founded on 
Leopold's well known determination not 
to engage in a war with France. One 
parly maintained that the Girondists, 
which faction then predominated at Paris, 
dreading the effects of his defensive sys- 
tem, as most injurious to their tenure of 
power, removed him in the manner re- 
lated ; while another party accvised the 
emigrants of having produced his death, 
as the only means left them of regaining 
their estates, by forcing an immediate 
rupture between the Austrian and French 
governments. I must leave the fact pro- 
blematical. Time, however, will pro- 
bably elucidate its nature. 

Among the objects of mingled curiosity 
and compassion, which Florence pre- 
sented in 1779, to the view of an Eng- 
lishman, was the Chevalier de St. 
George ; or, as we commonly denomi- 
nate him, the Pretendei'. It was impos- 
sible to contemplate him, without making 
many reflections on his own destiny, and 
on the condition of the infatuated family 
of which he was the representative. 
Neither ancient, nor modern history, 
presents the example of a line of princes 
so eminently unfortunate, during a suc- 
cession of ages ! The calamities which 
overwhelmed the house of Bourbon, 
awful as they must be esteemed, have 
been comprised within the space of five 
and twenty years : but, from James the 
First of Scotland, murdered in the most 
inhuman manner, at Perth, in 1437, 
down to the last of his descendants ; 
with only the two exceptions of James 
the First of England, and Charles the 
Second ; all the others perished by the 
hand of the executioner, or by violent 
and premature death, or died in exile, 
maintained by foreign contribution. It 
was not, however, merely when consi- 



108 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



dered as the grandson of James the 
Second, and the inheritor of the preten- 
sions of the Stuarts, that the Chevalier 
de St. George excited an interest in the 
mind of every reflecting spectator. By 
his mother, he descended from the cele- 
brated John Sobieski, King of Poland, 
who was his maternal greatgrandfather; 
the first Chevalier de St. George having 
carried off from Iiispruck, about the 
year l'<19, and married Clementina 
Sobieska, daughter and heiress of Prince 
James Sobieski, whom Charles the 
Tvvelftli, King of Sweden, meditated, 
some years earlier, to have placed on 
the Polish throne. In right of that 
princess, her son succeeded to very con- 
siderable patrimonial estates situated in 
Poland ; the produce of which, form- 
ed a much more solid source' of sup- 
port, than the precarious allowance or 
donations, made and withdrawn as cir- 
cumstances impelled, by the French and 
Spanish crowns, or by the Apostolic see. 
Clement ihe Fourteenth (Ganganelli), 
when he refused to continue to the Che- 
valier the public honours previously en- 
joyed by his father and himself at Rome, 
where a canopy, decorated with the royal 
arms of Great Britain, was erected over 
their box in the theatre ; retrenched like- 
wise the pecuniary appointment s, ante- 
cedently paid him out of tlie treasury of 
St. Peter. Nor do I believe that they 
were restored by Pius the Sixth, after 
his election to the papal chair in 1775 ; 
but the Pretender^ s income at the time 
of which I speak, might be estimated at 
more than five thousand pounds sterling : 
a sum fully adequate, at Florence, to 
maintain an establishment becoming his 
situation. 

His faculties, even in t'leir zenith, ap- 
pear to have been very moderate : but 
his valour, though not heroic, was never, 
I believe, called in question by the Scots, 
during his campaign in 1745 and 1746 ; 
as that of Charles the Second had been 
doubted in 1652, at the battle of Wor- 
cester ; and as James the Second's cour- 
age was questioned, on various occa- 
sions, both as Lord High Admiral on the 
water, during the two Dutch wars under 
his brother's reign, and on the land. 
Charles the First is indeed the only 
prince of the Stuart race, after their ac- 
cession to the English throne, whose 



bravery, conspicuously displayed at 
Edge Hill, at Newbury, at Naseby, and 
in many other battles or encounters, 
during the course of the civil wars, 
equally sustained him in the last act of 
his life, on the scaffold. In 1779, 
Charles Edward exhibited to the world 
a very humiliating spectacle. At the 
theatre, where he appeared almost every 
evening, he was conducted by his do- 
mestics, who laid him on a species of 
sofa, in the back part of his box ; while 
the Countess d'Albany, his consort, oc- 
cupied tlie front seat during the whole 
performance. Count Alfieri, a man 
singularly eccentric in his mind, habits, 
and manners, — whose dramatic produc- 
tions have since rendered him known; — 
her " cuvaliero servante,^^ always at- 
tended on her in public, according to the 
established usages of society throughout 
Italy. As, for obvious reasons, English 
subjects could not be presented to a man 
who still laid claim to the British crown; 
no opportunity of distinctly seeing the 
Chevalier de St. George, offered itself, 
except across the theatre ; and even 
there he lay concealed, as I have already 
observed, on account of his infirmities : 
rarely coming forward to view. 

Being desirous, therefore, to obtain a 
more accurate idea of his face and per- 
son, than could be acquired at such a dis- 
tance ; I took my station, one evening, 
at the head of a private staircase, near 
ihe door by which, when the perform- 
ance closed, he quitted the playhouse. 
Previous to my leaving England in 1777, 
his majesty l)ad been pleased, at the 
application of Lord Robert Manners, who 
then commanded the third Regiment of 
Dragoon Guards, to give me a lieutenant's 
commission ; and Lord Robert had al- 
lowed me to wear his uniform, which I 
had on at the time. The present Gen. 
Manners, now first equerry to the king, 
and who has represented the town of 
Cambridge in Parliament for a great 
number of years ; then a cornet in his 
father's regiment, dressed in the same 
uniform, and actuated by a similar cu- 
riosity, accompanied me. As soon as 
the clievalier approached near enough to 
distinguish the English regimental, he 
instantly stopped, gently shook ofi' the 
two servants who supported him, one on 
each side ; and taking ofi' his hat, po- 



HISTORICAL MExMOIRS. 



109 



litely saluted us. He then passed on to 
his carriage, sustained by llie two at- 
tendants, as lie descended tiie staircase. 
I could not help, as 1 looked at him, re- 
collecting the series of dangers and es- 
capes which he underwent or effected, 
for successive months, among the He- 
brides, after his defeat at Culloden : a 
chain of adventures which has no paral- 
lel among modern nations, except in 
those equally extraordinary hardships 
which distinguished llie fliglit of Charles 
the Second from Worcester; or in the 
romantic extremities to which Stanislaus, 
King of Poland, was reduced in 17-'H, 
after his evasion and fliglit from Dantzic. 
Mrs. Lane gave to the former of those 
princes, the same noble proofs of disin- 
terested devotion, which Flora Macdo- 
nald displayed towards the Pretender: 
and both were eminently indebted for 
their final preservation, to female honour 
or loyalty. Charles Edward's complex- 
ion was dark, and he manifestly bore the 
same family resemblance to his grand- 
father James the Second, that his Bri- 
tannic majesty's countenance presents to 
George the First, or to the late king. 
On the occasion just related, he wore, 
besides the decorations of the order of 
the garter, a velvet great coat, which his 
infirm health rendered necessary, even 
in summer, on coming out of the theatre ; 
and a cocked hat, the sides of which 
were half drawn up with gold twist. His 
whole figure, paralytic and debilitated, 
presented the appearance of great bodily 
decay. 

The strength of his mind had likewise 
become extinct at this time; and with 
the decline of his intellectual powers, 
the suavity of his temper forsaking him, 
he became irritable, morose, and intract- 
able, particularly in his family. An un- 
happy propensity to wine, which he 
gratified to excess, while it enervated his 
system, rendered him frequently an ob- 
ject of pity or of contempt, when in pub- 
lic ; divesting him of thai dignity which 
would otherwise have always accom- 
panied the descendant and representa- 
tive of so many kings. His misfortunes, 
exile, and anomalous situation, aggra- 
vated by mortifications of various kinds 
which he had undergone, both in France 
and at Rome ; probably induced him to 

have recourse to the grape, for procurinsr 
10 - V V . 



oblivion, or dispensing temporary fe- 
licity. That melancholy indulgence ex- 
tinguished the last hope which fortune 
ever tendered him of ascending the 
throne of England, justly forl'eited by 
the tyranny and imbecile bigotry of 
James the Second. 

I know from high authority, that as 
late as the year 1770, the Duke de Choi- 
seul, then First Minister of France, not 
deterred by the ill success of the at- 
tempts made in 171.^, and in 1745, me- 
ditated to undertake a third effort for re- 
storing the House of Stuart. His enters- 
prising spirit led him to profit of the 
dispute which arose between ihe Eng- 
lish and Spanish crowns, respecting the 
possession of Falkland Islands, in order 
to accomplish the object. As the first 
step necessary towards it. he despatched 
a private emissary to Rome, who ^sig- 
nified to Charles Edward, the duke s 
desire of seeing him immediately at 
Paris. He complied, and arrived in thai 
city with the utmost privacy. Having 
announced it to Choiseul, the ministtr 
fixed the same night, at twelve o'clock, 
when he and the Marshal de Hroglio 
would be ready to receive the Pretender, 
and to lay before him their plan for an 
invasion of England. The Hotel de 
Choiseul was named for the interview, 
to which he was enjoined to repair in a 
hackney coach, disguised, and without 
any attendant. At the appointed time, 
the duke and the marshal, furnished with 
the requisite papers and instructions 
drawn up for his conduct on the expedi- 
tion, were ready ; but, after waiting a 
full hour, expecting his appearance 
every instant, when the clock struck 
one, they concluded that some unforeseen 
accident must have intervened to prevent 
his arrival. Under this impression they 
were preparing to separate, when the 
noise of wheels were heard in the court 
yard ; and a kw moments afterwards, 
the Pretender entered the room, in a state 
of such intoxication, as to be utterly in- 
capable even of ordinary conversation. 
Disgusted, as well as indignant, at this 
disgraceful conduct, and well convinced 
that no expedition undertaken for the re- 
storation of a man so lost to every sense 
of decency or self-interest, could be. 
crowned with success ; Choiseul, \vi..h-- 
out hesitation, sent him, next moruiag, a 



110 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



peremptory order to quit the French 
dominions. The Pretender returned to 
Italy ; and the nobleman who related tome 
these particulars, being in company with 
thelate'Dukeof Glocester, in 1770, while 
walking toijether in the streets of Genoa, 
met the Chevalier de St. George, then 
on his way back from France to Rome. 
The Duke de Choiseul was soon after- 
wards dismissed by Louis the Fifteenth, 
and new principles of policy were adopt- 
ed in the cabinet of Versailles. The 
contest respecting the Falkland Islands 
being accommodated, peace continued to 
subsist between the courts of France 
and England : while Charles Edward, 
driven by the mortifications which he 
experienced at Rome, to abandon that 
city, sought refuge at Florence ; where 
he finished, in January, 1788, his in- 
glorious career, as James the Second had 
done in 1701, at the palace of St. Ger- 
main, in the vicinity of Paris. 

Louisa of Stolberg, Countess d'Albany, 
his consort, merited a more agreeable 
partner, and might, lierself, have graced 
a throne. When I saw her at Florence, 
though she had been long married, she 
was not quite twenty-seven years of age. 
Her person was formed on a small scale : 
she had a fair complexion, delicate fea- 
tures, and lively, as well as attractive 
manners. Born Princess of Stolberg-Ge- 
dern, she excited great admiration on her 
first arrival from Germany; but in 1779, 
no hope of issue by the chevalier could 
be any longer entertained ; and their 
mutual infelicity had attained to such a 
height, that she made various ineffectual 
attempts to obtain a separation. Tlie 
French court may indeed be censured, 
in the eye of policy, for not having ear- 
lier negotiated and conclutled the Pre- 
tender's marriage, if it was desired to 
perpetuate the Stuart line of claimants to 
the English crown. When Charles 
Edward espoused tiie Princess of Stol- 
berg, he had passed his fiftieth year, was 
broken in constitution, and debilitated 
by excesses of many kinds. Previous 
to his decease, she quitted Italy, and 
finally estahlislied herself at Paris. In 
the year 1737, I have passed the evening 
at her residence, the Hotel de Bourgoi^ne, 
situate in tiie Fauxbourg St. Germain, 
where she supported an elegant establish- 
ment; Her person then still retained 



many pretensions to beauty ; and her 
deportment, unassuming, but dignified, 
set off her attractions. In one of the 
apartments stood a canopy, with a chair 
of state, on which were displayed the 
royal arms of Great Britain ; and every 
piece of plate, down to the very tea- 
spoons, were ornamented in a similar 
manner. Some of the more massy 
pieces, which were said to have belonged 
to Mary of Modena, James the Second's 
queen, seemed to revive the extinct re- 
collections of the revolution of 1688. A 
numerous company, both English and 
French, male and female, was assembled 
under her roof, by all of whom she was 
addressed only as Countess d'Albany : 
but her own domestics, when serving 
her, invariably gave her the title of ma- 
jesty. The honours of a queen were in 
like manner paid her by the nuns of all 
those convents in Paris, which she was 
accustomed to visit on certain holidays 
or festivals. She continued to reside in 
the capital of France, till the calamitous 
progress of the French revolution, com- 
pelling her to abandon that country, she 
repaired to London ; where she found 
not only personal protection, but new 
resources in the liberality and bounty of 
George the Third. 

While I am engaged on the adventures 
of the Stuart family, I shall commemo- 
rate a fact, which will probably impress 
every reader with astonishment. Dining 
at the present Earl of Hardwick's; in 
London, with a large company, in June, 
1796 ; among the persons present, vvas 
the late Sir John Dalrymple, known by 
his " History of England," and " State 
Papers." The conversation turning on 
historical subjects, he assured us that the 
Princess Sophia, mother of King George 
the First, who would have ascended the 
throne of Great Britain in her own per- 
son, if she had not died about seven . 
weeks before Queen Anne ; was never- 
theless a determined Jacobite in her po- 
litical principles. On our expressing the 
amazement which such an assertion was 
calculated to produce, he declared, that 
while he was occupied in looking over 
the memorable chest preserved in Ken- 
sington palace, from which, in the begin- 
ning of the present reign, he took the 
State Papers given by him to the world ; 
he found a bundle of letters, marked on 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Ill 



the back, in King William's own hand- 
writing, " Letters of the Electress So- 
phia to the court of St. Germain's." 
Having perused them, he ascertained 
beyond any doubt, that Sopiiia was real- 
ly engaged in close correspondence with 
James the Second, and attacheil to his 
interests, in opposition to those of Wil- 
liam. Lord Rochl'ord, who was then se- 
cretary of state, having procured for Sir 
John Dalrymple, permission from his 
majesty to examine and publish the pa- 
pers in question ; he immediately com- 
municated to that nobleman his disco- 
very : requesting, at the same time, his 
lordship's sanction or approbation, in 
giving to the world the letters of the 
Electress Sophia. " Publish them by 
all means. Jack," answered he. Thus 
empowered fiom such authority, Dfd- 
rymple destined them without delay for 
the press : but before he had time to get 
the letters copied, Lord Roehford sent to 
him, desiring to have them delivered back 
to himself, in order that he might submit 
them to his majesty's inspection ; he 
having, on more mature reflection, judg- 
ed it proper to take the king's pleasure 
on a matter of such delicacy and singu- 
larity. Dalrymple returned them, there- 
fore, to Lord Roehford, who carried them 
to the queen's house, and presented the 
bundle to his majesty. But they were 
neither restored, nor was even any allu- 
sion to them ever made in conversation 
by the king ; he no doubt conceiving it 
more judicious to commit such documenls 
to the flames, than to permit their pub- 
lication. However extraordinary this 
anecdote may appear, it ought not to sur- 
prise, on full consideration, that Sophia 
should feel the warmest attachment to 
James the Second. He was very nearly 
related to her by consanguinity ; her mo- 
ther, Elizabeth, the unfortunate Queen of 
Bohemia, and Charles the First, his fa- 
ther, being brother and sister. Nor could 
Sophia, during many years subsequent 
to the revolution of 1688, nourish the 
slightest expectation of being called to 
the British throne, while the Princess 
Anne and her issue interposed between 
the House of Brunswic and that succes- 
sion. It was not till after the death of 
William, the young Duke of Glocester, 
in 1700, when the Princess Sophia and 
hey descendants being named by act of 



parliament to succeed eventually to the 
crown of Great Britain, as the nearest 
protestant heirs of the royal line ; her in- 
terests from that period became opposed 
to the right of blood existing in the Stuart 
race. 

Brussels, where I made a short stay in 
the summer of the same year, 1779, ex- 
hibited another prince in a state of physi- 
cal and mental infirmity, not less calcu- 
lated to excite pity than the Pretender. 
The Austrian Netherlands were at that 
time administered, as they had been almost 
ever since tlie peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
in 1748, by Prince Charles of Lorrain, 
as representative of the empress queen. 
His double alliance, both by consangui- 
nity and by marriage, with the emperor 
Francis and Maria Theresa ; being bro- 
ther to the former, and having married 
the sister of the latter sovereign ; — these 
qualities and pretensions, rather than any 
mental endowments, civil or military, 
had raised him to the governu)ent of the 
low countries, tlie most enviable delega- 
tion of sovereign power then existing in 
Europe. Neither Hungary, nor the Mi- 
lanese, nor Sicily, nor Sardinia, nor Ire- 
land, nor Norway, could enter into any 
political competition with the rich j)ro- 
vinces of Flanders, Haynault, and Bra- 
bant. Brussels constituted one of the 
most pleasing, as well as elegant, courts 
of the continent ; its local position, al- 
most central between Germany, Holland, 
France, and England, rendering it far 
more important in a diplomatic point of 
view, than either Venice, Turin, War- 
saw, or Naples ; perhaps I might add, 
even than Copenhagen or Stockholm. 
Prince Charles of Lorrain having been 
bred to the profession of arms from his 
early youth, and possessing an athletic 
frame of body, united with unquestiona- 
ble personal courage, had more than 
once nominally commanded the Austrian 
armies. His |)assage of the Rhine, in 
1744, and his irruption into Alsace, ac- 
quired him a degree of reputation, which 
he by no means afterwards preserved dur- 
ing the memorable " Seven Years War." 
To Frederic, King of Prussia, he form- 
ed, indeed, a most unequal antagonist, as 
that great prince sufficiently proved at 
the battle of Lissa in December, 1757, 
where he defeated the Austrians, and on 
many other occasions. Whea I was 



112 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



presented to Prince Charles, in August, 
1779, he might be regarded as per- 
forming the last of the seven ages of 
man, and as sinking fast into " mere 
oblivion." At his levee he seemed ap- 
parently unconscious of any thing be- 
yond the mere ceremony of the hour, 
even his speech and articulation being 
rendered very indistinct by a paralytic 
affection. He expired in the following 
summer, at his palace in the vicinity of 
Brussels, regretted by the Flemings for 
his moderation ; and was succeeded in 
the government general of the Nether- 
lands, by the Archduchess Christina, the 
favourite daughter of the empress queen 
Ma'ria Theresa. 

Never did a deeper political gloom 
overspread England than in the autumn 
of 1779, when I arrived in London from 
the continent. I question whether at 
the lime of the destruction of the ships of 
war lying in the IMedway, burnt by the 
Dutch, under Charles the Second ; or 
after the defeat of the English and Dutch 
combined fleets by the French, off Bea- 
rhy-Head, in 1690, under William and 
Mary ; which constitute two of the 
most calamitious epochas in our history; 
greater despondency, consternation, and 
general dissatisfaction, prevailed through- 
out the kingdom. The disgraceful naval 
campaign of 1778, in which Keppel's 
engagement off Ushant, forms the prin- 
cipal or only feature ; had been succeed- 
ed by another year of hostilities, still 
more humiliating to Great Britain. — 
D'Orvilliers, at the head of the fleets of 
France and Spain, rode master of the 
channel for a considerable time ; and the 
total want of enterprise, or of information 
on their part, alone saved the town, as 
well as the dockyards at Plymouth, from 
falling into the enemy's possession. — 
Not only was the place in want of many 
indispensable articles requisite to repel 
an attack ; even flints for supplying the 
muskets, however incredible the fact 
may appear, were deficient. Sir Charles 
Hardj', who commanded our fleet ; in- 
ferior in number of ships, and unap- 
prized of the enemy's approach to the 
coast of England, remained quietly cruis- 
ing in the Atlantic, while they thus 
menaced our shores. Happily the de- 
feat of intelligence, or want of mutual 
contidencei in the cooibined squadrons, 



supplied every ministerial neglect; and 
extricated the country from a calamity, 
which, had it taken place, must have 
shaken not only the administration, but 
would have convulsed the throne itself. 
Faction did not, however, less pervade 
the navy, where the respective adherents 
of Keppel and of Palliser, carried their 
reciprocal rancour to the utmost height. 
The American war, after four unsuccess- 
ful campaigns, began to grow odious to 
the nation : while the administration, 
depressed under the weight of a contest, 
to which the talents of the great Earl of 
Chatham might have been found unequal, 
did not manifest or exert the energy de- 
manded by the nature of the emergency. 
Even the king, notwithstanding a dis- 
play of private virtues, which since 
Charles the First had not been exhibited by 
any sovereign of Great Britain, not even 
by William the Third, yet fully partici- 
pated in the unpopularity of his minis- 
ters. As he was supposed to feel a more 
than common interest in effecting the re- 
duction of his revolting subjects, so he 
was believed to exert a more than ordi- 
nary personal influence over the cabinet 
which directed the operations of the war. 
After the return of Lord Howe in 1778, 
from his unsuccessful campaigns in Ame- 
rica, the supreme naval command on that 
coast, as well as in the West Indies, de- 
volved on Admiral Byron. He was a 
brother of Lord Byron, whose fatal duel 
with Mr. Chaworth, rendered him un- 
fortunately too conspicuous in the jour- 
nals of the House of Peers. At an early 
period of his life, having been wrecked 
on the desert coast of Patagonia, not far 
from Cape Horn, with Captain Cheap, 
in the " Wager" frigate, he there en- 
dured those inconceivable hardships, 
of which he has left us an interesting 
narrative. An intrepid and skilful, no 
less than an experienced naval officer, 
he was nevertheless deficient in the judg- 
ment, promptitude, and decision of cha- 
racter, requisite for conducting the opera- 
tions of a numerous fleet. On the element 
of the water an evil destiny seemed in- 
variably to accompany him, from his first 
expedition under Commodore Anson, 
down to the close of his professional 
life. So well was this fact known in the 
navy, that the sailors bestowed on him 
the name of "Foul Weather,Jack^" and 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



113 



esteemed themselves certain of stormy 1 tory : but, it has derived new celebrity 
weather whenever they sailed under his in the present times, from the poetic 
command. From the time of his leaving eminence to which his grandson has at- 
England in 1778, till his return about tained, by productions emulating, per- 



two years afterwards, all the tempests 
of the deep seemed to have conspired 
against liim. No man could less say of 
himself, with jEoIus, or rather with Hol- 
stenius, 

" Ventorumque facis tempestatumque potentem ;" 

Virgil having written the line, 

'■'■ JVimbonimqiie facis tempestatumque poten- 
tem ;" 

During the action which Byron fought 
with D'Estaign, in July, 1779, off 
Grenada, all the characteristic valour of 
the British was displayed, not only by 
the crews, but, by the captains and their 
commander. Yet the honours of the day 
were divided, while the advantages of it 
were reaped by France ; though the 
slaughter of men on the side of the 
French prodigiously exceeded our loss. 
But, the West India Islands, one after 
another, fell into the enemy's hands ; and 
after the surrender of Grenada, when 
D'Estaign quitted Martinico, to carry the 
arras of Louis the Sixteenth against 
Savannah, the capital of Georgia, he 
triumphantly swept the coast of America. 
We must reluctantly confess, that the 
navy of England at this period of the 
present reign, had sunk to a point of de- 
pression hardly conceivable, when com- 
pared with the times of Hawke, Saun- 
ders, and Boscawen; or if placed near 
the still more splendid period of Jervis, 
Duncan, and Nelson. We may incline 
to attribute so extraordinary a contrast, 
to tlie errors or inability of I^ord North's 
administration : the popular voice, I 
well know, sanctioned that accusation : 
but, its cause lay principally in the na- 
ture of the contest, which depressing the 
national energy, and dividing the public 
opinion, unnerved the British spirit, and 
allowmi France, during near four years, 
from 1778 (o 1783, aided by Spain, to 
make such exertions, as acquired them a 
temporary ascendant on the ocean. By- 
ron, recalled from his command, soon 
afterwards revisited England, and his 
name occurs no more in our naval his- 
10* 



haps surpassing, the fame of Spenser, of 
Gray, of Mason, and of Scott. 

To Byron, succeeded Rodney, who 
fills so distinguished a place during the 
unfortunate period of the American war ; 
a naval commander as much distinguish- 
ed by the prosperous fatality which at- 
tended him, as Byron seemed to be un- 
der the influence of an unlucky planet. 
Cardinal Mazarin, who, before he em- 
ployed any individual, always asked, 
"■ Est-il hev.reux?''^ had he been first 
minister of England, might have selected 
Rodney for active service upon that prin- 
ciple, from among all the admirals in the 
navy. His person was more elegant 
than seemed to become his rough profes- 
sion. There was even something that 
approached to delicacy and efleminacy 
in his figure: but no man manifested a 
more temperate and steady courage in 
action. I had the honour to live in great 
personal intimacy with him, and have 
often heard him declare, that superiority 
to fear was "not in him the physical ef- 
fect of constitution ; on the contrary, no 
man being more sensible by nature to 
that passion than himself: but, that he 
surmounted it from the considerations of 
honour and public duty. Like the fa- 
mous Marshal Villars, he justly incurred 
the reputation of being " glorieux et 
bavard ;" making himself frequently the 
theme of his own discourse. He lalk.?d 
much and freely upon every subject; 
concealed nothing in the course of con- 
versation, regardless who were present ; 
and dealt his censures, as well as his 
praises, with imprudent liberality; qua- 
lities wiiich necessarily procured him 
many enemies, particularly in his own 
profession. Throughout his whole life, 
two passions, both highly injurious to 
his repose, the love of women and of 
play, carried him into many excesses. 
It was universally believed that he had 
been distinguished in his youth by the 
personal attachment of the Princess 
Amelia, daughter of George the Second, 
who displayed the same partiality for 
Rodney, which her cousin, the Princess 
Amelia of Prussia, manifested for Trenck.. 
Ajivingevidenceof the former connexion. 



114 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



existed, unless fame had recourse to fic- 
tion fur support. But, detraction in every 
age, from Elizabeth down to the present 
limes, has not spared the most illustrious 
females. 

The gaming table had proved more 
ruinous in its effects to Rodney, and that 
indulgetice compelled him, after quitting 
England, to take refuge at Paris. So 
great was his pecuniary distress while he 
resided in the French capital, as to in- 
duce him to send over his second wife 
to London, early in 1777, with the view 
of procuring a subscription to be opened 
among the members of the club at 
White's, for his relief. Lady Rodney, 
finding it however impracticable to raise 
any supplies from that source; after 
much ineffectual solicitation among Sir 
George's former friends, finally renounc- 
ed the attempt. The old Marshal de 
Biron having soon afterwards, by an act 
of liberality, enabled Rodney to revisit 
his country, he made the strongest ap- 
plications to the admiralty for employ- 
ment. His private circumstances, indeed, 
imperiously demanded every exertion, 
when he was named, towards the autumn 
of 1779, to command the expedition then 
fitting out at Portsmouth, for the West 
Indies. I passed much time with him, 
at his residence in Cleveland row, St. 
James's, down to the very momentof his 
departure. Naturally sanguine and con- 
fident, he anticipated in his daily con- 
versation, with a sort of certainty, the 
future success which he should obtain 
over the enemy ; and he had not only al- 
ready conceived, but he had delineated on 
paper, the naval manasuvre of breaking, 
or intersecting the line, to which he 
afterwards was indebted in an eminent 
degree, for his brilliant victory over De 
Grasse: — a manoeuvre then new in ma- 
ritime tactics, though now become fa- 
miliar to us; and which Nelson practised 
with such decisive effect, in the battle of 
the Nile, as well as on other occasions, 
Rodney possessed no superior intellec- 
tual parts ; but unlike Keppel, his enter- 
prizing spirit always impelled him rather 
to risk, than to act witli caution, when in 
presence of an enemy. The ardour of 
his character supplied in some degree, 
the physical defects of his health and 
constiiulion, already impaired by various 
Qayses while his happy audacity, di- 



rected by the nautical skill of othersr, 
controlled by science, and propelled by 
favourable circumstances, at length ena- 
bled him to dissipate the gloom that had 
so long overhung our naval annals, at the 
same time that he covered himself with 
great personal glory. 

The ministry sustained about this 
time a diminution of strength, and a loss 
of talents, in the House of Peers, which 
an administration so unpopular could ill 
afford, by the defection of Lord Lyttel- 
ton, who suddenly went over to the side 
of opposition. His decease, not less sud- 
den in its nature, took place immediately 
afterwards. He was a man of very con- 
siderable parliamentary abilities, who, 
notwithstanding the many glaring vices 
of his private character, might have made 
a conspicuous political figure, if he had 
not been carried oft' in the prime of life. 
His father, the first Lord Lyttellon, well 
known as an historian and a poet; de- 
rived not less respect in his private ca- 
pacity, from the elevation of his raind, 
and his many domestic virtues. The se- 
cond Lord Lyttellon, by the profligacy 
of his conduct, and the abuse of his ta- 
lents, seemed to emulate Dryden's Duke 
of Buckingham, or Pope's Duke of 
Wharton ; both of whom he resembled 
in the superiority of his natural endow- 
ments, as well as in the peculiarity of his 
end. Villiers, the " Zimri" of Dryden's 
poem of " Absalom and Achitophel ;" 
after exhausting his health, and squan- 
dering his immense fortune in every spe- 
cies of excess or riot, expired, as is well 
known, at a wretched tenement, on his 
own estate near Helmsley in Yorkshire, 
abandoned by all his former followers or 
admirers. Wharton, who acted a part 
under George the First, hardly less dis- 
tinguished or eccentric, than Villiers had 
perforined under Charles the Second ; 
prematurely terminated his equally ex- 
traordinary career, exiled and attainted, 
among the Pyrenees, in an obscure mo- 
nastery of Catnlonia ; worn out, like Wil- 
mot, Earl of Rochester, by his pursuit 
of pleasures, Lyttellon, when scarcely 
ihirty«-;ix, breathed his last at a country 
house near Epsom, called Pit Place, from i 
its situation in a chalk- pit: where he ; 
witnessed, as he conceived, a superna- 
tural appearance. 

Having gone down there for the puE* 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



115^ 



poses of recreation, with a gay parly of 
both sexes, several individuals among 
whom I personally knew ; he had re- 
tired to bed, when a noise which resem- 
bled the fluttering of a dove or pigeon, 
heard at his chamber window, attracted 
his attention. He then saw, or thought 
he saw, a female figure, which approach- 
ing the foot of the bed, announced tpjiim 
that in three days precisely from that 
time, he should be called away from this 
state of existence. In whatever manner 
the supposed intimation was conveyed, 
whether by sound or by impression, it is 
certain that Lord Lyttelton considered 
the circumstance as real ; that he men- 
tioned it as such, to those persons who 
were in the house with him ; that it 
deeply aflfected his mind, and that he died 
on the third night, ttt the predicted hour. 
About four years afiervvards, in the year 
1783, dining at Pit Place, I had the cu- 
riosity to visit the bed-chamber, where 
the casement window, at which, as Lord 
Lyttelton asserted, the dove appeared to 
flutter, was pointed out to me. And at 
his step-mother's, the Dowager Lady Lyt- 
telton's house in Portugal-street, Gros- 
venor square, who, being a woman of 
very lively imagination, lent an implicit 
faith to all the supernatural facts, which 
were supposed to have accompanied or 
produced Lord Lyttelton's end ; I have 
frequently seen a painting, which she 
herself executed in 1780, intended ex- 
pressly to commemorate the event. It 
hung in a conspicuous part of her draw- 
ing-room. There, the dove appears at 
the window ; while a female figure, ha- 
bited in white, stands at the bed foot, 
announcing to Lord Lyitelton his ap- 
proaching dissolution. Every part of the 
picture was faithfully designed after the 
description given her by the valet de 
chambre who attended him, to whom his 
master related all the circumstances. 
This man assured Lady Lyttelton, that 
on the night indicated, Lord Lyttelton, 
who, notwithstanding his endeavours to 
surmount the impression, had suffered 
under great depression of spirits during 
the three preceding days, retired to bed 
before twelve o'clock. Having ordered 
the valet to mix him some rhubarb, he 
sat up in the bed, apparently in health, 
intending to swallow the medicine ; but, 
being in want of a tea-spoon, which the 



servant had neglected to bring, his master, 
with a strong expression of impatience, 
sent him for a spoon. He was not ab-^ 
sent from the room more than the space 
of a minute ; but, when he returned, 
Lord Lyttelton, who had fallen back, lay 
motionless in that attitude. No efforts 
to restore animation were attended with 
success. Whether, therefore, his death 
was occasioned by any new attack upon 
his nerves, or happened in consequence 
of an apoplectic or other seizure, must 
remain matter of uncertainty and con- 
jecture. 

It is however to be observed, that the 
Lyttleton family, either from constitu- 
tional nervous irritability, or from other 
causes, was peculiarly susceptible of im- 
pressions similar to the shock which 
seems to have produced Lord Lyttleton's 
end. His father, though a man of very dis- 
tinguished talents, as well as of high moral 
principle, manifested great credulity, as 
1 have been assured, on the subject of 
apparitions : and his cousin, Miss Lyttel- 
ton, who married the present Sir Richard 
Hoare, died in a way somewhat similar, 
about four years later, at his beautiful 
seat of Stourhead in the county of Wilts. 
The second Lord Lyttleton's life had 
likewise been of a nature and description 
so licentious, not to say abandoned, as 
to subject him continually to the keenest 
reproaches of an accusing conscience. 
This domestic spectre, which accompa- 
nied him everywhere, was known to 
have given rise, while on his travels, par- 
ticularly at Lyons, to scenes greatly re- 
sembling his last moments. Among the 
females who had been the objects and 
the victims of his temporary attachment, 
was a Mrs. Dawson, whose fortune, as 
well as her honour and reputation, fell a 
sacrifice to her passion. Being soon for- 
saken by him. she did not long survive; 
and distress of mind was known to have 
accelerated, if not to have produced, her 
death. It was her image which haunted 
his pillow, and was supposed by him to 
have announced his approaching dissolu- 
tion, at Pit Place. 

Lord North, who had presided during 
ten years at the head of administration, 
continued in the spring of 1780, to strug- 
gle with the utmost difficulty through 
the sixth session of parliament against a 
numerous and augmenting opposition iii 



116 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



both houses. His resignation, anxiously 
anticipated by his political enemies, 
seemed to be inevitable, and even immi- 
nent : but, tlie ministerial disgraces, as 
well as the triumphs of the adverse party, 
were equally obliterated in a calamity, 
which, for the time of its duration, ab- 
sorbed all attention. — I mean, the riots 
of June, 1780. No event commemorated 
in our annals, bear any analooy with the 
'scene then exhibited in the capitol, ex- 
cept the lire of London under Charles 
the Second. Even that misfortune want- 
ed some of the melancholy and sangui- 
nary features, which characterized the 
tumults in question. During the contia- 
gration of 1666, whatever stories may 
have been invented by party rage, or in- 
scribed at the time on public monuments 
by religious antipathy, the inhabitants 
had only to contend with the progress of 
a devouring element. In 1780, the flames 
were originally kindled, as well as ren- 
dered far more destructive, by a populace 
of the lowest and vilest description, who 
carried with them, wherever they moved, 
the materials of universal ruin. It was 
only in their blood, by the interposition 
of an overwhelming military force, that 
the convulsion became finally arrested : 
and that Ixtndon, after being desolated 
by fire, was rescued from plunder, bank- 
ruptcy, and subversion. Even the French 
revolution, which from July, 1789, down 
to April, 1814, either under the forms of 
a republic or of a military despotism, has 
presented to mankind a pattern of every 
crime revolting and degrading to human 
nature; yet did not produce in the capi- 
tal of France any similar outrages. At 
Lyons, it must be admitted that Collot 
d'Herbois in 1793, exercised the most 
savage vengeance on the buildings of the 
city, as well as on the unfortunate inha- 
bitants. But, neither Robespierre, nor 
Bonaparte, though the former ruffian con- 
verted the metropolis into a charnel- 
house ; and though the vengeance, or 
atrocious ambition of the letter adven- 
urer, has covered Europe with human 
bones, from the Tagus to the Moskwa ; 
yet ever directed their destructive efforts 
against the public and private edifices of 
Paris.. 

I was personally present at many of 
the most tremendous efl^'ects of the popu- 
lar fury, on the memorable 7th of June, 



the night on which it attained its highest 
point. About nine o'clock on that even- 
ing, accompanied by three other gentle- 
men, who, as well as myself, were 
alarmed at the accounts brought in every 
moment, of the outrages committed ; and , 
of the still greater acts of violence medi- 
tated, as soon as darkness should favour 
and facilitate their further progress ; we 
set out from Portland-Place, in order to 
view the scene. Having got into a 
hackney-coach, we drove first to Blooms- 
bury-square ;. attracted to that spot by a 
rumour generally spread, that Lord Mans- 
field's residence, situate at the north-east 
corner, was either already burnt or de- 
stined for destruction. Hart Street and 
Great Russel-Street, presented, each, to 
the view, as we passed, large fires com- 
posed of furniture taken from the houses 
of magistrates or other obnoxious indi- 
viduals. Quitting the coach we crossed 
the square, and had scarcely got under 
the wall of Bedford House, when we 
heard the door of Lord Mansfield's house 
burst open with violence. In a few mi- 
nutes, all the contents of the apartments 
being precipitated from the windows, 
were piled up, and wrapt in flames. A 
file of foot soldiers arriving, drevv up near 
the blazing pile ; hut, without either at- 
tempting to quench the fire, or to impede 
the mob, who were indeed far too nume- 
rous to admit of being dispersed, or even 
intimidated, by a small detachment of in- 
fantry. The populace remained masters; 
while we, after surveying the spectacle 
for a short time, moved on into Holborn, 
where Mr. Langdale's dwelling house 
and warehouses afforded a more appalling 
picture of devastation. They wefe alto- 
gether enveloped in smoke and flame. 
In front had assembled an immense mul- 
titude of both sexes, many of whom were 
females, and not a few held infants in 
their arms. All appeared to be, like 
ourselves, attracted as spectators solely 
by curiosity, without taking any part in 
the acts of violence. Spirituous liquors 
in great quantity ran down the kennel of 
the street, and numbers of the populace 
were already intoxicated with this beve- 
rage. So little disposition, however, did 
they manifest to riot or pillage, that it 
would have been diflicult to conceive who 
were the authors and perpetrators of such 
enormous mischief, if we had not dis- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



117 



tinctlyseen at the windows of the house, 
men, who, while the floors and rooms 
were on fire, calmly tore down the furni- 
ture, and threw it into the street, or 
tossed it into the flames. 'J'hey expe- 
rienced no kind of opposition, during a 
considerable time that we remained at 
this place ; but, a party of horse guards 
arriving, the terrified crowd instantly 
began to disperse ; and we, anxious to 
gratify our farther curiosity, continued 
our progress on foot, along Holborn, to- 
wards Fleet-market. 

I would in vain attempt adequately to 
describe the spectacle which presented 
itself, when we reached tlie declivity of 
the iiill, close to St. Andrew's church. 
The other house and magazines of Mr. 
Langdale, who, as a catholic, had been 
selected for the blind vengeance of the 
mob; situated in the hollow space near 
he north end of fleet-market, threw up 
into the air a pinacle of flame resembling 
a volcano. Such was the brilliant and 
beautiful efl^ect of the illumination, that 
St. Andrew's church appeared to be al- 
most scorched by the heat of so prodi- 
gious a body of fire ; and the figures de- 
signated on the clock, were as distinctly 
perceptible as at noonday. It resembled 
indeed a tower, rather than a private 
building, in a slate of conflagration ; and 
would have inspired the beholder with a 
sentiment of admiration allied to pleasure, 
if it had been possible to separate the ob- 
ject, from its causes and its consequences. 
The wind did not however auginent its 
rage on this occasion ; for the niglitwas 
serene, and the sky unclouded, except 
when it became obscured by the volumes 
of smoke, which, from time to time, 
produced a temporary darkness. The 
mob, which completely blocked up the 
whole street in every part, and in all 
directions, prevented our approaching 
within fifty or sixty yards of the build- 
ing ; but the populace, though still prin- 
cipally composed of persons allured by 
curiosity, yet evidently began here to 
assume a more disorderly and ferocious 
character. Troops, either horse or foot, 
we still saw none ; nor, in the midst of 
this combination of tumult, terror, and 
violence, had the ordinary police ceased 
to continue its functions. While we 
stood by the wall of St. Andrew's church- 
yard, a watcbtnan, with his lanihorn in 



his hand, passed us, calling the hour, as 
if in a time of profound tranquillity. 

Finding it altogether impracticable lo 
force our way any further down Holborn- 
hill, and hearing that the Fleet prison 
had been set on fire; we penetrated 
through a number of narrow lanes, be- 
hind St. Andrew's church, and presently 
found ourselves in the middle of Fleet- 
market. Here the same destruction 
raged, but in a difierent stage of its pro- 
gress. Mr. Langdale's two houses were 
already at tlie height of their demolition; 
the Fleet prison on the contrary was only 
beginning to blaze, and the sparks or 
flaming particles that filled the air, fell 
so thick upon us on every side, as to 
render unsafe its immediate vicinity. 
Meanwhile we began to hear the pla- 
toons discharged on the other side of the 
river, towards St. George's Fields ; and 
were informed, that a considerable num- 
ber of the rioters had been killed on 
Black-friars bridge, which was occupied 
by the troops. On approaching it, we 
beheld the king's bench prison com- 
pletely enveloped in flames. It exhibit- 
ed a sublime sight, and we might be said 
there to stand in a central point, from 
whence London oflTered on every side» 
before, as well as behind us, the picture 
of a city sacked and abandoned lo a fero- 
cious enemy. The shouts of the populace, 
the cries of women, the crackling of the 
fires, the blaze reflected in the stream of 
the Thames, and the irregular firing 
which was kept up both in St. George's 
Fields, as well as toward sthe quarter of 
the mansion-house, and the bank ; — all 
these sounds or images combined, left 
scarcely any thing for the imagination 
to supply ; presenting to the view every 
recollection, which the classic descrip- 
tion of Troy or of Rome, in the page of 
Virgil, or of Tacitus, have impre-^sed on 
the mind in youth, but which I so little 
expected to see exemplified in the capital 
of Great Britain. 

Not yet satisfied, and hearing that an 
obstinate conflict was going on at the 
bank, between the soldiery and the riot- 
ers, we determined, if possible, to reach 
that spot. We accordingly proceeded' 
through St. Paul's church-yard towards 
it, and had advanced without impediment 
to the poultry, within about sixty paces^ 
of the maixsion hause, when our progress 



118 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



was stopped by a sentinel, who acquaint- 
ed us that the mob had been repulsed in 
their attempt upon the bank; but, that 
we could penetrate no further in that di- 
rection, as his orders were peremptory, 
not to suffer the passage of any person. 
Cheapside, silent and empty, unlike the 
streets that we had visited, presented 
neither the appearance of tumuli, nor of 
confusion ; though to the east, west and 
south, all was disorder. This contrast 
formed not the least striking circum- 
stance of tlie moment. Prevented thus 
from approaching any nearer to the bank, 
finding the day begin to break, satiated 
in some measure with the scenes which 
we had witnessed, and wearied by so 
long a peregrination, which, from our 
first alighting near Bloomsbury square, 
had ail been performed on foot; we re- 
solved to return to the west end of the 
town. On Ludgate hill we were fortunate 
enough to meet with a hackney coach, 
which conveyed us safely back, about 
four o'clock in the morning. 

It is impossible for the most preju- 
diced person, without violating truth, to 
accuse the opposition of having had any 
participation as a body, direct or indi- 
rect, in these outrages. They were in- 
deed, themselves, individually, the ob- 
jects of popular prejudice and violence, 
not less than the ministers ; Sir George 
Savile's house in Leicester square, hav- 
ing been one of the first buildings assail- 
ed and jilundered by the mob. Devonshire 
house in Piccadilly, menaced with the 
same fate, was considered as so insecure, 
that the Duchess of Devonshire yield- 
ing to her fears, did not venture tore- 
main in it after dusk, for a considerable 
time. She took refuge at Lord Cler- 
mont's in Berkeley square, where she 
deemed herself safe from attack : and lay 
down for successive nights, on a sofa, or 
a small tent bed, placed in the drawing- 
room. Many other persons of both 
sexes, of the highest rank, either quitted 
their own dwellings, or sent their most 
valuable effects and jewels into the 
country. The first minister. Lord 
North, passed that alarming night, at 
his official residence in Downing street; 
accompanied by a few friends, who had 
repaired thither to offerhim theirpersonal 
aid, if circumstances should render it 
necessary for his protection. 



One of those gentlemen. Sir John 
Macpherson, has often recounted to me 
the particulars of that memorable evening, 
which I shall give in his own words, and 
which will be perused with no common 
interest. "A day or two before the 7th 
of June," said he, " Count Maltzahn, 
the Prussian minister at our court, called 
on me at Kensington Gore, where I then 
resided, and informed me that the mob 
had determined to attack the bank. He 
added, that the fact had come to his 
knowledge through an authentic channel, 
on the accuracy of which I might depend. 
Having conveyed this intelligence imme- 
diately to Lord North, 1 received, on the 
morning of that day, an intimation to be 
at his house in Downing street at dinner. 
When I got there, I found Mr. Eden 
(since created Lord Auckland), the ho- 
nourable Genel-al Simon Fraser, the ho- 
nourable John St. John, and Colonel 
North, afterwards Earl of Guilford. Mr. 
Brummell, Lord North's private secre- 
tary, who lived likewise in the same 
street, was in attendance, but did not 
make one of the company. We sat 
down at table, and dinner had scarcely 
been removed, when Downing square, 
through which there is no outlet, became 
thronged with people, who manifested a 
disposition, or rather a determination, to 
proceed to acts of outrage. Lord North, 
with his habitual good humour, observed 
to me, ' yon see, Macpherson, here is 
much confusion. Who commands the 
upper tier?' 'I do,' answered Colonel 
North, ' and I have got twenty or more 
grenadiers well armed, stationed above 
stairs, who are ready, on the first order, 
to fire upon the mob.' General Fraser 
sat silent; while -ftlr. Eden, whose 
house was situated on the opposite side 
of the square, only remarked calmly to 
Colonel North, that if the grenadiers 
fired, their shot would probably enter 
his windows. The tumult without doors 
still continuing, and it being uncertain 
from one minute to another, whether the 
populace might not prgceed to extremi- 
ties ; Lord North said to me, ' what is 
to be done, Macpherson ?' ' My opi- 
nion,' answered I, ' is to send out two 
or three persons, who, mixing among 
the crowd, may acquaint them that there 
are troops posted in the house, ready, 
without wailing for the riot act being 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



119 



read, to fire on them the instant that 
they commit any outrage ; exhorting 
them at the same time, for their own 
sakes, to disperse peaceably without de. 
lay. But,' added 1, ' Nous parlous de 
la Guerre devant ^flnnibal. Here sits 
General Fraser, who knows far belter 
than any of us, what is wisest to be 
done, and who has not yet opened his 
mouth.' The popuUice continued to fill 
the little square, and became very noisy ; 
but they never attempted to force the 
street door. Mr. St. John held a pistol 
in his hand ; and Lord North, who never 
lost an occasion of jesting, exclaimed, ' I 
am not half so mucli afraid of the mob, 
as of Jack St. John's pistol. By de- 
grees, as the evening advanced, the peo- 
ple, informed, from various quarters, that 
there were soldiers posted in the house, 
prepared to fire if they committed any 
violence ; began to cool, and afterwards 
gradually to disperse without further 
effort. We then sat down again quietly 
at the table, and finished our wine. 

" Night coming on, and the capital 
presenting a scene of tumult or confla- 
gration in many various quarters. Lord 
North, accompanied by us all, mounted 
to the top of the liouse, where we be- 
held London blazing in seven places, 
and could hear the platoons regularly 
firing in various directions. ' What is 
your opinion of the remedy for this evil ?' 
said Lord North to me. ' I should try, 
my lord,' answered L 'to eff"ect a junc- 
tion, or to open some communication, 
with the heads of opposition, for the 
protection of the country.' ' You 
talk,' replied he, ' as if the thing 
could be done ; but it is not practi- 
cable.' I know, however, that a day 
or two afterwards, notwithstanding the 
opinion so given by Lord North, he 
and Mr. Fox personally met ; the former 
accompanied by Brummell, and the lat- 
ter by Sheridan, behind the scenes at 
the opera-house in the haymarket, at 
eleven in the forenoon. They held a 
conference there ; but of the nature of 
the conversation which passed between 
them, I am wholly ignorant." Such 
was Sir John Macpherson's account of 
the circumstances to which he was an 
eye-witness, at that moment of public 
calamity. He now remains the only 
survivor of the company that was con- 



vened in Downing street, since the de- 
cease of Lord Auckland. 

Lord George Germain, like the first 
minister, having assembled some friends 
for tlie purpose, barricaded the passages 
and entrance to his house in Pall Mall, 
which was very susceptible of defence ; 
after which he coolly waited for the at- 
tack of the populace. But the rioters 
were too well informed of the precau- 
tions taken, to venture making any at- 
tempt on him. Even the king himself 
remained on foot, during the far greater 
part of that memorable night, which he 
passed between Buckingham hou!>e and 
the royal manege contiguous ; into the 
latter of which buildings, a detachment 
of the horse guards had been early ad- 
mitted, who were ready to have sallied 
out upon the insurgents. No man who 
knows the steadiness and firmness which 
his majesty has since displayed in the 
most trying situations, when his person 
has been exposed to danger; can doubt 
that he would have given on that occa- 
sion, had it been unfortunately neces- 
sary, the strongest proofs of courage. 
He would not have acted the tame and 
irresolute part which Louis the Sixteenth 
exhibited on the 10th of August, 1792; 
when, under similar circumstances, sur- 
rounded by a savage Jacobin mob, in- 
stead of defending himself to the last ex- 
tremity, as he was bound to have done 
not only by every principle of self-pre- 
servation, but from regard to the interests 
of the French monarcl^: — he abandoned 
the defence of his palace, and of his 
family, to take refuge in the national 
assembly. George the Third had em- 
braced the resolution of repelling force 
by force, in case of necessity, and of 
1 perishing in support of the laws, of civil 
order, and regular government, rather 
than survive their extinction. But hap- 
pily, no attempt was made by the popu- 
lace to attack any part of the queen's 
house or officers. 

Various were the opinions and asser- 
tions hazarded relative to the numbers 
that perished in tiie riots, between the 
third and the seventh of June, 1780 : but, 
as no certain data can be obtained, be- 
yond the official returns of killed and 
wounded, the amount must always re- 
main matter of conjecture. Probably, it 
far exceeded the computation commonly 



1*20 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



made; andffom the concurring testimony 
of tliose persons who were most compe- 
tent to form a sound judgment, I believe it 
would not be over-rated at seven hundred 
individuals, killed and wounded. The 
slaughter was most considerable at the 
King's bench, at the bank, and on Black- 
friars bridge. Col. de Burgh, a son of 
the Earl of Clanrickard, commanded one 
of the regiments sent to St. George's 
Fields. All the troops did their duty, 
notwithstanding the efforts which the 
populace exerted to seduce them, by 
calling on them as proteslants, and in- 
voking their aid or their protection. 
Many of the soldiers, in reply to these 
blandishments, exclaimed that they 
would not hurt the mob. A great noble- 
man, now alive, who, like myself, was a 
spectator of all the scenes of devastation 
committed on thai night ; told me that he 
felt strong doubts whether De Burgh's 
regiment would actually draw the trig- 
ger. Impressed with that conviction, he 
mentioned his apprehensions on the 
point, to the colonel ; who instantly re- 
plied, that he knew his men, and could 
rely on their prompt obedience. Tiie 
event justified his confidence : for, no 
sooner had he given the word of com- 
mand to fire, than, levelling their pieces, 
they soon compelled the rioters to seek 
their safely in immediate dispersion. If 
the " Gardes Francaises" in 1789, had 
behaved like our regular troops in 1780, 
the French revolution might have been 
suppressed in it^ birth ; and Europe 
would not have groaned during fourteen 
years, under the accumulated calamities 
inflicted on it by Bonaparte. But, the 
difference of character between the two 
sovereigns of Great Britain and of France^ 
constituted one great cause of the differ- 
ent fate that attended the two monarchies. 
George the Third, when attacked, pre- 
pared lo defend his throne, his family, 
his country, and the constitution entrust- 
ed to his care. They were in fact prin- 
cipally saved by his decision. Louis the 
Sixteenth tamely abandoned all to a fe- 
rocious demoralized populace who sent 
him to the scaffold. No man of courage 
or of principle, could have quitted the 
former prince. It was impossible to save 
or to rescue, the latter ill-faled, yielding, 
and passive monarch. 

Many of the rioters, who fell at Black- 



friars bridge, or in lis vicinity, where the 
slaughter was most considerable, were 
immediately thrown over into the 
Thames, by their companions. The 
carnage which took place at the bank 
likewise was great, though not of very 
long duration ; and in order to conceal 
as much as possible, the magnitude of the 
number, as well as the names of the per- 
sons who perished, similar precautions 
were taken on both sides. All the dead 
bodies being carried away during the 
night, were precipitated into the river. 
Even the impressions made by the mus- 
ket balls, on the houses opposite to the 
bank, were as much as possible erased 
on the following morning, and ihe build- 
ings whiievvashed. Government and the 
rioters seem to have fell an equal dispo- 
sition, by ilrawing a veil over the extent 
of the calamity, to bury it in profound 
darkness. To Col. Holroyd, since de- 
servedly raised to the British peerage as 
Lord Sheflield, and to his regiment of 
militia, the country was eminently in- 
debted for repelling the fury of the mob 
at the bank ; where, during some mo- 
ments, the conflict seemed doubtful, and 
the assailants had nearly forced an en- 
trance. Lord Algernon Percy, since 
created Earl of Beverley, marched like- 
wise at the head of the Northumberland 
militia to the same spot. Their arrival, 
together with the energy, promptitude, 
and decision which Col. Holroyd mani- 
fested, principally conduced to ensure 
the safety of that great national establish- 
ment. Lord Sheffield, by his commer- 
cial disquisitions, and agricultural pur- 
suits or productions, has since rendered 
scarcely less important services to his 
country. Nor ought he to be forgotten 
in another capacity, as the friend and the 
biographer of Gibbon, whose mortal re- 
mains repose under his protection, at 
Sheffield Place in Sussex. Numbers of 
the insurgents concealed their wounds, 
in order to evade discovery of the part 
which they had taken in the disorders of 
the capital. It is however indisputable, 
thai almost all who perished, were of a 
low and obscure description. 

If the populace had been conducted by 
leaders of system or ability, London 
must have been fundamentally overturn- 
ed on that night. The bank, the India 
house, and the shops of the great bank- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



1«1 



ers, would in that case have been early 
attacked ; instead of throwing away their 
rage, as they did, on popish chapels, 
private houses, and prisons. When they 
began, alter their first fury had exhausted 
itself, to direct their blows more syste- 
matically and skilfully, the time for ac- 
tion was passed. Government, which 
was accused, perhaps with reason, of 
having appeared supine during the first 
days of June ; awoke early enough to 
preserve the metropolis and public credit 
from sustaining the last shock of popular 
violence. "In fact, from the instant that 
' tiie three bridges over the Thames were 
occupied by regular troops, the danger 
was at an end. This awful convulsion, 
which, on Wednesday, the seventh of 
June, seemed to menace the destruction 
of every tbing; was so completely quell- 
ed, and so suddenly extinguished, that 
on the eighth, hardly a spark survived 
of the popular effervescence. Some few 
persons in the borough of Sonthwark, 
attempted to repeat the outrages of Wed- 
nesday ; but they were easily and im- 
mediately quelled by the military force. 
Never was a contrast exhibited more 
striking, than between those two even- 
ings, in the same city. The patroles of 
cavalry, stationed in the squares and 
great streets, throughout the west end of 
the town, gave London the aspect of a 
garrison : while the camp whicb was 
immedialely afterwards formed in St. 
James's Park, afforded a picturesque 
landscape ; both sides of the canal, from 
the queen's house down to the vicinity 
of the horse guards, being covered with 
tents and troops. 

'i'he common danger, which united all 
parties for the time, extinguished, or at 
least, suspended, in some measure, even 
the virulence of political enmity. Alarmed 
at the prospect of impending destruc- 
tion, some of the principal leaders of 
the opposition repaired unasked to St. 
James's, under pretence of offering their 
services to the administration ; nearly as 
the Dukes of Somerset and Argyle had 
done in the last days of July, 1714, when 
Queen Anne lay insensible, near her end. 
The Marquis of Rockingham hearing that 
a privy council was summoned to meet 
on the morning of the 7lh of June, 
which assembly, all who enjoined seats 
at that board, were invited to attend ; 
11 



made his appearance in an undress, his 
hair disordered, and with testimonies of 
great consternation. Nor did he, when 
seated at the table, where the king was 
present, spare the ministers, for having, 
as he asserted, by their negligence, or 
want of timely energy, allowed the as- 
semblage of people to take place in St. 
George's Fields, which original meeting 
led to all the subsequent outrages. It is 
nevertheless incontestable, that to the 
decision manifested by his majesty on 
that occasion, the safety of the metropo- 
lis, and its extrication from all the cala- 
mities that impended over it, was prin- 
cipally, if not solely, to be ascribed. 
Elizabeth, or William the Third, could 
not have displayed more calm and sys- 
tematic courage in the highest sense of 
the term, than George the Third exhi- 
bited in so trying a moment. Far from 
throwing himself for support or gui- 
dance on his cabinet, as a prince of feeble 
character would have done ; he came 
forward, and exhibited an example of 
self-devotion to his ministers. 

It is well known that at the council 
to which I have alluded, the king as- 
sisted in person. The great question 
was there discussed, on which hinged 
the protection and preservation of the 
capital ; a question respecting which, 
the first legal characters were divided ; 
and on which, Lord Mansfield himself 
was with reason accused of never having 
clearly expressed his opinion up to that 
time. Doubts existed, whether persons 
riotously collected together, and com- 
milting outrages or infractions of the 
peace, however great, might legally be 
fired on by the military power, without 
staying previously to read the riot act. 
Lord Bathurst, President of the Council, 
and Sir Fletcher Norton, Speaker of the 
House of Commons, who were both 
present ; on being appealed to for their 
opinion, declared that" a soldier was not 
less a citizen, because lie was a soldier, 
and consequently that he might repel 
force by force :" hut no minister would 
sign the order for the purpose. In this 
emergency, when every moment was 
precious, — Mr. Wedderburn, since suc- 
cessively raised to the dignity of a baron 
and of an earl of Great Britain, who 
was then attorney-general, having been 
called in to the council table, and ordered 



122 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



by the king to deliver his official opinion 
on the point; stated in the most precise 
terms, that any such assemblage might 
be dispersed by military force, without 
waiting for forms, or reading the act in 
question. " Is that your declaration of 
the law as attorney-general ?" said the 
king. Wedderbiirn answering decidedly 
in the affirmative, " Then so let it be 
done," rejoined his majesty. The at- 
torney-general drew up the order imme- 
diately, which the king signed, and on 
which Lord Amherst acted, the same 
evening. The complete suppression of 
the riots followed in the course of a few 
hours. Never had any people a greater 
obligation to the judicious intrepidity of 
their sovereign ! If Louis the Sixteenth 
would have acted with similar decision 
and self-devotion in the early stages of 
the French revolution, France miglit 
have been equally saved. 

Nor ought we to deny the merit due 
to Wedderburn, for having with so much 
decision cut the Gordian knot, which the 
Lord Cliief Justice of the King's Bench, 
either could not, or would not untie. 
His inexplicit declarations on the sub- 
ject, involuntarily remind us of the ac- 
cusations levelled against him by "Ju- 
nius," when, speaking of Lord Mans- 
field, he says, " Besides his natural ti- 
midity, it makes part of his political 
plan, never to be known to recommend 
violent measures. When the guards are 
called forth to murder their fellow sub- 
jects, it is not by the ostensible advice 
of Lord Mansfield." Here we see him 
in 1780, acting precisely as he had done 
twelve years earlier, in 1768. Nor is 
it a less curious and extraordinary fact, 
that the very exertion by which the king 
preserved London in June, 1780, from 
sufTering the utmost extremities of vio- 
lence and pillage, constitutes as a prin- 
ciple the subject of " Junius's severest 
reflections upon him, in March, 1770." 
•' Did his majesty," says he, " consult 
the laws of this country, when he per- 
mitted his secretary of state to declare, 
that whenever the civil magistrate is tri- 
fled with, a military force must be sent 
for, without the delay of a inornent, and 
effectually employed ?" So true is it, 
that at every period of his life, the king 
manifested the same consistency of cha 
racter, and superiority to personal ap- 



prehension. When nevertheless we re- 
flect that in 1768, a magistrate of the 
county of Surrey, " had been capitally 
accused and brought to trial, for ordering 
the soldiery to fire on rioters engaged in 
the most violent acts of outrage in St. 
George's Fields, though the riot act had 
been twice read ; we cannot be sur- 
prised at the apprehension displayed by 
Lord Mansfield, to sanction and authorise 
the same proceeding in 1780. and ought 
we lightly to censure his conduct. The 
sovereign alone, as first magistrate, im- 
pelled by the awful nature of the emer- 
gency, and he only, could have taken % 
upon him so serious a responsibility. 

No individual manifested more abhor- 
rence of the rioters, or exposed himself 
by his declarations on that subject, to 
more personal danger, than Burke, whom 
his enemies accused of having been 
brought up in the tenets or principles of 
the Komish faith. This conduct did 
him great honour, and proved him supe- 
rior to the meanness of party. His 
house in the broad sanctuary, Westmin- 
ster, was threatened, but not attacked. 
Fox contented himself with condemning 
the authors of the disorders, but took 
no active part, as a member of the legis- 
lature, in their suppression. On the 
contrary, he refused to lend any perso- 
nal support to government, when pressed 
in the House of Commons to co-ope- 
rate for the extrication of the capital ; 
though Burke, who was there present, 
loudly expressed his wish for unanimity 
and association in that moment of na- 
tional distress. It is impossible not to 
recollect, that as they thus diverged in 
different lines during the riots of 1780, 
so in 1793, twelve years later, they ex- 
hibited a similar diversity of conduct; 
Burke lending his povverlul aid to prop 
monarchical government, while Fox re- 
mained the advocate of republicanism, 
and the apologist of the French revolu- 
tion. Wilkes, who in the early part of 
his majesty's reign, had made so glo- 
rious a resistance to general warrants, 
displayed as manly a resistance to popu- 
lar violence, during the whole progress 
of the riots ; and had he filled the chair 
of chief magistrate, instead of Kennett, 
would, unquestionably by his vigour, have 
prevented many or all the disgraceful 
scenes which took place in the capital. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



123 



All the proofs given by opposition, of i wounded on the seventh of June; but it 
their detesialion for these calamitous ex- is probable that the report originated al- 
hibilions of popular fury, did not, how- together in calumny. 
ever, produce complete conviction of Lord George Gordon, the primary au- 
their sincerity. Many persons still be- , thor of these outrages, was not taken 
lieved that some of the parliamentary [ into custody, till two or three days after 



leaders secretly fomented, or privately 
encouraged, the rioters. Suspicions were 
in particular thrown on the Earl of Shel- 
burne, probably with great injustice. 
The natural expectation of effecting a 
change in niinisiry, was imagined to sus- 
pend or supersede in certain minds, every 
other consideration ; and it was even pre- 
'* tended, though on very insufficient 



they had been suppressed. Ministers 
were reproached with not having com- 
mitted liim to the tower on the second of 
June, when he assembled, harangued, 
and excited liie mob to extort compliance 
with their demands from the House of 
Commons. But, the attempt to seize, 
and to send him to prison, at a time when 
every avenue to the house was thronged 



grounds, that peers did not scruple to ; with multitudes, when the lobby over- 
lake an active part in the worst excesses | flowed with them, and when ihe doors 



of the night of the 7th of June. Public 
clamour selecled the Earl of Effingham as 
an object of accusation. It was gene- 
rally asserted, that he had mingled with 
the rioters on Hlack-friars Bridge ; thai he 
had there been mortally wounded, and 
his body afterwards thrown into the ri- 
ver, by those of his own party; but, not 
till he had been identified and recognized 
by his dress, particularly by his laced 
ruffles. Those who were acquainted 
with that nobleman, and who knew his 
style of dress, instantly detected the ab- 
surdity, as well as falsity of the charge ; 
for, no man was ever less distinguished 
by any ornaments of apparel. His sud- 
den disappearance from London, where 
he certainly had been seen at the com- 
mencement of the riots ; the general ig- 
norance in which people remained of the 
place to which he had withdrawn ; when 
added to his known, as well as violent, 
dislike to the administration, and to the 
American war; of which he had exhi- 
bited a singular proof, by renouncing his 
profession and his rank in the British 
army, only a few years earlier, rather 
than submit to serve against the insur- 
gents beyond the Atlantic; — all these 
circumstances conduced, nevertheless, 
to maintain the delusion for a consider- 
able time. At the beginning of the en- 
suing winter, he re-appeared in the House 
of Lords, in his usual health; and stated 
to his acquaintance, that early in June, 
he had gone down to his seat of Grainge 



of the house itself might have been, 
every instant, forced in, would have 
formed an imprudent, not to say a dan- 
gerous> experiment. It is difficult to find 
any instance in our annals, when par- 
liament received a grosser insult; or 
when the members composing both 
houses, incurred a greater risk of falling 
victims to popular violence. The mobs 
of 1641, and of the following year, un- 
der Charles the First, directed their rage 
against the sovereign and his principal 
advisers, not against the representatives 
of the nation. Cromwell, when in 1653 
he drove out and dissolved the Rump 
Parliament, offered no outrage to their 
persons, but simply broke up the legis- 
lative assembly by a military Ibrce. The 
tumults in 1733, when Sir Robert Wal- 
pole first attempted to introduce the ex- 
cise laws, seem to form the nearest ap- 
proach or similarity to the proceedings 
in 1780 ; but, longo intervallo. 

It cannot be doubted that if the popu- 
lace had forced their way into the House 
of Commons, Lord George would not 
have survived to recount the exploit. 
Many members who were there present, 
justly indignant at his conduct, threat- 
ened him with instant death, as soon as 
any of the rioters should burst open the 
doors. The late Earl of Carnarvon, 
then Mr. Henry Herbert, followed him 
close, with that avowed determination; 
and General Murray, uncle to the pre- 
sent Duke of Athol, a man whom I inti- 



Hall in Yorkshire, where he had ever mately knew, and who, when incensed, 
since resided. Such persons as still re- was capable of executing the most des- 
niained incredulous, explained his ab- perate resolution ; held his sword ready 
sence by saying that he had been hurt or ] to pass it through Lord George's bady, 



124 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



on the first irruption of the mob. It ) from being plundered, and prevented 
will always remain disputable, whether! the temporary subversion of the national 
ambition, fanaticism, or alienation of credit 
mind, contributed most to the part which 



he acted, in assembling and inciting the 
people to acts of violence. That he was 
not insensible to tlie political considera- 
tion and importance which he obtained 
from his personal influence over so vast 
a multitude, cannot be questioned. To 
religious enthusiasm or conviction, some- 
thing may perhaps be fairly attributed ; 



I knew Lord George Gordon well, and 
I once accompanied iiim from a party 
where we met, in Lower Grosvenor 
street, at the late Lord Elcho's, to Ra- 
nelaugh, in the summer of 1782, in his 
own coach. In his person he was thin, 
his features regular, and his complexion 
pale. His manners were gentle, his con- 
versation agreeable, and he had the ap- 



but, more must be laid to the deranged | pearance as well as the deportment, of a 
state of his understanding, though no i man of quality. There was, however, 
circumstance in his conductor deport- ! something in his cast of countenance and 
ment, could possibly subject him to be mode of expression, that indicated cun- 
considered as insane. He appears in i ning, or a perverted understanding, or 
fact to have been perfectly master of him- j both. His whole income consisted, I 
self, and in possession of all his facul- believe, in an annuity of six hundred 
lies, during every stage of the riots ; nor | pounds a year, j)aid him by the Duke of 
is it to be imagined that he either fore- ! Gordon, his brother. It forms a singular 



saw or intended any oi' the outrages 
which were committed after the second 
of June. But, he had put in motion a 
machine, of which he could not regulate 
or restrain the movements : and unques- 
tionably, the mob which set fire to Lon- 
don, was ot a far more savage, as well 
as atrocious description, than the origi- 
nal assemblage of people who met in St. 
George's Fields. The late Lord Rodney, 
who was then an officer in the guards, 
told tiie, that having been sent on the 
night of the 7th of June, to the defence 
of the bank of England, at the head of a 
detachment of his regiment, he there 
found Lord George Gordon, who ap- 
peared anxiously endeavouring by expos- 
tulation, to induce the populace to retire. 
As soon as Lord George saw Captain 
Rodney, he strongly expressed his con- 
cern at the acts of violence committed ; 
adding, that he was ready to take his 
stand by Captain Rodney's side, and to 
expose his person to the utmost risk, in 
order to resist such proceedings. Rod- 
ney, who distrusted however his since- 
rity, and justly considered him as the, 
original cause of all the calamities, de- 
clined any communication with him ; 
only exhorting him, if he wished to stop 
the further eflusion of blood, and to pre- 
vent the destruction of the bank, to exert 
himself in dispersing the furious crowd. 
But, whatever might be his inclination, 
he was altogether destitute of the power. 
The military force alone saved the bank 



subject of reflection, that alter involving 
London during several successive days, 
in all the horrors of insurrection and 
anarchy, he should have escaped any 
punishment for these proceedings, wliich 
cost the lives of so many individuals, and 
the demolition of so many edifices ; while 
he expiated by a rigorous iniprisonment 
to the end of his days, in Newgate, the 
publication of a libel on the late unfor- 
tunate Queen of France, who, herself, 
perished on the scaffold. He exhibited 
the strongest attestation of the sincerity 
of his conversion to Judaism, by submit- 
ting to one of the most painful ceremonies 
or acts enjoined by the Mosaic law. 
The operation, which was performed at 
Birmingham, confined him to his cham- 
ber, if not to his bed, for a considerable 
time ; and he preserved with great care 
the sanguinary proofs of his having un- 
dergone the amputation. Few indivi- 
duals occupy a more conspicuous, or a 
more unfortunate place in the annals of 
their country, under the reign of George 
the Third. He will rank in history, 
with Wat Tyler and Jack Cade, the in- 
cendiaries of the Plantagenel times ; or 
with Kett, so memorable under Edward 
the Sixth. 

The elements seemed to conspire with 
all the foreign enemies of Great Britain, 
at this period ; the hurricane of October, 
1780, which took place in the West In- 
dies, being one of the most tremendous 
in its nature, as well as violent in its 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



125 



effects, commemorated in the course of 
the eighteenth century. Though its de- 
structive rage spread devastation in a 
greater or a less degree, over the whole 
chain of the Carribee Islands, yet Bar- 
badoes experienced its greatest fury, to- 
gether with the severest loss of lives and 
property. A friend of mine. General 
James Cunningham, was then governor 
of the colony. He has related to me, 
that after remaining above ground as long 
as it was practicable with safety, he, 
accompanied by a number of his family 
and domestics, took refuge in a small 
cellar, several feet lower than the level 
of the street, at Bridge Town, the capital 
of the settlement. Here, indeed, they 
found themselves secure from the danger 
of being crushed under the ruins of the 
house which they had just quitted, or 
from being completely borne off and 
swept away by the force of the wind. 
But, ilioy were soon assailed by two new 
misfortunes, against which they could 
provide no sufficient remedy. The first 
inconvenience arose from the severe 
cold which they endured ; the climate 
havino" changed, in the course of a few 
hours, from intense heat, to a contrary 
extreme. The other evil, which was of 
a still more alarming nature, threatened 
their destruction, from the rain which 
flowed in upon them in great quantity, 
as it fell in torrents. While they re- 
mained in this deplorable situation, up 
to the knees in water, doubtful whether 
to continue in the cellar, where about 
twenty of them huddled together, were 
crowded into a very narrow space ; or 
whether to attempt reaching some more 
secure shelter ; a tall atliletic negro of 
General Cunningham's family, who lay 
upon him, in a posture which did not 
admit of his moving, said to the general, 
" Massa, if I not make water, I die." 
"Do it then, in God's name," answered 
he. The negro had no sooner received 
this permission, than instantly availing 
himself of it, he bedewed the general, 
from the nape of his neck, to his very 
shoes; much, as we are taught to believe, 
in the manner of a Hoitentot priest, when 
celebrating the nuptial ceremony. " But," 
added Cunningham, when relating the 
story, " never did I experience a more 
grateful sensation than was produced by 
this warm libation, which seemed to ani- 
11* 



mate my frozen frame, and to revivify 
my body. I regretted when it stopped, 
and I derived from it essential service in 
the horrors of that indescribable night." 

The situation of the negro, impelled 
by a necessity paramount to all respect 
or restraint, reminds me of a fact some- 
what similar, which took place at the pa- 
lace of Sans Souci. The great Frederic, 
in a select society, having been one day 
more elevated and convivial than usual 
after dinner, was induced by the gaiety 
of the conversation, to prolong the ac- 
customed limits of the repast, and to de- 
tain his guests to a late iiour. His ma- 
jesty furnished, himself, the chief share 
of the entertainment, by the brilliancy of 
his sallies ; but he forgot, unfortunately, 
that his guests were men. One of them, 
an old general, who was often among the 
persons invited to the royal table, but 
whose powers of retention had suffered 
in the course of twelve campaigns; anti- 
cipated with extreme impatience, the mo- 
ment when the king, by rising, would 
permit of his quilting the apartment. In 
this hope and expectation, he long sup- 
ported with unshaken fortitude, one of 
the most pressing demands of nature. 
Overcome at length, and yielding to a 
power stronger than himself, he suddenly 
rose from his chair, and exclaiming, 
" Sire, tout est grand dans voire ma- 
jeste,jusqu''u la vcssie meme. Sire,Je 
me riieurs,'^ ran out of the room. Fre- 
deric was charmed with the ingenuity of 
the compliment, and laughed heartily at 
the general's distress, which miglit, how- 
ever, have proved fatal to him. The 
celebrated astronomer Tycho Brahe's 
death was caused by a precisely similar 
act of imprudent respect. 

Parliament having been dissolved early 
in September, I was elected one of the 
members for Hindon in the county of 
AVilts ; and the new House of Commons 
meeting towards the end of October, the 
first debate turned on the choice of a 
speaker. Lord George Germain, not 
Lord North, commenced the proceedings 
on that evening, and performed the 
principal ministerial part. It was not 
intended by administration, that Sir 
Fletcher Norton, who during near eleven 
years, ever since the resignation of Sir 
John Cust in January, 1770, had filled 
the chair, should re-occupy it in the ne\r 



126 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



parliament. He had given umbrage 
during the session of 1777, both to the 
sovereign, and to ministers, by a me- 
morable speech, which he addressed to 
the king, while standing in his official ca- 
pacity, at the bar of the House of Peers. 
And though the admonition or exhorta- 
tion that he thought proper then to use, 
relative to the economical expenditure 
of the money voted by the House of 
Commons, had met with the approba- 
tion of the country at large, yet it un- 
questionably produced his eventual ex- 
clusion from the employment of speaker. 
Lord North having tried the ground at 
St. James's, found his majesty deter- 
mined upon the point. Conscious, 
nevertheless, that it would be highly 
unpopular to place his intended dismis- 
sion on such a basis ; ministers availed 
themselves of Sir Fletcher's ill state of 
health, which had considerably impeded 
the progress of public business in the 
preceding session, as forming a sufficient 
cause for his removal. While, there- 
fore, they passed high eulogiums on his 
ability and talents, they lamented that 
infirmities of body rendered it improper 
to ask of him, or to accept from him, a 
continuance of his public services. Sir 
Fletcher, however, rising in his place, 
and speaking from the opposition bench, 
while he was sustained by that powerful 
and numerous phalanx ; endeavoured to 
point out the latent enmity, as well as 
the obvious nullity of the ministerial 
arguments. He affected, it is true, to 
disclaim any wish of being again placed 
in the speaker's chair; but he took care 
to accompany the declaration, by an as- 
sertion of his perfect physical capacity 
to meet its duties and fatigues. His ap- 
pearance seemed indeed to present the 
aspect of a man, who, though somewhat 
declined in years, did not manifest any 
tokens of decay. All the personal at- 
tacks levelled by Norton's friends on the 
opposition side of the house, at Lord 
North, could neither induce nor provoke 
the first minister to open his lips on the 
occasion. He remained profoundly si- 
lent : but Mr. Rigby, uninlimidaled by 
the clamours of Sir Fletcher's adherents, 
after boldly avowing that he was dis- 
missed for his political trespasses, justi- 
fied his exclusion from the chair, on par- 
liamentary or on ministerial grounds. 



Cornwall was chosen speaker by a very 
large majority. 

Sir Fletcher Norton, though perhaps 
justly accused, as a professional man, of 
preferring profit to conscientious delicacy 
of principle; and though denominated in 
the coarse satires or caricatures of that 
day, by the epithet of " Sir Bullface 
Doublefee ;" yet possessed eminent par- 
liamentary knowledge as well as legal 
talents. Far from suffering in his capacity 
of speaker, by a comparison either with 
his immediate predecessor or successor 
in that high oflice, he must be considered 
as very superior to both. The chair of 
the House of Commons, during the whole 
course of the eighteenth century, was 
never filled with less dignity or energy, 
than by Sir John Cust, whom Wilkes 
treats in all his letters with the most 
contemptuous irony, or the most morti- 
fying insult. Cornwall possessed every 
physical quality requisite to ornament 
the place ; a sonorous voice, a manly, as 
well as imposing figure, and a command- 
ing deportment : but his best ministerial 
recommendation to the office, consisted 
i in the connection subsisting between him 
and Mr. Charles Jenkinson, then secretary 
of war, which the marriage of the former 
gentleman, with the sister of tlie latter, 
had cemented. After his election, Corn- 
wall gave little satisfaction, and had re- 
course to the narcotic virtues of porter, 
for enabling him to sustain i(s fatigue : 
an auxiliary which sometimes becoming 
too powerful for the principal who called 
in its assistance, produced inconve- 
niences. The " Rolliad," alluding to 
the speaker's chair, as it was filled in 
1784, says, 

"There Cornwall sits, and ah ! compelled by fate, 
Must sit for ever through the long debate ; 
Save when compelled by nature's sovereign will, 

Sometimes to empty, and sometimes to fill." • 

" Like sad Prometheus fastened to the rock, 

In vain he looks for pity to the clock ; 

In vain the powers of strengthening porter tries. 

And nods to Bellainy for fresh supplies." 

We may here remark, as a curious 
fact, that Sir Fletcher's dismission from 
the office of speaker, conducted him 
within eighteen months, to the dignity 
of the peerage ; an elevation which he 
owed solely to the jealousies and rivali- 
ties that arose between Lord Rocking-^ 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



127 



ham and Lord Shelburne, as soon as lliey 
got into power : whereas, Cornwall, his 
successful competitor, after presiding 
more than eight years in the House of 
Commons, died without ever enterini: 
the House of Lords. It was thus that 
Dunning reached that gaol, while Wal- 
lace missed it. So much does the 
disposition of events, which in common 
language we denominate fortune, regu- 
late the afl'airs of men, in defiance of Ju- 
venal's 

" Nos te, 
Nos facimus, Fortuna, Deam, Caeloque loca- 
mus." 

T scarcely remember, during near four- 
teen years that I sate in difTerent parlia- 
ments, a more personal, or a more acri- 
monious debate than I witnessed soon 
after my first entrance into the house, on 
the sixth of November. It took place 
on the address proposed to be car- 
ried up to the foot of the throne in an- 
swer to his majesty's speech. Lord 
George Germain again assumed the first 
part, and attracted towards himself all 
the severity of opposition ; Lord Nortti 
being unavoidably compelled to absent 
himself, on account of indisposition. 
The recent nomination of Sir Huo-h 
Palliser to the government of Greenwich 
Hospital, drew from Fox the most point- 
ed, 33 well as violent reflections, not 
only on various members of the cabinet, 
but on the sovereign himself. Not con- 
tent with declaring that "there could be 
only one of the king's servants" (the 
Earl of Sandwich), "so abandoned, so 
lost to all sensibility, or honour, as to 
have dared to advise such a measure ;" 
he added, that " his surprise was the 
less excited by the fact, because it formed 
the characteristic of the present reign, to 
hunt down, to defame, and to vilify 
great or popular public men; while the 
infamous were upheld, employed, and 
rewarded," As if apprehensive that the 
application of these last words mi<rht be 
in any degree ambiguous, he subjoined, 
fixing his eyes on Lord George Germain, 
" the recent promotion of Sir Hugh Pal- 
liser is dictated by the same spirit, which 
has produced the promotion of a man to 
one of the greatest civil employments, 
\Yho has been publicly degraded, and 



declared to be incapable of serving again 
in any military capacity, at the head of 
every regiment in the service. So se- 
vere, if not illiberal an allusion, which 
could not be misunderstood, instantly 
called up Lord George ; who observed 
that " the aspersion which the honour- 
able membef had thought proper to 
throw out in the course of his speech, 
being obviously directed at himself; the 
house might naturally expect he would 
notice it. I rise, therefore," said he, 
" once for all, simply to declare that 
whenever gentlemen descend to the 
meanness of personal invectives, instead 
of argument, and shall think proper to 
make me their object ; I am prepared to 
treat both the invectives and their author, 
with the contempt that they deserve." 
Fox allowed this answer to pass unno- 
ticed on that evening ; but next day, 
having probably felt that it could not 
be altogether despised, he thought proper 
to say, while speaking on the report of 
the address to the crown, that " the noble 
secretary's words during the preceding 
debate, however personal to himself they 
might be, yet were so qualified, as to 
render it wholly unnecessary for him to 
take any further notice of them." Ad- 
miral Keppel, treading in the traces of 
Fox, repeated, however, nearly the same 
accusations as had already been brought 
forward against the first lord of the ad- 
miralty ; whom Keppel charged with 
incapacity and mismanagement of the 
naval forces, and stigmatized as meriting 
universal reprobation for having recom- 
mended Palliser to his majesty, for the 
government of Greenwich Hospital. 
Such an appointment conveyed indeed 
indirectly a severe censure upon himself. 
These personalities and charges did not 
prevent the address from being voted by 
a majority of eighty-two. The exclu- 
sion of Sir Fletcher from the chair, on 
the first day of the session, had only 
been carried by sixty-nine. On so pre- 
carious a foundation did the ministers 
stand, even at the commencement of a 
new parliament; and so weak were the 
foundations on which reposed Lord 
North's power towards the close of the 
year 1780, undermined as it was by an 
unfortunate, if not an unpopular contest. 
When a motion was made a few days later 
by Mr. Thomas Townsend, to vote the 



128 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



thanks of the house to their late speaker ; 
after a debate of considerable length, 
administration could only command nine- 
ty-six votes, while opposition carried 
the question by a majority of forty ; 
having divided one hundred and thirty- 
six, though Lord North was present on 
the occasion. But tlie motion being 
conceived in very laconic and general 
terms, the first minister neither rose to 
speak, nor made any personal effort to 
impede its success. 

A long and very interesting debate 
arose on the 27th of November, when 
Mr. Daniel Parker Coke, member for 
the town of Nottingham (one of the 
most upright, honourable, and incorrup- 
tible individuals who ever sate in parlia- 
ment) ; moved tlie thanks of the house 
to Sir Henry Clinton and Earl Corn- 
wallis, for the important services tiiat 
those commanders had rendered to their 
country, on the othei side of the Atlan- 
tic. An affinity of curious matter was 
elicited by the nature of the subject, as it 
naturally or necessarily embraced the 
American war: a topic calculated to pro- 
duce interminable discussions. Neither 
the first minister, nor Mr. Fox, though 
both addressed the house in the course 
of the evening, performed the principal 
parts. Wilkes rising in his place, pro- 
nounced a speech of great length, and of 
still greater severity ; which (as he was 
accustomed to do) he had prepared, not 
without evident labour, for the occasion. 
It was, like every composition of his; 
spirited, classic, and stamped with the 
characteristic energy of his fearless 
mind. In the course of it, he neither 
spared Lord Cornwallis, whose inconsist- 
ency in drawing his sword to maintain a 
cause, which, a few years earlier, he 
had reprobated publicly in the house of 
peers, Wilkes endeavoured to expose: 
nor did he fail to attack both the minis- 
ters and the sovereign, by whom the 
war was carried on against the colonics. 
Theright claimed bythecrown andbypar- 
liament, to tax America, he reprobated as 
an " antiquated usurpation of the Stuarts, 
revived under the third prince of the fa- 
mily of Brunswic. This pretension," ex- 
claimed he, " has been in every age, the 
favourite maxim of despots. In opposi- 
tion to it, Hampden slied his blood. 
Such an attempt against the fundamental 



rights of the English people, justified 
our ancestors in commencing the civil 
war which conducted the tyrant Charles 
to the scaffold. He concluded by im- 
ploring of Mr. Coke to withdraw a mo- 
tion in which no man could concur, 
without indirectly giving his sanction or 
approbation to the American war itself. 
Lord North, on the other hand, expressed 
his hope that Wilkes would be the only 
individual in the house to oppose the 
motion. But another dissentient voice 
was raised to it in the person of Sir 
Joseph Mawbey ; a man who, from some 
unfortunate circumstances of his private 
life, never could obtain a patient or a 
candid hearing in parliament. Rigby 
and Courlenay, both attacked him ; not, 
indeed, with argument, but with a more 
powerful weapon, ridicule. Sheridan 
and Fox rose to defend Sir Joseph, as 
he constantly voted with opposition. In 
1784, after he had quitted that party, and 
joined Pttt against " the coalition," they 
turned their powerful artillery upon him. 
The " Rolliad," when speaking of the 
necessity imposed on the speaker, Corn- 
wall, to continue in the chair while the 
house is sitting, adds. 



" Painful preeminence ! — He hears, 'tis trne, 
Fox, North, and Burke: but hears Sir Joseph 
too." 

Lines which form a parody on Pope's 
address to Lord Bolingbroke, which he 
concludes by saying, 

"Painful pre-eminence ! ourselves to view, 
Above life's weakness and its comforts too !" 

Sir Joseph Mawbey spoke nevertheless 
with great good sense, though not with 
brilliancy. He was at this time the col- 
league of Admiral Keppel and represent- 
ed the county of Surry. To the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham, during the short 
administration of that nobleman, in 
1765, he owed his elevation to the rank 
of a baronet. Like Wilkes, he refused 
to concur in the vote of thanks to Lord j 
Cornwallis ; but the motion was not the ' 
less finally carried without a division. 

Little consolation can be derived dur- 
ing this gloomy period of English his- 
tory, from carrying our view beyond the 
metropolis, to the extremities of the em- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



129 



pire, or from considering the operations 
of the war by sea and land. As Geary 
had succeeded to the command of the 
channel fleet by Hardy's death, so 
Darby took the same command soon af- 
terwards, in consequence of Geary's re- 
signation. None of these names will 
be pronounced with enthusiasm by pos- 
terity. Admiral Barrinirioii, by his re- 
pulse of D'Estaign at St. Lucie, ac- 
quired the only renown gained on the 
ocean, from tlie commencement of hos- 
tilities in July, 1778, till the period 
when Rodney was sent out to the West 
Lidies. The inveterate disputes that 
arose between Keppel and Palliser, 
which, after convulsing the navy and di- 
viding the kingdom, began insensibly to 
fall into oblivion ; were again revived 
during the short time that the House of 
Commons remained sitting before the 
Christmas recess. In consequence of 
Sir Hugli Palliser's appoinimcnt to the 
government of Greenwich Hospital, the 
events of the 27th July, 1778, were dis- 
cussed anew, with all the acrimony of 
party. Fox originated the discussion 
by the severity of his animadversions on 
Palliser, who had just taken his seat in 
the house, as member for the town of 
Huntingdon, where Lord Sandwich's 
interest had procured his election. The 
Earl of Lisburne, second Jord of the 
board of admiralty, having, in a com- 
mittee of sup[)ly, laid the navy esti- 
mates on the table, an animated and 
most personal debate ensued. Lord Nu- 
gent, who was then well advanced to- 
wards fourscore, vainly attempted (like 
Nestor in the " Iliad"), by calling Fox 
repeatedly to order, to avert the storm, 
and to give the subject under considera- 
tion, a more general direction. When 
Fox had exhausted every topic of decla- 
mation, with which the occasion fur- 
nished him, both against Palliser, and 
against the first lord of the admiralty. 
Lord North rose to protect them ; and 
in a very able, as well as argumentative 
speech, endeavoured to show how un- 
just a persecution the vice-admiral had 
undergone. Sir Hugh himself, conscious 
of his inability to contend with such an 
adversary as Fox, on such a theatre as 
parliament; after denying the pretended 
allegations made by his enemies, and 
acknowledging his obligations to the 



first minister for the eloquent defence 
just pronounced ; proceeded to read his 
own justification. The paper, by its 
length, dulness, and perhaps more than 
either, by the imperfect or defective man- 
ner of its delivery, put the patience of 
his auditors, as I well remember, to a 
severe trial. Palliser, who had risen 
from an obscure origin, by long and dis- 
tinguished services, to the rank of a ba- 
ronet, and to some of the highest honours 
of his profession ; wanted the advan- 
tages of education, as well as those of 
manner, deportment, and external grace, 
in all which he was wholly deficient. 
Nor had he, like his opponent, Keppel, 
the support derived from high descent 
and alliances. I have, however, always 
considered him as a most judicious, 
meritorious, and calumniated naval of- 
ficer, who was overborne by the torrent 
of party, and fell a sacrifice to minis- 
terial unpopularity. Never can I forget 
the picture that he drew of the action 
fought on the 27lh of July ; a day not 
to be recollected by an Englishman 
without feelings allied, to humiliation. 
He declared in the face of the House of 
Commons, that the British fleet were 
led into action in a disorderly and un- 
skilful manner. In the beginning, with 
too much contempt of the enemy, but 
towards its close, with too much awe ; 
keeping at too great a distance, and ma- 
nceuvring in confusion. In his reply to 
Palliser, Keppel contented himself with 
entrenching his reputation behind the 
sentences of the tv/o courts martial ; and 
reiterating the charges of treachery, 
blended with falsehood, which his ho- 
nourable relation (Fox), had already 
brought lorward against the first lord of 
the admiralty. Not that Keppel's cou- 
rage could be called in question, as had 
happened, perhaps most unjustly, in the 
instance of Byng : but in self-posses- 
sion, judgment, superior maritime skill, 
and presence of mind ; in all those en- 
dowments of a great commander which 
ensure victory, I have always regarded 
him as deficient. Even the state of his 
health, disordered and shattered by sick- 
ness, tended to incapacitate him on the 
twenty-seventh of July, for performing 
with promptitude, the arduous duties of 
his situation. I believe, now that time 
has softened down the asperities of party. 



130 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



this opinion has become general. Kep- 
pel's exploits will never be ranked with 
those of Rodney, of Duncan, or of Nel- 
son ; nor will liiey ever be associated to 
the glorious recollections of the best 
years of George the Tiiird. Lord 
North, with whom, not to be defeated, 
constituted a sort of victory; and who 
generally contented himself with half 
triumpiis ; after defending Palliser with 
his usual ability, and with more than 
his common animation ; having lluis res- 
cued him from llie immediate attack of 
his enemies, aimed at no further advan- 
tage, but moved for an adjournment 
early in December. 

As if to complete the climax of our 
national misfortunes at this humiliating 
period, Holland was added to the num- ] 
ber of our enemies ; war being declared [ 

Hffainst the Seven United Provinces, be- 

I 
fore the close of 1780, notwithstanding 

the repugnance equally felt at such a ! 
rupture, by the King of Great Britain, 
and by the stadlholder. More than a 
century had then elapsed, since we had 
been engaged S^ hostilities with the 
Dutch, under the profligate reign of 
Charles the Second. During some por- 
tion of the intermediate time, the two 
countries had been governed by one 
prince ; and one soul might be said to 
animate their counsels afier the expul- 
sion of James the Second; when tlieir 
joint efforts were directed to stem the 
current of Louis the Fourteenth's arms 
in the Netherlands. Even subsequent to 
King William's decease, the United Pro- 
vinces made common cause with his 
successor, against France, under Marl- 
borough : but the disgraceful termina- 
tion of that great struggle, which lasted 
near ten years, dissevered England 
and Holland. After the peace of 
Utrecht, in 1712, no close nor cordial 
union subsisted between the cabinets of 
the Hague and of St. James's. The 
Dutch were, indeed, prevailed on to join 
George the Second, as auxiliaries, though 
not as principals, in the war of 1743, 
undertaken to preserve Maria Theresa 
on the throne of her father Charles the 
Sixth. Unfortunately, the English, 
Dutch, and Austrian armies, which, 
while conducted by the great talents of 
Eugene and Marlborough, had nearly 
driven Louis the Fourteenth to the last 



extremities ; when led by Konigseck, 
and by William, Duke of Cumberland, 
were everywhere defeated on the same 
plains. 

Marshal Saxe made himself master 
of the barrier that protected Holland 
against the overwhelming power of 
France; and only the moderation or the 
indolence of Louis the Fifteenth, which 
checked his conquests, gave peace to 
Europe in 1748 at Aix-la-Chapelle. — 
That prince, had he been animated by 
the ambition of his predecessor, or by 
the spirit of conquest which impelled 
the French republic in 1795, might have 
entered Amsterdam, and have subjected 
the Zuyder sea to his dominion. Hav- 
ing escaped from this imminent peril, 
the Dutch remained neutral spectators 
of the contest which took place between 
us and France in 1756, when Flanders, 
which for near a century had constituted 
the palaestra of Europe, by a singular 
transition became a country of repose ; 
and the House of Austria for the first 
time joined her inveterate foe, the House 
of Bourbon. It was reserved for the 
calamitous sera of the American war, 
which familiarized us with disgraces and 
reverses, to witness Holland openly 
ranged against Great Britain under the 
banners of Louis the Sixteenth and 
Charles the Third. The opposition ex- 
ulted at the declaration of hostilities be- 
tween the two countries, as setting the 
seal to Lord North's ministerial embar- 
rassments. Nor could it be denied, that 
the necessity for blocking the mouth of 
tiie Texel, and probably engaging the 
Dutch fleet at the entrance of their own 
ports, in the depressed, as well as in- . 
i'erior state to which the British navy I 
had then sunk ; augmented the difficul- ' 
ties under which the administration la- 
boured, while it increased the unpopu- 
larity of the sovereign. 

Yet never did any government make 
greater efl^orts to avert and avoid a rup- 
ture, than were exerted by'Lord North's 
cabinet. Sir Joseph Yorke, who, by 
long residence in Holland, had become 
in some measure naturalized at the 
Hague, exhausted every art of diploma- 
cy, to stem the current of French and 
American politics. The stadlholder, no 
less than the majority of the people 
throughout the Seven United Provinces, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



131 



nourished the warmest partiality towards | 
Great Britain : but the Prince of Orange 
had lost the public respect wliich his high 
office ought to have excited ; and the na- 
tion, immersed in narrow speculations of 
commercial advantage, displayed no 
spark of that public spirit, or of those 
great energies, which had operated such 
powerful effects against Pliili[) the Se- 
cond and Third, Kings of Spain, during 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 
The pensionary, Van Berkel, acting un- 
der the impulse of Maurepas and of Ver- 
gennes, precipitated his countrymen on 
war with England, by signing a treaty 
with the American insurgents; precisely 
as Madison, in the summer of 1812, com- 
menced hostilities with us, by the sug- 
gestions of his Corsican director. Nor 
did Fox and Burke arraign more severely 
the measures of Lord iSforth, as having 
produced the rupture that took place with 
Holland ; than the leaders of opposition 
in the House of Commons, inveighed 
against the line of conduct adopted on the 
part of ministers, which led to the late 
contest with America. Both wars arose 
principally from a similar cause ; the ap- 
parently desperate, or highly alarming 
condition of England. In 1780, we ap- 
peared to be rapidly sinking under the 
combination of European, Asiatic, and 
American foes. In 1812, Bonaparte, 
master of the continent, from the fron- 
tiers of Portugal to those of Russia, pre- 
pared to consummate the subjugation of 
Europe, by a march to Moscow. To 
Van Berkel, and to Madison, the occa- 
sion seemed equally favourable for the de- 
velopment of their rancorous enmity to 
the English government. The measures 
of the former minister led, at no distant 
period of time, in the space of about fif- 
teen years, to the subjugation and sub- 
version of the republic of Holland. Fu- 
turity will show whether the policy of 
Madison, if iiis base subservience to 
Bonaparte can merit the name, will prove 
more successful or beneficial to his coun- 
trymen ; and will prove how far the 
American President may justly challenge 
their future gratitude, more than the pen- 
sionary of Amsterdam merited the sup- 
port of the Dutch. 

Nearly about the same lime, Maria 
Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohe- 
mia, expired at Vienna, after a reign of 



forty years, during which she had exhi- 
bited a memorable instance of the vicis- 
situdes of fortune. Like Frederic the 
Second, King of Prussia, she acceded in 
1740; and"^ great portion of their lives 
was passed in mutual hostility. The 
strength of her mind, and the tenacity of 
her character, sustained her amidst diffi- 
culties, which a woman of inferior reso- 
lution could not have surtnounted. Since 
the death of Elizabeth, Queen of Eng- 
land, in 1603, Europe had not beheld 
any female seated on the throne, who 
united so many private virtues, to so 
many great public endowments. Maria 
Theresa manifested a masculine mind, 
blended with feminine qualities calcu- 
lated to conciliate universal affection. 
Elizabeth, however illustrious she ap- 
pears when viewed in her kingly capa- 
city, wanted softness, sincerity, and all 
the gentler qualifications that render wo- 
man an object of attachment. Henry 
the Seventh and Henry the Eighth were 
both resuscitated in lier, though without 
the avarice of her grandfather, or the ca- 
pricious and cruel despotism of her fa- 
ther. Maria Theresa reseiubled her in 
this point of view. As a sovereign, she 
possessed far greater constancy and en- 
ergy than had been exhibited by her 
father, the Emperor Charles the Sixth, 
or by her grandfather, Leopold the First. 
Charles, while resident in Spain during 
" the War of the Succession," displayed 
no endowments of character, and was 
twice driven out of Madrid in conse- 
quence of his delays or incapacity. Leo- 
pold betrayed a want of every resource, 
when in 1683, at the approach of the 
grand vizier Cara Mustapha, he fled to 
Passau, leaving liis capital to be invested, 
and his dominions to be ravaged, by the 
Turks. The caution, experience, and 
moderation of Maria Theresa, increased 
by religious scruples, imposed a restraint 
on the pernicious activity of her son and 
successor, Joseph the Second. His ac- 
cession to the dominions of the House of 
Austria, and the line of policy that he 
embraced, constituted one of the many 
concurring circumstances which even- 
tually facilitated the progress of the 
French arms in the Netherlands, after the 
revolution. 

Though sinking under the accumulated 
pressure of advancing age, as well as of 



132 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



disease and infirmity, Maria Theresa re- 
tained the possession of all her faculties, 
nearly to the last moments of her life. 
Religion and resignation smoothed its 
close. Two of the archduchesses, her 
daughters, Maria and Elizabeth, who re- 
mained unmarried, constantly attended 
about her bed; but I have been assured 
that they could not prevail on their mo- 
ther, though they earnestly entreated it, 
even a short time preceding her dissolu- 
tion, to bequeath her blessing to the 
Archduchess Amelia, their sister. That 
princess, who had been married to Don 
Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, was sup- 
posed to have committed great irregula- 
rities of every kind. Only a short lime 
before Maria Theresa breathed her last, 
having apparently fallen into a sort of 
insensibility, and her eyes being closed; 
one of the ladies near her person, in re- 
ply to an enquiry made respecting the 
state of the empress, answered that her 
majesty seemed to be asleep. " No," 
replied she, " I could sleep, if I would 
indulge repose ; but I am sensible of the 
near approach of death, and f will not 
allow myself to be surprised by him in 
my sleep. I wish to meet my dissolu- 
tion awake." There is nothing trans- 
mitted to us by antiquity, more impres- 
sive than this answer, which appears di- 
vested of all ostentation. Voltaire him« 



self, cynic as he was, and always severe 
upon crowned heads, unless when molli- 
fied by the flattering letters or presents 
of Catherine the Second, must have ad- 
mired it. Even the great Frederic, who 
survived Maria Theresa near six years ; 
though he encountered the gradual ad- 
vances of death with philosophy and for- 
titude, yet betrayed much reluctance, dis- 
played some peevishness, and perhaps 
manifested a liiile afTectation or vanity, 
in the preparations which he made for 
his departure. We may see the proofs 
of it, in his conversations with Zimmer- 
man. Neither Augustus, nor Vespasian, 
nor Adrian, though each of these empe- 
rors seems to huve contemplated death 
with a steady countenance, and almost 
with a smiling look ; yet manifested more 
perfect self-possession in the last act of 
life, than did Maria Theresa. She was 
as much superior in virtue to her con- 
temporary, Catherine the Second, as she 
fell beneath that princess in brilliancy of 
talents. In the arts of reigning, in cou- 
rage, in benignity of disposition, and in 
solid endowments of understanding, the 
Austrian may dispute for superiority 
even with the Russian czarina. Poste- 
rity will perhaps confer more admiiation 
on the latter empress, but, must reserve 
its moral approbation and esteem for the 
former sovereign. 



PART THE SECOND. 



January, 1781. — I am now arrived, 
in the course of these memoirs, at the 
beginning of the year 1781. Before, 
however, we enter on the political events 
of that disastrous period, it seems indis- 
pensable that we should survey the cha- 
racter of the sovereign, of the cabinet 
ministers, of the leaders of opposition, 
and the principal persons in both houses 
of the new parliament. Great Britain 
did not then present the same august, 
majestic, and interesting spectacle to 
mankind, which we have since exhibited, 
even during the most calamitous moments 
of the late revolutionary war. The em- 
pire, under Lord North's administration, 
was shaken and convulsed in almost 



every quarter. Domestic faction per- 
vaded all the departments of government, 
infected the navy, and manifested itself 
in every debate of either House of Par- 
liament. The English were discon- 
tented ; the Scots were sullen ; and the 
Irish had become clamorous for political, 
as well as for commercial emancipation. 
A ministry, the members of which body 
did not always act in union, and still 
prosecuting a hopeless contest with Ame- i 
rica ; whatever ability the individuals \ 
composing it might separately possess, 
yet inspired no public confidence in the 
success of their future measures. Na- 
tional credit began to droop under the 
expenses of a war carried on across the I 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



133 



Atlantic, at an immense distance ; while 
the commerce of the country suffered at 
least in an equal degree from the de- 
predations of the enemy. Nor had Lord 
North provided, as Mr. Pitt afterwards 
did in 178G, any sinking fund for the 
gradual extinction of the taxes which he 
annually im()osed. 

Amidst this scene of distress, the great 
continental powers of the north and east 
of Europe, looked on, either as uncon- 
cerned spectators, or as secret enemies. 
Joseph the Second, Emperor of Ger- 
many, who had recently succeeded to 
the Bohemian and Hungarian thrones ; 
imitating in this instance his mother's 
line of policy, and occupied witii do- 
mestic reforms of various kinds, took in- 
deed no open part. But, connected as 
he was with France, by his sister's mar- 
riage to Louis the Sixteenth, his incli- 
nations miglit be supposed to lean to- 
wards the House of Bourbon. The great 
Frederic, sinking in years, as well as 
under the pressure of diseases and in- 
firmities ; satiated with military fame; 
attentive principally to tiie improvement 
of his dominions, and the augmentation 
of his revenue ; always attached from 
disposition, to the manners, language and 
crown of France : beheld with satisfac- 
tion the augmenting difficulties of the 
English government. He had never for- 
given Lord Bute for retaining, when first 
minister, the subsidy claimed by Prussia 
in 1762 ; and he nourished a flislike to 
the country, which, as he perhaps justly 
conceived, had broken its faith with him 
on so important a point. Catherine the 
Second, ever anxious to throw a veil of 
glory over the tragical circumstance^ 
which placed her on the Russian throne, 
by aggrandizing the Russian empire; 
and availing herself with ability of the 
distress of England, then contending 
against so many adversaries ; set up 
pretensions to a maritime exemption from 
the right of search on the high seas, 
claimed and exercised by Great Britain 
in time of war. Placing herself at the 
head of the Baltic powers, in iinio'nwiih 
the courts of Copenhagen and Stockholm, 
which on this occasion made common 
cause with her, she attempted to eman- 
cipate their navies from any further sub- 
mission to the British flag. Lord North, 
unable to resent, or to oppose the policy 
13 



of Catherine by open force, temporized, 
and waited for more propitious times. 
Portugal alone, amidst the general hos- 
tility or defection of Europe, ventured to 
manifest her amicable disposition ; and 
had the generosity to refuse to form a 
junction with the Baltic confederacy, or 
to accede to the armed neutrality of the 
northern slates. 

The king at this period of his reign, 
was far advanced in his forty-third year. 
Though he came into the world at the 
term of seven months; a fact which is 
indisputable, as the late Duchess of 
Brunswic, his sister's birth, took place 
on the 11th of August, 1737; and that 
of his majesty, on the 4th of June, 1738; 
yet nature had conferred on him a sound 
and vigorous frame of body. He was 
born in Norfolk House, St. James's 
square, where Frederic, Prince of Wales, 
then resided ; who had been perempto- 
rily ordered only a short time before, to 
quit St. James's palace, by George the 
Second. I saw, not much more than a 
year ago, the identical bed in which the 
Princess of Wales was delivered, now 
removed to the Duke of Norfolk's seat 
of Worksop, in the county of Notting- 
ham ; and it forcibly proves the rapid 
progress of domestic elegance and taste 
within the last eighty years. Except 
that the furniture is of green silk, the bed 
has nothing splendid about it ; and would 
hardly be esteemed fit for the accommo- 
dationof a person of ordinary condition 
in the present times A course of sj's- 
temalic abstinence and exercise, had se- 
cured to George the Third the enjoyment 
of almost uninterrupted health, down to 
the time of which I speak. So little had 
he been incommoded by sickness, or hv 
indisposition of any kind, from the period 
of his accession, till his memorable seiz- 
ure in 1788 ; that scarcely was he ever 
compelled to absent himself on that ac- 
count, from a levee, a council, a drawing- 
room, during eight and twenty years. 
One only exception to this remark oc- 
curred in the autumn of 1765, when he 
was attacked by a disorder that confined 
him for several weeks ; relative to the 
nature and seat of which malady, thouiih 
many conjectures and assertions have 
been hazarded, in conversation, and even 
in print, no satisfactory information has 
ever been given to the world. 



134 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRSi 



In the king's countenance, a physio- 
gnomist would have dislinguit^hed two 
principal characteristics ; firmness, or as 
his enemies denominated it, obstinacy ; 
tempered with benignity. The former 
expression was however indisputably 
more marked and prominent than the 
latter sentiment Fox, when addressing 
the House of Commons, did not hesi- 
tate to allude in very intelligible lan- 
guage to his obstinacy. I remember, 
ill January, 1782, on his moving for 
papers, in order to institute an inquiry 
into Lord Sandwich's conduct at the 
head of the admiralty, Fox observed, 
" It is said by the very members of this 
assembly who in case of a division will 
vote in favour of the Earl of Sandwich, 
that there is mi obstimicy somewhere, 
which will oppose whatever measure is 
suggested from this side of the house." 
— "1 cannot pretend to say whether 
such a spirit of obstinacy does, or does 
not exist : but, those men who really 
believe the present first lord of the ad- 
miralty unfit for his situation, and yet 
come down to vote for maintaining him 
in office, are unfit for the important trust 
of representatives of a free people." 
I believe, there was no person present, 
so obtuse, as not to understand the ap- 
plication to Fox's expressions. The 
king seemed to have a tendency to be- 
come corpulent, if he had not repressed 
it by habitual and unremitting temper 



less," said the duke^ " constant and se- 
vere exercise of every kind. But, there 
is another effort requisite, in order to 
repress this tendency, which is much 
more difficult to practise ; and without 
which, no exercise, however violent, 
will suffice. I mean great renuncia- 
tion and temperance. Nothing else can 
prevent j'our majesty from growing to 
my size." The king made Utile reply ; 
but the duke's words sunk deep, and 
produced a lasting impression on his 
mind. From that day he formed the 
resolution, as he assured Lord Mans- 
field, of checking his constilulional in- 
clination to corpulency, by unremitting 
restraint upon his appetite ; a determi- 
nation which he carried into complete 
effect, in defiance of every temptation. 

Perhaps no sovereign, of whom his- 
tory, ancient or modern, makes mention 
in any age of the earth, has exceeded 
him in the practice of this virtue. It is 
a fact, that during many years of his 
life, after coming up from Kew,or from 
Windsor, often on liorseback, and some- 
times in heavy rain, to the queen's 
house ; he has gone in a sedan chair to 
St. James's, dressed himself, held a 
levee, passed through all the forms of 
that long and tedious ceremony ; for 
such it was in the way that he per- 
formed it ; without leaving any indi- 
vidual in the circle, unnoticed: and has 
afterwards assisted at a privy council, or 



ance. On this subject I shall relate a given audience to his cabinet ministers 
fact, which was communicated to me by and others, till five, and even sometimes 
a friend. Sir John Macpherson, who re- j till six o'clock. After so much fatigue 
ceived it from the great Earl of Mans- of body and of mind, the only refresh- 
field, to whom the king himself men- | ment or sustenance that he usually took, 
tioned it; forcibly demonstrating that j consisted in a few slices of bread and 



streufflh of mind, renunciation of all 
excess, and dominion over his appe- 
tites, which have cfiaracterised George 
the Third at every period of his life. 
Conversing with VVilliam, Duke of 



butler and a dish of tea, which he 
sometimes swallowed as lie walked up 
and down, previous to getting into his 
carriage, in order to return into the 
country. His undertaking, solid and 



Cumberland, his uncle, not long before sedate, qualified him admirably for busi- 



that prince's death, in 1764, his majesty 
observed, ihai it was with concern he 
remarked the duke's augmenting corpu- 
lency. " 1 Ininent it not less, sir," re- 
plied he, " hill 11 is nousliiulional ; and 
I am much niisiaken if your majesty 
will not becouie as large as myseli', be- 
fore you attain to n)y age." It arises 
from your not using sufficient exercise," 
answered the kin-:. " I use, neverthe- 



ness, thought it was neither of a bril- 
liant, lively, nor imposing description. 
But his manner did injustice to the en- 
dowments of his intellect : and unfortu- 
nately, it was in public that these mi- 
nute personal defects or imperfections 
became most conspicuous. Dr. John- 
son, indeed, thought otherwise on the 
subject: for, after the conversation with 
which his majesty was pleased to honour 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



135 



that great literary character, in the 
library at the queen's house, in Febru- 
ary, 1767, he passed the highest eco- 
miunis on the elegant manners of the 
sovereign. Bosvvell, in Johnson's Life, 
speaking of this circumstance, adds, 
" He said to Mr. Barnard, the librarian, 
' Sir, they may talk of the king as they 
will, but he is the finest gentleman I 
have ever seen.' And he afterwards ob- 
served to Mr. Langton, ' Sir, his man- 
ners are those of as fine a genileman, as 
we may suppose Louis the Fourteenth, 
or Charles the Second.' " 

Independent of the effect necessarily 
produced on Johnson's mind, by so un- 
expected and flattering a mark of royal 
condescension, which may well be 
imagined to have operated most favour- 
ably on the opinions of the moralist ; he 
was perhaps of all men the least capa- 
ble of eslimaiing personal elegance of 
deportment. His vast intellectual powers 
lay in another line of discrimination. 
Had Johnson been now living, he might 
indeed witness the finest model of grace, 
dignity, ease, and affability, which the 
world has ever beheld, united in the 
same person. In him are really blended 
the majesty of Louis the Fourteenth, 
with the amenity of Charles the Second. 
But George the Third was altogether 
destitute of these ornamental and adven- 
titious endowments. The oscillations of 
his body, the precipitation of his ques- 
tions, none of which, it was said, would 
wait for an answer ; and the hurry of 
his articulation, afforded on the con- 
trary, to little minds, or to malicious ob- 
servers, who only saw him at the draw- 
ing-room (or, as the Duchess of Chandos 
called it, the drawling-room'), occasion 
for calling in question tlie soundness of 
his judgment, and the strength of his 
faculties. None of his ministers, how- 
ever, and Mr. Fox, if possible, less than 
any other, entertained such an opinion. 
His whole reign forms indeed, the best 
answer to the imputation. That he 
committed many errors, nourished many 
prejudices, formed many erroneous esti- 
mates, and frequently adhered too perti- 
naciously to his determinations, where 
he conceived, perhaps falsely, that they 
were founded in reason, or in justice ; 
— all these allegations may be admitted. 
Nor can the injurious effects to himself, 



and to his people, necessarily flowing in 
various instances, from such defects of 
character, and of administration, be alto- 
gether denied. But, tliese infirmities, 
from which no man is exempt, cannot 
impugn his right to the affectionate 
veneration of posterity, for the inflexible 
uprightness of his public conduct. And 
as little can they deprive him of the suf- 
frages of the wise and good of every age, 
who will bear testimony to tlie expan- 
sion of his mind, and the invariable rec- 
titude of his intentions. 

It would, indeed, be difficult for his- 
tory to produce an instance of any 
prince who has united and displayed 
on the throne, during near half a cen- 
tury, so many personal and private vir- 
tues. In the flower of youth unmarried, 
endowed with a vigorous constitution, 
and surrounded with temptations to plea- 
sure or indulgence of every kind when 
he succeeded to the crown, he never 
yielded to these seductions. Not less 
affectionately attached to the queen, than 
Charles the First was to his consort, 
Henrietta Maria, he remained neverthe- 
less altogether exempt from the uxori- 
ousness which characterised his unfortu- 
nate predecessor, and which operated so 
fatally in the course of his reiffn. 

Wilkes, in the papers of the " North 
Briton," and " Junius," always affected, 
by drawing comparisons between the 
two kings, to demonstrate the moral re- 
semblance that existed between them ; 
but the pretended similarity was only 
external, in matters of mere deportment, 
not of solid character. It must be appa- 
rent to every impartial person, who 
studies their respective reigns and line 
of political action, how superior was 
George the Third to Charles, on the 
three great points that constitute the es- 
sential difference between men. The 
first of these qualities was firmness of 
mind. To his weakness, not even to 
give it a more severe epithet, in aban- 
doning Lord Strafford to the rage of his 
enemies, we may trace all the misfor- 
tunes that accompanied Charles from 
that time down to the close of life : mis- 
fortunes, aggravated by the reproaches 
of his own conscience, for delivering up 
his minister a victim to popular violence ! 
His present majesty neither deserted 
Lord Bute, when most unpopular, ia 



136 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



1763 ; nor ihe Duke of Graflon, amids 
llie tumults of March, 1769; nor Lord 
North in the more awful riots of June, 
1780. As little did he turn his back on 
Lord George Germain, after the defeats 
of Saratoga, or of Yorktown, amidst the 
disasters of the American war. Far from 
recurring for support to his ministers he 
constantly extended it to them ; and 
never shrunk from personal risk, respon- 
sibility, or odium. His conduct on the 
memorable seventh of June, 1780, both 
at the council table, and during the 
course of that calamitous night which 
followed, will best exemplify the asser- 
tion. Charles, though personally brave 
in the field, and perfectly composed on 
the scaffold, was deficient in political 
courage, steadiness of temper, and tena- 
city of determination. These qualities 
formed the distinguishing characteristics 
of George the Third, who seems, when 
assailed by misfortunes, to have taken 
as his motto, the sentiment of the Roman 
poet: 

" Tu ne cede mails; sed contra, audentior ito," 

Nor does the balance incline less in 
his favour when compared with his pre- 
decessor of the Stuart line, on the article 
o( judgment. If any act of his present 
majesty's reign or government may seem 
to bear an analogy to the intemperate, 
vindictive, and pernicious attempt of 
Charles, to seize on the five members of 
the House of Commons ; it was the order 
issued by a general vmrrant, to take 
Wilkes into custody. Nor shall I under- 
take the defence of that proceeding, 
which I have always considered as the 
least justifiable measure, in every sense, 
embraced since the king's accession to 
the throne. But, when he authorized it, 
in April, 1763, he had not completed 
his twenty-fifth year. Charles the First 
was above forty, at the time of his com- 
mitting the rash act in question. That 
George the Third, if he had ever been 
reduced to take up arms against his sub- 
jects, might, from the partialities of paren- 
tal afi"eclion, have committed an error 
similar to that of Charles when he en- 
trusted the command of his forces to 
Prince Rupert; I will even admit to be 
probable, reasoning from the internal 
evidence afforded by the campaigns of 



1793, 1794, and 1799. But, no man 
who has followed the whole chain of 
events from 1760 down to 1810, can 
hesitate in pronouncing, that under cir- 
cumstances the most appalling to the 
human mind, demanding equal fortitude 
and intellectual resources ; he has dis- 
played a degree of ability that we would 
vainly seek in the Stuart king's unfor- 
tunate administration, terminated by the 
scaffold. 

It is, however, in moral principle and 
good faith, that the superiority of the 
one sovereign over the other becomes 
most irresistible, and forces the com- 
pletesl conviction. " Charles the First," 
says Junius, " lived and died a hypo- 
crite." However severe we may esteem 
this sentence, we cannot contest that his 
insincerity formed a prominent feature of 
his character, and eminently conduced to 
his destruction. It was proved by a 
variety of facts ; and it unquestionably 
deterred Cromwell, as well as others of 
the republican leaders, from exhibiting 
or anticipating the conduct of Monk. 
Unable to trust his most solemn assu- 
rances, they found no security for them- 
selves, except in bringing him to the 
block. But George the Third exhibited 
a model of unshaken fidelity to his en- 
gagements; even those most repugnant 
to his own feelings, and most contrary to 
his own judgment. I could adduce many 
proofs of the fact. How magnanimous 
was his reception and treatment of 
Adams, in 1783; a man personally ob- 
noxious ; when presented to him at his 
levee, as envoy from the American 
Stales ! In terms the most conciliating, 
yet nobly frank, he avowed to that minis- 
ter with what reluctance he had con- 
sented to the separation of the trans- 
atlantic British colonies from his domi- 
nion : " But," added he, " their inde- 
pendence being now consummated, I 
shall be the last man in my kingdom to 
encourage its violation." 

He acted in a similar manner, when 
the preliminaries of peace were signed 
in 1801, with France. No measure of 
state in the power of ministers to adopt, 
could have been, under the existing cir- 
cumstances, less consonant to his ideas 
of safety, policy, and wisdom : a fact of 
which the cabinet was so perfectly aware, 
that Lord Hawkesbury affixed hi;t signa.> 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



137 



tvire to the articles^ not only without the 
king's ce-n^ent or approbation, but with- 
out his knowledge. It took place, as is 
well known, on the first of October, just 
as he was about to return from Wey- 
mouth to Windsor. The cabinet in- 
stantly sent off a messenger with the 
intelligence, wlio met the king at Ando- 
ver ; and the pacquet was brought to 
him as he stood in the drawing-room of 
the inn, engaged in conversation with 
the late Earl of Cardigan, and two other 
noblemen, one of whom is still alive. 
His majesty, wholly unsuspicious of the 
fact, and not expecting to receive any 
news of importance, ordered them not to 
leave the apartment, as they were pre- 
paring to do, in order that he might have 
time to peruse the despatch. But, on 
inspecting its contents, he betrayed so 
much surprise, both in his looks and 
gesture, that they were again about to 
quit his presence. The king then ad- 
dressed them, and holding the letter open 
in his hand, " I have received surpris- 
ing news," said he, " but it is no secret. 
Preliminaries of peace are signed with 
France. I knew nothing of it what- 
ever ; but, since it is made, I sincerely 
wish it may prove a lasting peace." 

Louis the Twelfth, King of France, 
surnamed in liistory, " the Father of his 
People," is said to have observed, that 
" if good faith were banished from among 
men, it should be found in the bosoms 
of princes." This sublime maxim or 
sentiment, seems to have been inherent 
in the intellectual formation of George 
the Third. His coronation oath was 
ever present to his mind ; and he 
dreaded the slightest infraction of that 
solemn compact made with his people, 
to which the Deity had been invoked as 
a party, far more than the loss of his 
crown or life. When Mr. Pitt, sus- 
tained by four of the cabinet ministers, 
made the experiment of forcing him to 
violate it, on the 29th of January, 1801, 
relative to the question of " Catholic 
Emancipation in Ireland ;" they unques- 
tionably did not expect nor intend to 
go out of office, though they sent in 
their respective resignations. But, hav- 
ing compelled the king no less than 
four times, in the course of a few years. 
to give way on points where the ma- 
jority of his cabinet differed from him ; 



they erroneously assumed that he would 
act in the same manner, where his con_ 
science was concerned. Sustained how- 
ever by his principles, he did not hesi- 
tate a moment in accepting their resig- 
nation, though he accompanied the ac- 
ceptance with the most flattering testi- 
monies under his hand, of esteem and 
personal attachment. Uninstructed by 
such a warning, Lord Grenville, who 
had been one of the five cabinet mem- 
bers alluded to above, aided by Lord 
Grey, repeated the attempt six years 
later, after Fox's decease, with similar 
success. Charles the First did not 
manifest the same religious respect for 
the sanctity of his oaths and engagements. 
If his enemies in parliament, and in the 
field, would have reposed the un- 
limited confidence in him, which George 
the Third challenged from his oppo- 
nents, that unhappy prince mighl have 
died in his bed at Whitehall. 

I will subjoin only one anecdote more, 
on a point so interesting, which vitally 
characterises the present king. To- 
wards the end of the month of January, 
1805, at a time when he was much oc- 
cupied in preparations for the installation 
of the Knights of the Garter, destined to 
take place on the approaching twenty- 
third of April ; and while conversing on 
the subject with some persons of high 
rank, at Windsor ; one of them, the late 
Earl of Chesterfield, a nobleman much 
distinguished by his favour, said, " Sir, 
are not the new knights, now meant to be 
installed, obliged to take the sacrament 
before the ceremony?" Nothing could 
probably have been further from his idea 
or intention, than to have asked the ques- 
lion in a manner capable of implying 
any levity or irreverence. Nevertheless, 
his majesty instantly changed counte- 
nance ; and assuming a severe look, after 
a moment or two of pause, " No," re^ 
plied he, " that religious institution is 
not to be mixed with our profane cere- 
monies. Even at the time of my coro- 
nation, I was very unwilling to take the 
sacrament. But, when they told me 
that it was indispensable, and that I must 
receive it; before 1 approached the com- 
munion table, I took off the bauble from 
my head. The sacrament, my lord, is 
not to be profaned by our Gothic institu- 
tions." The severity of the king's man" 



138 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ner while he pronounced these words, 
impressed all present, andsuspended for 
a short time, the conversation. Never 
was any prince more religiously tena- 
' clous of his engagements or promises. 
Even the temporary privation of his in- 
tellect, did not affect his regard to the 
assurances that he had given previous to 
such alienation of mind; nor, which is 
still more wonderful, obliterate them 
from his recollection. I know, though 
I shall not particularise the facts, that 
on his recovery from the severest visita- 
tions under which lie has laboured, he 
has said to his minister, in the first mo- 
ments of his convalescence ; " previous 
to my attack of illness, I made such and 
such promises ; they must be effectu- 
ated." How deep a sense of honour, and 
how strong a moral principle, must have 
animated such a prince ! 

The education of George the Third 
had notbeen conducted or superintended, 
in many respects, with as much care as 
his birth, and the great prospects to 
which he was heir, should seem to have 
claimed from his predecessor. He was 
only between twelve and thirteen years 
of age, when he lost his father ; and the 
late king did not extend any very 
enlightened or affectionate attention 
to that important national object. — 
Even his mother, the Princess Dowa- 
ger of Wales, appears to have been 
deeply sensible to the inefficiency of the 
various preceptors successively employed 
about her son. Other charges, of a still 
more serious nature, were preferred 
against some of the individuals entrusted 
with the formation of his principles, or 
who had constant access to him; as if 
they endeavoured to imbue him with ar- 
bitrary notions, and to put into his hands 
authors known to have inculcated tyran- 
nical maxims of government. These 
accusations, destitute of proof and denied 
in the most peremptory manner at the 
time when they were made in 1752 or 
1753, by the princess dowager, rest on 
no solid foundations. If we wish to con- 
template a portrait of the young Prince 
of Wales at seventeen years of age, 
drawn by his own mother in August, 
1755, and communicated confidentially 
to a friend, we have it in Dodington's 
" Diary." She said, that " he was shy 
and backward; not a wild, dissipated 



boy, but good-natured and cheerful, with 
a serious cast upon the whole: that 
those about him knew him no more than 
if they had never seen him. That he 
was not quick ; but with those he was 
acquainted, applicable and intelligent. 
His education had given her much pain. 
His book-learning she was no judge of, 
though she supposed it small or useless : 
but, she hoped he might have been in- 
structed in the general understanding of 
things." It is impossible to doubt the 
accuracy and fidelity of this picture, 
many features of which continued inde- 
lible throughout his whole reign. 

In modern history he was tolerably 
well instructed ; particularly in the an- 
nals of England and of France, as well 
as of Germany, 'but in classical know- 
ledge, and all the coniposiiions of anti- 
quity, either of Greece or of Rome, his- 
torical as well as poetic, he was little 
conversant. So slight or imperfect was 
his acquaintance with Latin, that at forty, 
it may be doubted if he could have con- 
strued a page of Cicero, or of Ovid. He 
never delighted indeed in those branches 
of study, nor ever passed much of his 
time in sedentary occupations calculated 
to improve his mind, after his accession 
to the crown. A newspaper, which he 
commonly took up after dinner, and over 
which, however interesting its contents 
might be, he usually fell asleep in less 
than half an hour, constituted the ordi- 
nary extent of his application. Nor 
ought we to wonder at this circumstance, 
if we consider how numerous were his 
avocations ; and how little leisure the 
necessary perusal of public; papers, des- 
patches, and letters, could have left him 
for literary research. If, however, he 
did not possess a very cultivated under- 
standing, he might nevertheless be justly 
considered as not deficient in accom- 
plishments befitting his high station. 
He conversed with almost equal fluency, 
as all those persons who frequented the 
levee or the drawing-room could attest, 
in the English, French, and German lan- 
guages ; nor was he ignorant of Italian. 
He wrote with brevity, perspicuity, and 
facility, I have had opportunities to see 
or hear various of his confidential notes, 
addressed during the period of the Ame- 
rican war, to a nobleman high in office, 
some of which were written under very 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



139 



delicate circumstances. In all of ihem, 
good sense, firmness, principle, consist- 
ency, and self-possession, were strongly 
marked ihrowgh every line. In me- 
chanics of all kinds, he delighted and 
indulged himself; a relaxation which 
seems, somewhat unjustly, to have ex- 
cited mucii animadversion, and still more 
ridicule. But, it cannot be denied, that 
during this period of his present ma- 
jesty's reign, and down to a later stage of 
it, the English people, — for I will not 
say the Scotch — viewed all the failings 
of their sovereign with a microscopic 
eye, while they did injustice to his nu- 
merous excellencies. They have, how- 
ever, made him full amends since 1783, 
for their preceding severity, 

For painting and architecture he showed 
a taste, the more admired, as his two im- 
mediate predecessors on the throne, alto- 
gether destitute of such a quality, extend- 
ed neither favour nor protection to polite 
letters. Since Charles the First, no prince 
had extended such sums in the purchase 
of the productions of art, or so liberally 
patronized artists of every kind. Music 
always constituted one of his favourite 
recreations : and with the predilection 
natural to a German, he manifested great 
partiality for the compositions of Handel. 
Towards this time of his life he began 
likewise to take a pleasure in hunting, 
for which diversion he had not betrayed 
in his youth, so much inclination. But, 
another occupation of passion, which, 
from its beneficial tendency and results 
as well as from the tranquil enjoyments 
annexed to it, might seem peculiarly 
analogous to his character and disposi- 
tion, employed much of his thoughts, 
and no inconsiderable portion of his lei- 
sure. I mean, farming and agricultural 
pursuits. He may be said to have shown 
the way, and to have set the example, 
which has been since imitated by the 
late Duke of Bedford, Mr. Coke, Lord 
Somerville, Sir John Sinclair and so 
many other distinguished persons. 
Even this inclination, however produc- 
tive of public benefit, and laudable in 
all its results, yet exposed him to satiri- 
cal reflections, which malignity or party 
, spirit embodied in the form of caricatures. 
Satisfied with the legitimate power 
entrusted to him by the British consti- 
tution, and deeply impressed with the 



sanctity, as well as inviolability of the 
oaths administered to him at his corona- 
tion, George the Third did not desire to 
pass the limits of his rightful preroga- 
tive. " The king," said Lord North 
frequently, " would live on bread and 
water, to preserve the constitution of this 
country. He would sacrifice his life to 
maintain it inviolate." I know that such 
was his opinion of his sovereign, and 
Lord North could not err in forming a 
judgment on the point. — But, equally 
tenacious of his just pretensions, and 
firm in resisting popular violence or in- 
novation, he never receded from any 
point, or abandoned any measure, under 
the impulse of personal apprehension. 
His courage was calm, temperate, and 
steady. It was constitutional, and here- 
ditary; but, it was always sustained by 
conviction, sense of public duty, and re- 
ligion. These sentiments inspired, ac- 
companied, and upheld him, in the most 
distressing moments of his reign. 
Though he had not, like George the 
First, commanded armies, and made 
campaigns, in Hungary, or on the Rhine ; 
nor had he proved his valour in the field, 
like George the Second who fought at 
Oudenarde in his youth, and at Dettin- 
gen in his age ; yet he possessed no 
less bravery than his ancestors : while 
he joined to personal steadiness, a 
quality still more rare, political resolu- 
tion. After the attempt made to assassi- 
nate him in 1787, by Margaret Nichol- 
son ; an attempt which only failed from 
the knife being worn so thin about the 
middle of the blade, that it bent with 
the resistance of the king's waistcoat, 
instead of entering his body, as it would 
otherwise have done; he immediately 
held his levee with the most perfect 
composure. No person who was pre- 
sent on that day at St. James's, could 
have supposed that he had just escaped 
from so imminent a danger. 

On the 29lh of October, 1795, when 
the pebble was thrown or discharged 
into the stage coach, in which he was 
proceeding to Westminster, to open the 
session of parliament; while surround- 
ed by a most forocious mob, who mani- 
fested a truly Jacobinical spirit; he ex- 
hibited a calmness and self-possession 
prepared for every event. Few of his 
subjects would have shown the presence 



140 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



of mind, and attention to every thing 
except himself, which pervaded his 
whole conduct on the evening of the 
15th of May, 1800, at the lime that 
Hadfield discharged a pistol over his 
head in the theatre, loaded with two 
slugs. His whole anxiety was directed 
towards tiie queen, who not having en- 
tered the box, might, he apprehended, 
on liearing of the event, be overcome 
by her surprise or emotions. The dra- 
matic piece, which was about to be re- 
presented, commenced in a short space 
of time afterwards, precisely as if no 
accident had interrupted its perform- 
ance ; and so little were his nerves 
shaken, or his internal tranquillity dis- 
turbed by it, that he took his accustomed 
doze of three or four minutes, between 
the conclusion of the play> and the 
commencement of the farce, precisely 
as he would have done on any other 
night. This circumstance, which so 
strongly indicated his serenity, did not 
escape the notice of his attendants ; as 
I know from more than one of those 
noblemen or gentlemen who accompa- 
nied him on that evening to the theatre. 
He received, during the course of his 
reign, innumerable anonymous letters 
threatening his life, all which he treated 
with uniform indifference. A noble- 
man, who, I lament, is now no more, 
and who during many years was fre- 
quently about his person, as well as 
much in his confidence, the late Earl of 
Sandwich ; assured me that he had seen 
several of them, which his majesty 
showed him, particularly when at Wey- 
mouth. While residing there during 
successive seasons, he was warned in 
the ambiguous manner already men- 
tioned, not to ride out on particular 
days, on certain roads, if he valued his 
safety: but, the king never failed to 
mount his horse, and to take the very 
road indicated in the letter. Speaking 
on the subject to that nobleman, he 
said, " I very well kiiovv that any man 
who chooses to sacrifice his own life, 
may, whenever he pleases, take away 
mine ; riding out, as I do continually, 
with a single equerry and a footman. I 
only hope that whoever may attempt it, 
will not do it in a barbarous or brutal 
manner." When we reflect on his con- 
duct under these circumstances, as well 



as during the tumults of March, 1769, 
and the riots of June, 1780; — and if 
we contrast it with the weak or pusillani- 
mous deportment of Louis the Sixteenth, 
in July, 1739, when the French monar- 
chy was virtually overturned ; in October 
of the same year, at the time of his be- 
ing carried prisoner from Versailles to 
Paris ; or, on the lOlh of August, 1792, 
when he abandoned the Tuilleries, to 
seek refuge in the National Assembly ; 
we shall perceive the leading cause of 
the preservation of England, and of the 
destruction of France. To George the 
Third, considered in his kingly capacity, 
might well be applied the assertion, 

" 'Tis the last key stone 



That makes the arch."- 



He seemed as if raised up by Provi- 
dence, in its bounty to mankind, like an 
impregnable mound, to arrest the fury of 
revolution and jacobinism. How can 
we wonder that such a prince should 
prefer Pitt, notwithstanding the inflexi- 
bilities of his character, and the intracta- 
bility of his natural disposition, for first 
minister ; rather than Fox, who was suc- 
cessively the eulogist of Washington, of 
Laurens, of La Fayette, of Condorcet, 
and all the saints or martyrs of French 
and American insurrection ! 

That George the Third did not display 
those great energies of mind, those arts 
of condescending popularity, and that 
assemblage of extraordinary endowments, 
which met in Elizabeth ; and which ren- 
dered her at once the terror of Europe, 
and the idol of her own subjeeUs, must 
be admitted. That he could not, like 
Charles the Second, balance the errors 
or the vices of his government, by the 
seduction of his manners ; and induce 
his people, like that prince, to love his 
person, though they condemned his con- 
duct; we shall as readily confess. That 
he had not the advantage of being brought 
up amidst privations and mortifications of 
every kind, like William the Tiiird ; nor 
was, like William, compelled, at his 
first entrance on public life, to extricate 
his country by arms, from a powerful 
foreign invader: — that he did not nour- 
ish the profound ambition, or develop 
the deep policy and active military spirit 
of that illustrious sovereign, cannot be 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



141 



disputed. But, if he was less distin- 
guished by talents tiian William, he ex- 
hibited greater virtues. He resembled, 
indeed, in the leading features of his cha- 
racter, more the two Antonines, than 
Trajan or Augustus ; and excited greater 
respect, than he awakened admiration. 
But ages may [)robabiy elapse, before 
we shall again behold on the throne, a 
prince more qualified on the whole to 
dispense happiness, and more justly an 
object of universal affection, blended with 
esteem. 

" Quo nihil mnjus meiiusve Terris, 
Fata donavere bonique Divi, 
INec dabunt, quainvis redeant in aurum 
Tempora priscum." 

If we compare him, as it is natural to 
do, either in his public capacity, or in 
his private conduct, with his two imme- 
diate predecessors, who may neverthe- 
less justly be considered, on a fair re- 
view of their characters, as amiable and 
respectable sovereigns ; the comparison 
is highly flattering to George the Third. 
He possessed indeed some advantages 
not enjoyed by either of those princes. 
His birth, which took place in this 
island ; and that complete assimilation 
with the people of England, which can 
only result from the joint effect of ha- 
bits, language, and education ; gave him 
a superiority over them, and placed him 
upon higher ground. The two prece- 
ding kings were foreigners, who acceded, 
or were called to the throne, at an ad- 
vanced period of life. George the First 
had attained his fifty-third, and George 
the Second his forty-fourth year, at their 
respective accession. They naturally 
and necessarily considered Hanover as 
their native country, though fortune had 
transported them to another soil. Even 
their policy, their treaties, their wars, 
and all their measures, were warped by 
foreign predilections, to which they too 
often sacrificed the interests of Great 
Britain. From these prejudices, the 
king, who had never visited his electoral 
dominions, nor knew Germany except 
by description, was exempt in a great 
degree. Less impetuous and irascible 
than his grandfather, he possessed like- 
wise a more capacious mind, more com- 
mand of temper, and better talents for 
governraent. In moderation, judgment, 



and vigourof intellect, he at least equalled 
George the First; while in every other 
quality of the heart, or of the understand- 
ing, he exceeded that monarch. In his 
private life, as a husband, a father, and 
a man, he was superior to either. The 
conduct of George the First in these 
relations, will not indeed bear a severe 
inspection. His treatment of the unfor- 
tunate Sophia of Zell, his wife, whom 
he immured during the greater part of 
her life, in a solitary Hanoverian castle ; 
cannot be easily reconciled to the feel- 
ings of justice, or even of humanity. 
As little did he consult decorum, or pub- 
lic opinion and morals, in bringing over 
with him from Hanover to this country, 
his two German mistresses; Sophia, 
Baroness Kilmanseck, and Melesina, 
Princess of Eberstein ; whom he re- 
spectively created, the one, Countess of 
Darlington, and the other. Duchess of 
Kendal. We may see in Mr. Walpole's 
" reminiscences," how openly they were 
received here in that character. Charles 
the Second could not have observed 
less secrecy, with respect to Lady Cas- 
tlemaine, or the Duchess of Portsmouth ; 
nor have manifested less scruple about 
raising them to the dignity of the British 
peerage. Even at sixty-seven years of 
age, George the First, it appears, was 
about to have formed a new connexion 
of the same nature with Miss Brett, 
when he was carried off by an apoplec- 
tic stroke. 

His son and successordisplayed indeed 
the utmost affection for his queen, with 
whom he not only lived on terms of 
conjugal union, but whose loss he de- 
plored with tears, and cherished the 
warmest respect for her memory. Yet 
he did not, on that account, restrain his 
inclinations for other women. Mrs. 
Howard, who became afterwards Coun- 
tess of Suffolk ; and Madame de Walmo- 
den, better known as Countess of Yar- 
mouth ; the one previous, and the other 
subsequent, to Queen Caroline's de- 
cease ; were both avowedly distinguish- 
ed by the strongest marks of royal favour. 
The latter is accused by popular report, 
of having made on more than one occa- 
sion, a most unjustifiable use, or rather 
abuse, of her interest with the king. 
Even peerages were said to be sold and 
distributed for her pecuniary benefit ; a 



142 



HISTORICAL MEMO/RS. 



charge that has been revived from the 
treasury bench, by a man high in office, 
in our time. George the Third exhibit- 
ed a model of self-command and of con- 
tinence, at twenty-two, tlian which anti- 
quity, Greek or Roman, can produce 
nothing more admirable, in the persons 
of Alexander or of Scipio. It is well 
known that before his marriage, he dis- 
tinguished by his partiality Lady Sarah 
Lenox, then one of the most beautiful 
young women of high rank in the king- 
dom. Lord Holland, who had espous- 
ed her elder sister, was supposed, from 
obvious motives of interested ambition, 
to lend every facility in his power to 
the young king's meeting Lady Sarah, as 
he passed near Holland House frequent- 
ly during his morning excursions on 
horseback. In the hay season of the 
year 1761, she might often be seen in 
the fields bordering on the high road near 
Kensington. Edward the Fourth, or 
Henry the Eighth, in his situation, re- 
gardless of consequences, would have 
married her, and placed her on the 
throne. Charles the Second, more 
licentious, would have endeavoured to 
seduce her. But, the king, who, though 
he admired her, neither desired to make 
her his wife nor his mistress, subdued 
his passion by the strength of his rea- 
son, his principles, and liis sense of 
public duty. When we reflect on these 
circumstances, we may say with Horace, 
addressing ourselves to the British na- 
tion. 

" Quando ullum inveniet parem ]" 

After having thus faithfully portrayed, 
though in the seeming language of pane- 
gyric, the character of George the 'I'liird ; 
it is impossible, nevertheless, without 
violating truth, to deny that at this time, 
far from being popular, he was not even 
an object of general affection. We may 
justly question whether Charles the Se- 
cond, though one of the most unprin- 
cipled, profligate, and licentious sove- 
reigns who ever reigned in this country; 
destitute of morals ; sunk in dissolute 
pleasures ; who tamely beheld his fleet 
burned by the Dutch, in his own har- 
bours ; a pensioner of France ; insensible 
to national glory ; and regardless of the 
subjection of the continent to Louis the 
Fourteenth ; — yet was ever so unpopular 
at any period of his reign. In order to 



explain this seeming paradox, and to 
show how a prince, who apparently, 
from his many private virtues, should 
have possessed the attachment of his sub- 
jects; was nevertheless considered by a 
very large proportion of them, with con- 
trary sentiments ; we must review the 
principal features of his government. 
That retrospect will fully account for the 
circumstance, while it elucidates the 
events which followed the commence- 
ment o£ the year 1781. 

To the confined plan of education, and 
sequestered life which the king led, sub- 
sequent to the death of his father, before 
his own accession to the crown, may be 
justly traced and attributed, at least in 
part, many of the errors, as well as the 
misfortunes, that mark the portion of the 
British annals, from 1760 down to the 
close of the American war. During near 
ten years which elapsed between the de- 
mise of Frederic, the Prince of Wales, 
early in 1751, and the decease of 
George the Second ; a period when 
the human mind is susceptible of such 
deep impressions ; he remained in a 
state of almost absolute seclusion from 
his future people, and from the world. 
Constantly resident at Leicester House, 
or at Carlton House, when he was in 
London ; immured at Kew, whenever he 
went to the country ; perpetually under 
the eye of his mother and of Lord Bute, 
who acted in the closest unity of design ; 
he saw comparatively few other persons : 
and those only chosen individuals of 
both sexes. They naturally obtained, 
and long preserved, a very firm ascendant 
over him. When he ascended the throne, 
though already arrived at manhood, his 
very person was hardly known, and his 
character was still less understood, be- 
yond a narrow circle. Precautions, it is 
well ascertained, were even adopted by 
the princess dowager, to preclude, as 
much as possible, access to him : pre- 
cautions which, to the extent of her abi- 
lity, were redoubled after he became 
king. It will scarcely be believed, but it 
is nevertheless true, that in order to pre- 
vent his conversing with any persons, or 
receiving any written intimations, anony- 
mous or otherwise, between the drawing 
room and the door of Carlton House, 
when he was returning from thence to 
St. James's Palace, or to Buckingham 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



143 



House, after his evening visits to his mo- j racier, will most incline to believe, that 
Iher, she never failed to accompany him | in neither instance did he pass the limits 



till he got into his sedan chair. '* Ju- 
nius,'" in May, 1770, after invidiously 
comparing Edward the Second and Ri- 
chard the Second (two of the weakest 
or most misguided princes who ever 
reigned in this country), with George 
the Third ; adds, when summing up the 
leading features of his character, " se- 
cluded from the world, attached from his 



of innocent gallantry, or occasional fa- 
miliarity. As little was he to be se- 
duced by the gratifications of the table, 
of wine, or of festivity. To all these 
allurements he seemed disinclined from 
natural constitution, moral and physical. 
His brother, Edward, Duke of York, 
plunged, on the contrary very early, into 
every sort of excess. But the example. 



infancy to one set of persons, and to one however calculated to operate it might 
set of ideas, he can neither open his seem, produced no effect on a prince, 
heart to new connexions, nor his mind modest, reserved, continent, capable of 
to better information. A character of i great self-command, and seeking almost 



this sort is the soil fittest to produce that 
obstinate bigotry in politics and religion, 
which begins with a meritorious sacrifice 
of the understanding, and finally con- 
ducts the monarch and the martyr to the 
block." 

A prince who had been endowed by 
nature with great energies of mind, 
would, no doubt, have soon liberated 
himself from such fetters. Yet we may 
remember that Louis the Fourteenth, 
who, whatever faults he committed in 
the course of his long reign, must never- 
theless always be considered as a sove- 
reign of very superior intellectual attain' 



all his amusements within a narrow do- 
mestic circle. 

Before he succeeded to the crown. 
Lord Bute constituted in fact almost his 
only constant companion and confident. 
To him alone the heir apparent un- 
bosomed his thoughts : with him tlie 
prince rode, walked, read, and conversed, 
They were on horseback together upon 
the 25th of October, 1760, not far from 
Kew, when the intelligence of George 
the Second's sudden death reached him ; 
confirmed immediately afterwards by 
Mr. Pitt in person, who then presided 
at the head of his majesty's counsels, or 



meats ; rtmained under the tutelage of formed at least the soul of the cabinet. 



his mother and his minister, of Anne of 
Austria and Cardinal Mazarin, till even a 
later periodof life than twenty-two. Nor 
did he then emancipate himself. It was 
death, that by carrying off the cardinal, 
allowed the king to display those qua- 
lities which have rendered so celebrated 
his name and reign. A prince, on the 
other hand, of a gay, social, dissipated, 
or convivial disposition, would equally 
have burst through these impediments. 
But, pleasure of every kind, in the com- 
mon acceptation of the term, as meaning 
dissipation, presented scarcely any at- 
tractions for him, even previous to his 
marriage. Stories were indeed generally 
circulated, of his attachment to a young 
woman, a quaker, about this time of his 



On receiving the information they re- 
turned to the palace, where the new 
king remained during the whole day, and 
passed that night, not coming up to St. 
James's till the ensumg morning. Mr. 
Pitt having presented him a paper, con- 
taining a few sentences, which he sug- 
gested, it might be proper for hrs majesty 
to pronounce on meeting the privy coun- 
cil ; the king, after thanking him, replied 
that he had already considered the sub- 
ject of his intended address, to which he 
made a very important addition with his 
own hand, commented on with acrimo- 
nious pleasantry by Wilkes, on account 
of its defective orthography. I mean the 
memorable declaration of his pride in the 
name of " Briton,'''' or as it was there 



life ; just as scandal, many years after- \ written, ^'■Britain.'''' The minister, who 



wards, whispered that he distinguished 
Lady Bridget Tollemache by his particu- 



perceived that Lord Bute had anticipated 
liim in the proposed address, made the 



Jar attentions. The former report was unavoidable inference. It was indeed 



probably well founded ; and the latter 
assertion was unquestionably true ; but, 
those persons who have enjoyed most 
opportunities of studying the king's cha- 



sufliciently obvious, that however his 
administration might nominally continue 
for some time, yet his influence and au- 
thority were eclipsed or superseded. 



144 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Lord Bute, though in his private cha- 
racter, if not irreproachable in all re- 
spects, yet at least decorous and correct ; 
nor by any means deficient in abilities ; 
appears to have been nevertheless a 
very unfit governor for such a prince. 
There exists even no doubt that George 
ihe Second opposed and disapproved his 
appointment to that important office ; 
but, the partiality and perseverance of 
the princess dowager prevailed over the 
old king's repugnance. The circum- 
stance of Lord Bute's being a native of 
Scotland, exposed him necessarily to 
malevolent attacks of many kinds ; a 
fact at which, we who live in the pre- 
sent century ought not to wonder, when 
we reflect how a few years had then 
elapsed since the rebellion of 1745. 
Wilkes and Churchill, the one in prose, 
the other in poetry, always levelled 
their keenest shafts against the mother, 
and against the minister, of the young 
sovereign. His very virtues became 
matter of reproach, of ridicule, or of 
satire. " Junius," some years later, 
improving upon these first attempts to 
degrade him in the estimation of his 
subjects, condensed all the powers of 
declamation in his memorable " Letter 
to the King." Yet, the nation at large, 
candid and just, appreciated him fairly 
on his own merits. During the most 
gloomy periods of his reign, while they 
lamented or reprobated the measures of 
his various administrations, from Lord 
Bute down to Lord North inclusive, 
with little variation or exception ; they 
admitted his personal virtues to form no 
slender extenuation of his public errors 
or mistakes. His exemplary discharge 
of every private duty, balanced in their 
estimate the misfortunes which his per- 
tinacity, inflexibility, or injudicious se- 
lection of his confidential servants, had 
entailed upon the country and upon the 
empire. 

It was well known that George the 
Second and his son Frederic, Prince of 
Wales, during several years previous 
to the decease of the latter, lived on 
terms of complete alienation, or rather 
of liostility. Scarcely indeed were any 
measures observed, or was any veil drawn 
before their mutual recriminaiions. — 
The prince expired suddenly, in the 
beginning of 1751, at Leicester House, 



in the arms of Desnoyers, the celebrated 
dancing-master; who being near his 
bedside, engaged in playing on the vio- 
lin for his royal highness's amusement, 
supported him in his last moments. 
His end was ultimately caused by an 
internal abscess, that had long been 
forming, in consequence of a blow 
which he received in the side from a 
cricket ball, while he was engaged in 
playing at that game, on the lawn at 
Cliefden House in Buckinghamshire, 
where he then principally resided. It 
did not take place, however, for several 
months subsequent to the accident. A 
collection of matter having been pro- 
duced, which burst in his throat, the 
discharge instantly suff'ocated him. The 
king, his father, though he never went 
to visit him during the whole progress 
of his illness, sent, however, constantly 
to make enquiries ; and received ac- 
counts, every two hours, of his state 
and condition. But he was so far frona 
despairing altogether of Frederic's re- 
covery, that, on the contrary, he consi- 
dered such an event as highly probable, 
down to the very evening on which his 
royal highness actually expired : — for 
I know, that only a short time before, 
the king being engaged in conversation 
with the Countess of Yarmouth, when 
the page entered, announcing that the 
prince was better, " There now," said 
his majesty, turning to her, " I told you 
that he would not die." On the even- 
ing of his decease, the 20th of March, 
George the Second had repaired, accord- 
ing to his usual custom, to Lady Yar- 
mouth's apartments situated on the 
ground floor in St. James's palace, 
where a party of persons of distinction 
of both sexes, generally assembled for 
the purpose. His majesty had just sat 
down to play, and was engaged at cards, 
when a page, despatched from Leicester 
House, arrived, bringing information that 
the prince was no more. He received 
the intelligence without testifying any 
violent emotion. Then rising, he cross- 
ed the room to Lady Yarmouth's table, 
who was likewise occupied at play ; 
and leaning over her chair, said in a 
low tone of voice in German, " Fitz 
is dode." Freddy is dead. Having 
communicated it to her, he instantly 
withdrew. She followed him, the com- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



145 



pany broke up, and the news became 
public. These particulars were related 
to me by the late Lord Sackville, who 
made one of Lady Yartnouth's party, 
and heard the king announce to her his 
son's decease. 

Frederic seems never to have enjoyed 
from his early youth, a distinguished 
plat;e in the affection of his father, 
whose partiality was reserved for his 
youngest son, William, Duke of Cum- 
berland. During the last twelve years 
of Frederic's life, we know that he 
passed much of his time in anticipa- 
tions of his future sovereiiinty ; and in 
forming adaiinisiraiions, which, like his 
own reign, were destined never to be 
realized. Among the noblemen and 
gentlemen who occupied a high place in 
his favour or friendship, were Ciiarles, 
Duke of Queensberry, the patron of 
Gay, who died in 1778; Mr. Spencer, 
brother to the second Duke of Marl- 
borough, and commonly called .lack 
Spencer; Charles, Earl of Middlesex, 
afterwards Duke of Dorset, and his bro- 
ther, Lord John Sackville, together with 
Francis, Earl of Guildford. The per- 
sonal resemblance that existed between 
Lord North (son of the last mentioned 
peer, who was subsequently first minis- 
ter), and Prince George, was thought so 
striking, as to excite much remark and 
pleasantry on the part of Frederic him- 
self, who often jested on the subject 
with Lord Guildford ; observing, that 
the world would think one of their 
wives had played her husband false, 
though it might be doubtful which of 
them lay under the imputation. Per- 
sons who may be disposed to retine upon 
the prince's observation, will perhaps 
likewise be struck with other points of 
physical similarity between George the 
Third and Lord North ; in particular, 
with the loss of sight, a privation com- 
mon to botli in the decline of life. 

Lady Archibald Hamilton formed, dur- 
ing many years, the objecrt of Frederic's 
avowed and particular attachn)ent. In 
order to be near him, she resided in 
Pall-Mali, in the house afterwards occu- 
pied by the late Lord Sackvdie, close to 
Carlton House; the prince having al- 
lowed her to construct a drawing-room, 
the windows of which commanded over 
the gardens of that palace, and the housed 
13 



I itselfcommunicated with them. Towards 
men of genius, his royal highness always 
affected to extend his protection. Glover, 
the writer of " Leonidas," enjoyed his 
confidence : though we may justly 
doubt how much of it was given to him 
as a member of parliament, the friend of 
Pulteney and Pitt , how much was ex- 
tended to him, as a poet. The prince 
showed uncommon deference for Pope, 
whom he visited at Twickenham ; a 
circumstance to which that author al- 
ludes with natural pride, when, after 
enumerating the great or illustrious per- 
sons who honoured him with their re- 
gard and friendship, he subjoins, 

" And if yet higher the proud list should end, 
Still let me add, no follower, but a friend." 

In force of character, steadiness, 
vigour of mind, and the qualities that fit 
men for government, even his friends 
considered the prince to be deficient. 
Nor was economy to be numbered 
among the virtues that he displayed ; he 
having before his decease contracted 
debts to a large amount, which were 
never discliarged. Even through the 
medium of Dodington's description, 
who was partial to Frederic's character 
and memory, we cannot conceive any 
very elevated idea of him. His court 
seems to have been the centre of ca- 
bal, the very cave of iEolus, torn by 
contending candidates for the guidance 
of his future imaginary reign. The 
Earl of Egmont, and Dodington himself, 
were avowedly at the head of two great 
hostile parties. In November, 1749, 
we find his royal highness, in a secret 
conclave held at Carlton House, making 
all the financial dispositions proper to 
be adopted on the demise of the king, 
his father; and framing a new civil 
list. At the close of these mock delibera- 
tions, he binds the three assistants to 
abide by, and support his plans ; giving 
them his hand, and making them take 
hands with each other. The transac- 
tion, as narrated by Dodington, who 
was, himself, one of the party, reminds 
the reader of a similar convocation 
commemorated by Sallust, and is not 
unlike one of the scenes in " Venice 
Preserved," It was performed, ho«r- 
ever, after dinner, which may perhaps 



146 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



form its best apology. The diversions 
of the prince's court, appear to us 
equally puerile. Tliree times, within 
thirteen months preceding his decease, 
Dodinffton accompanied him and the 
Princess of Wales, to fortune-tellers ; 
the last of which frolics took place 
scarcely nine weeks before his death. 
After one of tiiese magical consultations, 
apparently dictated by anxiety to pene- 
trate his future destiny ; but, in answer 
to which inquiries, the fortune-teller 
might have replied with Umbricius, 

" Funus promittere patris 
Nee volo, nee possum ;" 



m 



the parly supped with Mrs. Cannon, the 
princess's midwife. Frederic used to 
go, disguised, to Hockley -in-the-Hole, 
to witness bull-baiting. Either Lord 
Middlesex, or Lord John Sackville, 
father to the late Duke of Dorset, were 
commonly his companions on such ex- 
peditions. As far as we are authorised 
from these premises, to form a conclu- 
sion, his premature death before he 
ascended the throne, ought not to excite 
any great national regret. 

George the Second, who survived the 
prince near ten years, died at last not 
less suddenly than his son, though at 
the advanced age of seventy-seven; a 
period attained by no sovereign in mo- 
dern history, except Louis theFourteenth, 
A rupture in some of the vessels, or in 
the membrane of the heart, carried him 
off in a few minutes. During his whole 
life, but, particularly for a number of 
•years before his decease, he had been 
subject to such constant palpitations 
about the region of the heart, especially 
after dinner, that he always took off his 
clothes, and reposed himself for an hour 
in bed, of an afternoon. It order to ac- 
rommodaie himself to this habit or infir- 
mity, Mr. Pitt, when, as secretary of 
state he was sometimes necessitated to 
transact business with the king during 
the time that he lay down, always knell 
on a cushion by the bed-side ; a mark of 
lespect which cnntribnted to render him 
jiot a little acceptable to his majesty. 
At his rising, George the Second dress- 
ed himsflf completely a second lime, 
and commonly passed the evening at 
I'virds, with Lady Yarmouth, in a select 



party. His sight had greatly failed him, 
for some time preceding his decease. 1 
have heard Mr. Fraser say, who was, 
during many years, under secretary of 
slate, that in 1760, a few months before 
the king died, having presented a paper 
to him for his signature, at Kensington 
(probably at a time when the secretary of 
state was prevented by indisposition from 
performing ihat duty, or by some other 
indispensable cause, which Fraser did 
not explain); George the second took 
the pen in his hand ; and after, as he con- 
ceived affixing his name to it, returned 
it to Fraser. But, so defective was his 
vision, that he had neither dipped the 
pen in the ink, nor did he perceive that 
of course he had only drawn it over the 
paper, without making any impression. 
Fraser, aware of the king's blindness, 
yet, unwilling to let his majesty perceive 
ihat he discovered it, said, " Sir, I have 
given you so bad a pen, " that it will 
not write. Allow me to present you a 
better pen for the purpose," then dip- 
ping it himself in the ink, he returned it 
to the king, who, without making any 
remark, instantly signed the paper. 

He was unquestionably an honest, well 
intentioned, and good prince ; of very 
moderate, but not mean talents ; frugal 
in his expenses, from natural character : 
more inclined to avarice than any King 
of England since Henry the Seventh ; 
irascible and hasty, as well as capable 
of imbibing strong prejudices of many 
kinds ; but, not vindictive in his temper. 
Imbued with a strong enmity to France 
and as warm a predilection for Ger- 
many, he never enjoyed such felicity as 
when at Herenhausen, surrounded with 
his Hanoverian courtiers and subjects. 
William the Third, in like manner, 
seemed to taste much more happiness, 
while hunting at Loo, amidst the sterile 
sands of Guelderland, than at White- 
hall, or at Hampton Court. At the bat- 
tle of Dettingen, in 1743, it is well 
known that George the Second's horse, 
which was unruly, ran away with him 
to a considerable distance. General 
Cyrus Trapaud, then an ensign, by seiz- 
ing the horse's bridle, enabled his ma- 
jesty to dismount in safety. " Now 
that I am once on my legs," said he, 
" I am sure I shall not run away." Hav- 
ing enquired Trapaud's name, the king 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



147 



always tlistinguished him afterwards in 
milit;iry proinolions. When incensed 
either with his ministers, or with his 
attendants, he was sometimes not master 
of his actions, nor attentive to preserve 
his dignity. On these occasions, his 
hat, and it is asserted, even his wig, be- 
came frequently the objects on wliich he 
expended his anger. 

Queen Caroline, by her address, her 
judicious compliances, and her activity 
of character, maintained, down to the 
time of her decease in 1737, a great 
ascendant over him. She formed tlie 
chief conducting wire between the sover- 
eign and his first minister. It is a fact, 
that Sir Robert Walpole and her majes- 
ty managed matters with so much art, 
as to keep up a secret understanding by 
watch-words, even in the drawing-room, 
when and where George the Second was 
present. According to the king's tem- 
per, frame of mind, or practicability on 
, the points which Sir Robert wished to 
carry, the queen signified to him whe- 
ther to proceed, or to desist, on that par- 
ticular day. This communication was 
so well preconcerted, and so delicately 
executed, as to be imperceptible by the 
by-standers. Sir Robert lost a most 
able and vigilant ally, when Queen Caro- 
line died. Her decease was indeed a 
misfortune to her husband, to her chil- 
dren, and to the nation. She sacrificed 
her life to the desire of concealing her 
complaint ; a rupture of the bowels, 
which might have been easily reduced, 
if she iiad not delayed the disclosure of 
it, till a mortification took place. We 
have not possessed, since Elizabeth's 
death, a queen of more talent, capacity, 
and strength of understanding, than Caro- 
line of Brandenburgh Anspach. Anne 
of Denmark, wife of James the First, 
was a woman of mean endowments, de- 
ficient in judgment, and of doubtl'ul 
moral character. Henrietta Maria of 
France, possessed great personal beauty, 
charms of conversation, and graces of 
deportment: but she was violent, biijot- 
ted in her attachment to the catholic 
faith, and conduced by her imprudent 
counsels, to accelerate tiie ruin of Charles 
the First. Catherine of Braganza, though 
a woman of virtue, wanted every at- 
traction of mind or of body ; and Mary 
of Modena, James the Second's queen, 



however agreeable in her person, as well 
as correct in her conduct she might be, 
was superstitious to excess ; and from 
that circumstance unlit for the throne of 
England, though she might have adorn- 
ed a little Italian court. Mary, con- 
sort of William the Third, approached 
the nearest to Queen Caroline, but did 
not equal her in mental endowments. 
The last [)rincess of the Stuart line, 
Anne, though in private life amiable, 
virtuous, and blameless, cannot enter into 
any competition vvith Caroline of Bran- 
denburgh Anspach. 

At the time of his decease, George 
th.e Second certainly enjoyed great and 
universal popularity : but, to Mr. Pitt, 
afterwards created Earl of Chatham, he 
was eminently indebted for this gratify- 
ing distinction at the close of life, when 
victory was said to have erected her 
altar between his aged knees. The 
misfortunes and disgraces which pre- 
ceded Pitt's entrance into office, had in 
fact forced him upon the king; who, 
notwithstanding that minister's recog- 
nized talents, did not employ him with- 
out the utmost reluctance. The inglo- 
rious naval engagement that took place 
in the Mediterranean, between Byng and 
La Galissoniere ; for his condu(;t during 
wliich action, the former of those ad- 
mirals suffered death ; the consequent 
loss of Minorca ; the defeat of General 
Braddock in (Carolina ; llie repulse sus- 
tained before Ticonderoga ; the ignomi- 
nious capitulation of William, Duke of 
Cumberland, at Closter-Seven, after- 
wards eluded or violated ; and the dis- 
graceful expedition against Roclifort; — 
these ill-concerted, or ill-executed mea- 
sures, at the commencement of the war 
of 1756, had not only brought the ad- 
ministration into contempt, but had 
much diminished the national affection 
borne towards the sovereign. From the 
period of Pitt's nomination to a place in 
the cabinet, success almost uniformly 
attended on the British arms. Though 
only occupying the post of secretary of 
slate, he directed, or rather he dictated 
the operations, at home and abroad. 
The treasury, the admiralty, the war 
office, all obeyed his orders with prompt 
and implicit submission. Lord Anson 
and the Duke of Newcastle, sometimes, 
it is true, remonstrated, and often com- 



148 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



plained ; but always finished by mm 
pliance. In the full career of Pill's 
ministerial triumphs, George the Second 
diied ; an event which it is inipossible 
not to consider as having been a great 
national misfortune, when we reflect on 
the nature of the peace wiiich took [)lace 
little more thnn two years afterwards, in 
November, 1762. Mr. Pitt, we may be 
assured, would have dictated far differ- 
ent terms to the two branches of the 
House of Bourbon. The new king did 
not indeed immediately dismiss so able 
and popular a statesman ; but, it was 
soon suspected that his administration, 
though it might languish, or continue 
for a few months, would not prove of long 
duration. Lord Mule had already se- 
cured the exchisive regard and favour of 
the young monarch. 

The late Mrs. Boscawen, widow of the 
admiral of that name, so distinguished 
in our naval annals, whose connexions 
enabled her to collect many curious facts 
in the course of a long life ; has often 
assured me, that Lord Bute's first per- 
sonal introduction to the Prince of Wales 
originated in a very singular accident. 
That nobleman, as is well known, mar- 
ried the only daughter of the celebrated 
Lady Mary Wortley Montague, by 
whom he had a very numerous family. 
She bro\]ght him eventually likewise 
a large landed property : but, as her fa- 
ther, Mr. Wortley, did not die till the 
year 1761 ; and as her brother, the ec- 
centric Edward Wortley Montague, lived 
to a much later perioil ; 1 l)elieve, down 
to 1777 ; Lord Bute, encumbered with a 
number of children, found his patrimonial 
fortune very unequal to maintaining the 
figure befitting his rank in life. After 
passing some years in profound retire- 
ment, on fiis estate in the Isle of Bute, 
he revisited England, and took a house 
on the banks of the 'J'hames. During 
his residence there, he was induced to 
visit Egham races, about the year 1747, 
But, as he either did not at that time 
keep a cnrriage, or did not use it to 
convey him to the race ground, he con- 
descended lo accompany a medical ac- 
quaintance ; in other words, the apolhe- 
cary that attended his lordship's family, 
who carried him there in bis owncdiariot. 
Frederic, Prince of Wales, who then re- 
sided at Cliefden, honoured the races on 



that day with liis presence ; where a 
tent was pitched for his accommodation, 
and the reception of the princess his 
consort. The weather proving rainy, it 
was proposed, in order to amuse his 
royal highness before his return home, 
to make a party at cards : but a difficulty 
occurred about finding persons of suffi- 
cient rank to sit down at the same table 
with him. While they remained under 
this embarrassment, somebody observed 
that Lord Bute had been seen on the race 
ground ; who, as being an earl, would be 
peculiarly proper to make one of the 
prince's party. He was soon found, in- 
formed of the occasion which demanded 
his attendance, brought to the tent, and 
presented to Frederic. When the com- 
pany broke up. Lord Bute thought of re- 
turning back to his own house : but his 
friend the apothecary had disappeared : 
and with him had disappeared the cha- 
riot, in which his lordship had been 
brought to Eoham races. The prince 
was no sooner made acquainted with the 
circumstance, than he insisted on Lord 
Bute's accompanying him to Cliefden, 
and there passing the night. He com- 
plied, rendered himself extremely ac- 
ceptable to their royal highnesses, and 
thus laid the foundation, under a succeed- 
ing reign, of his political elevation, which 
flowed originally in some measure from 
this strange contingency. 

Lord Bute, when young, possessed a 
very handsome person, of which advan- 
tage h-e was not insensible ; and he used 
to pass many hours every day, as his 
enemies asserted, occupied in contem- 
plating the symmetry of his own legs, 
during his solitary walks by the side of 
the Thames. Even after he became an 
inmate at Cliefden, and at Leicester i 
House, he frequently played the part of ■ 
" Lothario," in the private theatricals 
exhibited for the amusement of their 
royal highnesses, by the late Duchess of 
Queensbury. To this fact Wilkes alludes 
with malignant ridicule, in his memorable 
letter of the " 15lh of March. 1763," 
addressed to the Earl of Bute, where he | 
savs, "in one part, wliich was remarka- 
bly humane and amiable, you were so 
great, that the general exclamation was, 
here y nil did not act. In another joar^, 
vou were no less perfect : I mean, in the 
famous scene of Hamlet, where you powr 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



149 



fatal poison into the ear of a good uii- 
siispecting kiiiir." Besides so many ex- 
ternal acfomplishmeiits, lie possessed a 
cultivated mind, illuminated by a taste 
for various branches of the fine arts and 
letters. For the study of botany he 
nourished a decided passion, which he 
gratified to the utmost : and in the indul- 
gence of which predilection, he mani- 
fested, on some occasions, a princely 
liberality. Dr. Hill, commonly deno- 
minated Sir John, after he received the 
Swedish Order of Vasa from Guslavus 
the Thirii, was one of the objects of his 
bounty. Nor did he fad in extending 
his protection and patronage to men of 
letters : but it cannot be denied that he 
manifested some national partiality in 
their selection. John Home, the author 
of " Dmiiilas," a tragedy which attained 
a repui.iiion superior to its merits ; as 
well as Mullet, or Mullock ((or his name 
was difft-renlly written), and Murphy, 
all partook of ttie ministerial favour. S.i 
did James Macpherson, who ushered 
into ifie world some of ilie poems ofOs- 
sian, under the immediate auspices of itie 
first lord of the treasury. 

Of a disposition natiirally retired and 
severe. Lord Bute was not formed for an 
extensive commerce with mankind, or 
endowed by nature with talents for ma- 
naging popular assemblies. Even in the 
inleri(»r of his family he was austere, 
harsh, dilFicuit of access, and someiimes 
totally inaccessible to his own children 
la the House of Lords he neither dis- 
played eloquence, nor gratiousness of 
manners. But he proved himself like- 
wise deficient in a quality still more es- 
sential for a first minister, firmness of 
character. Yet, with these political de- 
fects of mind, and of personal deport- 
ment, he undertook to displace, and he 
aspired to succeed Mr. Fiit, at a mompnt 
when that minister had carried the ylory 
of the British arms to an unpxam|)led 
height, by sea and land. We cannot 
eufficienliy regret that Gcfirffe the 'I'hird 
should not have contented himself with 
heapitig honours and dignities on him, 
carefully excludinsr biru from any political 
employment. Few princes, however, 
of whom history preserves anv record, 
have manifested at twenty-three, a judif- 
ment so superior to the natmal partial- 
ities of youth. Even Elizabeth, though 
13* 



she placed Cecil at the head of her coun- 
cils, yet committed her armies succes- 
sively to the conduct of her two favour- 
ites, the Earls of Leicester and Essex. 

After an. administration of about two 
years, passed either in the post of secre- 
tary of state, or as first lord of the trea- 
sury ; during which time he brought the 
war with France and Spain to a conclu- 
sion ; Lord Bute, abandoning his royal 
master, quitted his situation, and again 
withdrew to private life. No testimonies 
of national regret, or of national esteem, 
ac(!ompanipd him at his departure from 
office. His nugnificent house in Berke- 
ley Square, though scarcely completed, 
exposed him to very malignant com- 
ments, respecting the means by which 
lie bad reared so ex[)ensive a pile. His 
enemies asserted that he could not pos- 
sibly have possessed the ability, either 
from his patrimonial fortune, or in con- 
sequence of his marriage, to erect such 
a structure. As little could he be sup- 
posed to liaveaniHssed wherewithal, dur- 
ing his very short administration, to suf- 
fice for its construction. The only sa- 
tisfactory sidution of the difficulty there- 
fore, lay in imagining, however unjustly, 
that he had either received presents from 
France, or had made large purchases in 
the public funds previous to the signature 
<d' tiie preliminaries. " Junius," address- 
ing the Duke of Bedford, who signed 
ih;it peace, in his letter of the " 19th 
September, 1769," written within seven 
years afterwards ; cliarg'es the duke in 
the most unequivocal terms, with be- 
traying and selling his country. " Your 
pa'rons," says he, " wanted an embas- 
sador who would submit to make con- 
cessions, without <iaring to insistupon any 
honourable condition lor his sovereign. 
Their business required a man, who had 
as little leeling for his own dignity, as for 
the wellare of his country ; and they 
found him in the first rank of the nobili- 
ty. Beileisle, Goree, Gaudaloupe, St. 
Lucia, Martinique, the Fishery, and the 
Havannab, ate glorious monuments of 
your grace's talents for negotiation. My 
lord, we are too well acquainted with 
your pecuniary character, to think it pos- 
sii)le that so many public sacrifices should 
have been made, without some privats 
compensations. Your conduct carries 
with it an internal evidence, beyond all 



150 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the legal proofs of a court of justice." 
Such ati anonymous charge, liowever 
fascinaling or energeiic may be ihe lan- 
guage in which it is clothed, certainly 
ought not to be considered as proof; but, 
no answer was ever made to it either by 
the duke, or by any of his friends, if we 
except Sir Willigm Draper's vague and 
unauthorized letter of the " 7lh of Octo- 
ber, 1769." 

Dr. Musgrave, an English physician, 
who praciised medicine at Paris in 1763, 
and whose name has been known in tlie 
republic of letters, by the publication of 
some tragedies of Euripides ; ditl not 
scruple to assert publicly, that the Prin 
cess Dowagt-r of Wales and Lord Bute 
received money from the French court, 
for aiding to effect the peace. I am ac- 
quainted with the individuals, gentlemen 
of the highest honour and most unim- 
peached veracity, to whom Dr. Mus- 
grave himself related the circumstance, at 
Paris, in 1764, almost immediately after 
the treaty of Fontainbleau. And if I 
do not name them, it is only because they 
are still alive. Dr. Musgrave did not 
retract his accusation, when he was ex- 
amined at the bar of the House of Com- 
mons, sonie years afterwards, in the 
month of January, 1770, upon the same 
point. He maintained, on the contrary, 
his original assertion, which he snpporie<l 
by facts or circumstances calculated to 
authenticate its truth ; though the house 
thought proper to declare it " frivolous, 
and unworthy of credit." "Jnniis," 
writing in the month of May, 1770, says, 
'* Through the whole proceedings of the 
House of Commons in this session, 
there is an apparent, a palpable consci- 
ousness of guilt, which has prevented 
their daring to assert their own dignity, 
where it has been immediately and gross- 
ly aiticked. In the course of Dr. Mus- 
grave's' examination, he said every thing 
that can be conceived mortifying to in- 
dividuals, or offensive to the house. 
They voted his information frivolous ; 
but, they were awed by his firmness and 
integrity, and sunk under it. Dr. Mus- 
grave resided in this country, during the 
last years of his life ; and died, I believe, 
at Exeter, in the summer of the year 
1780. 

Simi'ar reflections indeed, at different 
periods of our history, have been thrown 



not only upon ministers, but even upon 
kings. Lord Clarendon, when chancel- 
lor, under Charles the Second, having, 
like Lord Bute, undertaken to build a 
magnificent house in London, soon after 
the sale of Dunkirk to Louis the Four- 
teenth, about 1604 ; it was named by 
ihe pe(){)le "Dunkirk House," on the 
supposition of its having been raised by 
French money. No person can doubt 
of Charles the Second himself having 
received large sums from the court of 
Versailles, for purposes inimical to the 
interests of his people. So did his suc- 
cessor, James the Second. Bribes 
were even confidently said and believed 
to have been given to various of' the 
courtiers or favourites of William the 
Third, from the East-India Company, and 
other corporate bodies, in order to pro- 
cure the consent or approbation of the 
sovereign, to the renewal of tdeir char- 
ters, 'i'he Duchess of Kendal, mistress 
of George the First ; as well as Craggs, 
father of the secretary of slate of the 
same name, and himself, at the time, 
post-master general ; together with 
other individuals about the court or 
person of that monarch, were either 
known or supposed to have been im- 
plicated in the transactions of the me- 
morable South Sea year, 1720, when 
such immense sums were gained and 
lost in that ruinous speculation. Malig- 
nity did not spare llie king himself, 
who, it was asserted, became a sharer 
in the acquisitions. Lord Bute, at the 
distance of half a century, is still be- 
lieved by many persons to have rendered 
the treaty of Fontainbleau subservient 
to his private emoluments: a supposi- 
tion, which, however unjust or un- 
merited it may be, was again renewed 
twenty years later, at the conclusion of the 
peace of 1783, against Lord Slielburne, 
with greater virulence, and with bolder 
affirmations ? Such were the unfortunate 
results of the Earl of Bute's ministry, 
whirh must be considered as having 
given the first blow to the popularity 
enjoyed by the king, at his accession to 
the throne. 

It is an indisputable fact that Lord 
Bute, terrified or disunsied at the indi- 
cations of resentment shown towards 
him by the nation, forsook his master; 
and that he was not dismissed or aban- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



161 



doned by the sovereign. He was llie 
first, though not the hist mh)isler, who, 
in the course of ilie present reign, ex- 
hibited that example of limidiiy, or 
weariness, or desertion. But his os- 
tensible relinquishment of office, by no 
means restored to the king the confi- 
dence or the aflfections of his subjects. 
Even when nominally divested of pow- 
er. Lord Bute wan still supposed lo di- 
rect, unseen, the wheels of government. 
However false and unfounded miglit be 
this imputation, and such I have ever 
considered it, yet it operated with irre- 
sistible force. A cry of secret influence 
arose, more pernicious in its effects on 
the country at large, than even liie open 
accusations lately levelled against the 
incapacity, or pretended venality of the 
first minister. The Grenville adminis- 
tration, which succeeded, was stigma- 
tized as being only a machine, the pup- 
pets of which were agitated by concealed 
wires. It is obvious, that no charge in 
the power of malevolence to invent and 
circulate, could be more calculated to 
prejudice the king in the estimation of 
his people. But, it became further aug- 
mented by another topic of abuse and 
declamation, founded on the extraordi- 
nary degree of personal favour enjoyed 
by Lord Bute at Carlton House, and 
the predilection with which he was 
known to be regarded by the Princess 
Dowager of Wales. Satirical prints, 
generally dispersed throughout llie king- 
dom, in which her royal highness was 
not at all spared, inflamed the public 
mind. Comparisons, drawn from Eng- 
lish history, particularly from the reign 
of Edward the 'i'liird, when the Queen 
Dowager Isabella, and Mortimer her 
favourite, were known or supposed to 
have lived in a criminal union ; — these 
allusions, which were disseminated in all 
the periodical works of the time, and 
particularly in the " North Britain," 
made a dt-ep impression. 

Even the filial deference anil respect, 
manifested by his majesty after his acces- 
sion, down lo the last moment of her life, 
towards his mother, was converted into a 
subject not only of censure, but of accusa- 
tion, as originating in unworthy motives, 
or in culpable subservience. It cannot 
however be denied thai Lord Bute en- 
joyed a higher place in that princess's 



favour, if not in her affection, than 
seemed compatible with strict propriety. 
His visits to Carlton House, which 
were always performed in the evening ; 
and the precautions taken to conceal his 
arrival ; though they might perhaps have 
been dictated more by an apprehension 
of insult from the populace, to whom 
he was obnoxious, than from any im- 
proper reasons ; yet awakened suspi- 
cion. He commonly made use, on these 
occasions, of the sedan chair and the 
chairmen of Miss Vansittart, a lady who 
held a distinguished place in her royal 
highness's family. In order more efTec- 
tually to elude notice, the curtains of 
the chair were close drawn. The re- 
partee of Miss Chudleigh, afterwards 
better known as Duchess of Kingston, 
at that time a maid of honour at Carlton 
House ; when reproached by her royal 
mistress, for the irregularities of her 
conduct, obtained likewise much pub- 
licity. " Vofre a/tesse royale sait,^^ 
re]ilied she, " que chucune a son But.^^ 
As the king was accustomed to repair fre- 
quently of evenings lo Carlton House, and 
there to pass a considerable time, the world 
supposed, though probably with great 
injustice, that the sovereign, his mother, 
and the ex-minister met, in order to 
concert, and lo compare their ideas; 
thus forming a sort of interior cabinet, 
which controlled and directed the osten- 
sible administration. 

That after having so precipitately 
thrown up the ministerial reins in 1763, 
Lord Bute felt desirous of again resum- 
ing his political power, I know from 
good authority. And that he was 
aided in the attempt by the princess, 
with all her influence, is equally matter 
of fad ; but their joint efforts proved 
unavailing to effect the object. A no- 
bleman, who was accustomed at (hat 
time to form one of the party, which 
met at Carlton House, and who usually 
remained there while his majesty 
stayed ; assured me that every measure 
had been concerted between her royal 
highness and Lord Bute, for the purpose 
of bringing him again into ministry. 
As the first necessary step towards its 
accomplishment, they agreed that he 
should endeavour to obtain permission 
lo see the despatches, which were often 
sent to the king from the .secretary of 



152 



fllSTORlCAL MEMOIRS. 



state, while he continued with his 
mother. On those occasions, wlien 
the green box containinsr letters or pa- 
pers, arrived, he always withdrew into 
another room, in order to peruse them 
at his ease. Lord Bute, as had been 
pre-arranged, npon the messenger bring- 
ing a despatch, immediately look up 
two candles, and proceeded before the 
king to ihe closet; expecting that his 
majesty, when they were alone together, 
would communicate to him its nature ; 
and that he should thus begin again to 
transact business. But, the king, un- 
questionably aware of the intention, and 
probably disgusted at the want of lirm- 
ness which his minister hail formerly 
shown, or from other unascertained 
causes, extinguished at once the hopes 
entertained from this project. Wiien 
he came to the door of the room, he 
stopped, look the candles out of I^ord 
Bute's hand, and then dismissing him, 
shut the dnor; after which he proceed- 
ed to examine the despatches, alone. 
Lord Bute returned to the company, and 
the experiment was never repeated. 

If the selection of that nobleman for 
the office of first minister, and the dis- 
mission of Mr. Piit, deprived the king 
of the affections of many loyal subjects ; 
the terms upon which the treaty ot Fon- 
tainbleau was concluded, early in 1763, 
by Lord Bute, excited the strongest sen- 
sations ofgeneral disapprobation through- 
out the country. I am old enough lo 
remember the expressions of thai con- 
demn;Uion, which, it is impossible not 
to admit, were well founded. When 
we reflect that the navy of France had 
been nearly annihilated, as early as 
1759, by 8ir Edward Hawke, in the 
action which took place at Qniberon ; 
that Spain could make little or no opposi- 
tion lo us on the ocean ; and that we 
were masters of Quebec, Montreal, toge- 
ther with all Canada; Cape Breton, 
Pondicherry, Goree, Belleisle, the Ha- 
vannah, and a large part of Cuba ; be- 
sides the Islands of Martinique and Gua- 
daloupe ; not lo mention ihe capture of 
Manilla, which, on account of its remote 
position in the eastern seas, was noi 
then known: — while, on ihe other 
hand, the enemy, though they prob-<il)ly 
would have effected the conquest or re- 
duction uf Portugal, iu the course of the 



ensuing campaign; yet had taken no- 
thing from us, which they had retained, 
except Minorca; — when we consider 
these facts, what shall we say to a peace, 
which restored to the two branches of 
the House of Bourbon, every possession 
above enuiiierated, except Canada? — for 
as to Cape Breton, though it was ceded 
n us, yet, when dismantled, it became 
only an useless desert. Accepting, as 
we did, in exchange for so many valua- 
ble colonies or settlements in every 
quartfir of the globe, the cession of the 
two Floridas from the crown of Spain, 
together with the restitution of Minorca 
by France. At the distance of more than 
half a century, when the passions and 
prejudices of the hour have ceased, we 
cannot consider such a treaty without 
astonishment and concern. Scarcely in- 
deed does the peace of Utrecht justly 
awaken warmer feelings of indignation ; 
for concluding which pacitication, its 
authors were impeached, imprisoned, 
or compelled lo fly their country. If 
Lord Bute escaped the fate of Lord Ox- 
ford and Lord Bolingbroke, he has not 
been more exempt than were those mi- 
nisters, from tlie censures of liis contem- 
poraries and of posterity. Nor did Queen 
Anne perhaps .sustain a greater loss of 
reputation and popularity, by signing the 
treaty of Utrecht, than George the 
'I'iiird suffered by concluding that of 
Fontainbleau. Its impolicy appears not 
less glaring, nor less obvious, than its 
defects of every other kind. The ex- 
pulsion of the French from Canada, and 
of the Spaniards from Florida, by li- 
berating tiie American colonies from all 
apprehension of foreign enemies, laid 
the inevitable foundation of their rebel- 
lion ; and effected their subsequent eman- 
cipation from Great Britain, within the 
space of twenty years, 'i'his necessary 
result of such measures, perfectly fore- 
seen at the lime, was pointed out by Dr. 
Tucker, Dean of Glou(;esler, as well as 
by otiiers. The House of Bourbon, soon 
recovering from the wounds inflicted by 
Put, contested anew, wilh better suc- 
cess, for the empire of the sea. Neither 
the Havannah, Belleisle, nor Manilla, 
have ever passed a second lime under 
the power of ilie English. If we weigh 
these circumstances, we shall not won- 
der that motives unworthy of an upright 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



153 



minister, or of an able statesman, were i outlawed by the Court of King's Bench ; 

attributed to Lord Biiie. Nor sliall we j witiidrew into France, wliere be insen- 
be siii[)rised, tliat the incapacity or errors i sibly sunkinto oblivion. His very name, 
of the athninistralion, diminished in no | and liia pnblic merits, as well as his 
small degree the respect jnslly inspired i private snfJ'erings, seemed to be equally 



by the private virtues of the sovereii^n. 

Ttie injudicious persecution of Wilkes, 
completed the iiii|)opnlarity, which Lord 
Bute's pers(Mis and measures had beuun 
to produce ihrouijhout the nalion. VVhat- 



iorgoiien by the nation, during two or 
three years. 

But, the Duke of Grafton, who had 
become first minister, after the extinc- 
tion of the short and feeble administra- 



ever might have been the misconduct of| lion of Lord Rockingham, appeared as 
Wilkes; and liowever deficient he might j if desirous to improve upon the errors, 



have appeared in those moral qualities 
which entitle to public respect, or even 
to individual approbation : yet, from the 
instant that he became an object of royal 
or ministerial resentment, on account of 
his attachment to the cause of freedom, 
he found protectors in the public. Neither 
his wit, his talents, nor his courage, 
could have raised him to political emi- 
nence, if he had not been singled out for 
severe, not to say unconstiiulional, [)ro- 
secution. The two secretaries of state, 
and the lord steward of the household, 
had they been hired by his worst ene- 
mies, to ifijure tlieir royal master in the 
esteem of his people; and to throw, as 
it were, upon ]iim, the odium of tJieir 
violence, or incapacity, or ignorance ; 
could not have done it more effectually, 
than by the line of action which they 
adopted. Lord Talbot is consigned to 
eternal ridicule (as Pope says that Crom- 
well is •' damned to everlasting fame") ; 
in that incomparable letter written by 
Wilkes to the late Earl Temple, on the 
5th of Octobor, 1762, descriptiveof theen- 
teriainiuif duel foughlat Bagshot only two 
hours before, where the lord steward 
appears in the most contemptible point of 
view. 'J'he Earls of Egreinont and Hali- 
fax, by issuing a general warrant for the 
seizure of Wilkes, and taking his per- 
son into custody ; while they compro- 
mised the majesty of the crown, tram- 
pled on the liberties of the subject, and 
violated the essence of the English con- 
stitution. Men who commented with 
severity on these measures of impolitic 
resentment, arraigned them as more cha- 
racteristic of the vindicliveadministraiion 
of James the Second, than becoming the 
mild government of George the 'I'hird. 
Wilkes, nevertheless, wounded ina duel, 
repeadly menaced with assassination, 
pursued by the House of Commons, and 



and to renew the most unpopular acts 
of his predecessor. Lord Bute. Instead 
of wisely extending the pardon of the 
crown to Mr. Wilkes, or treating him 
with magnanimous contempt, when he 
returned from Paris : the duke, in defi- 
ance of their past intimacy and familia- 
rity, put in I'orce the penalties of his 
sentence of outlawry ; thus rendering 
him a second time the object of general 
compassion and protection. Rejected 
as a candidate to represent the city of 
London, he was elected member for the 
county of Middlesex. Tumuliuons or 
disorderly assemblies of the people in 
St. George's Fields, whom it was es- 
teemed necessary to repress by a mili- 
tary force ; and in performing which 
service, some individuals who appa- 
rently had taken no part in the riots, 
were killed or wounded ; exasperated 
the nation against the authors of such 
severities. The House of Commons 
adopting the principles, as well as the 
enmities of the administration, expelled 
Wilkes from his seat, declared him in- 
eligible to sit among them, and placed 
Colonel Luttrell in his room. While 
the pardon of the crown was extended to 
persons convicted of the most sangui- 
nary outrages and violence during the 
election at Brentford; by measures of 
consummate incapacity, a popular indi- 
vidual was singled out for the whole 
vengeance of the government and the 
legislature. The tumults of London in 
March, 1769, which menaced with in- 
sult or attack, even the palace of the 
sovereign, bore no feeble resemblance to 
the riotous disorders that preceded the 
civil wars, under Charles the First. A 
hearse, followed by the mob, was driven 
into the court yard at St. James's, deco- 
rated with insignia of the most humilia- 
ting or indecent description. I have 



154 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



always understood that the late Lord j 
Mouiitmorris, then a very young man, I 
was the person who on that occasion ! 
personated the executioner, holding an ! 
axe in his hands, and his face covered ; 
with a crape. The king's firmness did | 
not however forsake him, in the midstof 
these trying ebullitions of democratic 
rage. He remained cahu and unmoved 
in the drawing-room, while the streets 
surrounchng his residence, echoed with 
the shouts of an enraged multitude, who 
seemed disposed to proceed to the 
greatest extremities. But the Duke of 
Grafton did not manifest equal con- 
stancy, nor display the same resolution 
as his master. It schemed to be the fate 
of George the Third to be served by 
ministers, as much his inferiors in per- 
sonal and political courag"e, as in every 
other moral or estimable quality. 

Another o[)poueiit, still more formida- 
ble than Mr. Wilkes, had arisen amidst 
these convulsions of the capital and the 
country ; who, from the place of his 
concealment, like Paris in the " Iliad," 
inflicted the severest wounds, and who 
seems to have eluded all discovery, 
down to the present hour. It is ob- 
vious that 1 mean " Junius." This 
celebrated writer, whom the obtrusive 
and imprudent vanity of Sir William 
Draper, even more than his own match- 
less powers of composition, originally 
forced upon the notice of the public, 
first appeared in January, 1769. His 
opening letter, addressed to the printer 
of the " Public Advertiser," then a 
popular newspaper, de|)iclures in the 
blackest colours, the situation of the 
country ; dishonoured, as he asserts, in 
the eyes of foreign nations ; disunited, 
oppressed, and ill-administered at home. 
Like Satan, when invoking his stupified 
and fallen associates, he seems to ex- 
claim, while endeavouring to rouse the 
English nation from their political 
apathy, 

" Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen !" 

Tiie conclusion of his opening address 
operated with amazing effect, and can 
hardly be exceeded in energy. " If," 
says he, " by the immediate interposi- 
tion of Providence, it were possible for 
us to escape a crisis so full of terror and 



despair, posterity will not believe the 
history of the present times. — They 
will not believe it possible that their an- 
cestors could have survived or recovered 
from so desperate a condition, while a 
Duke of Grafton was prime minister; 
a Lord Nr>rth, chancellor of the exche- 
quer ; a Weymonlh, and a Hillsborough, 
secretaries of state ; a Granby, com- 
mander-in-chief ; and Mansfield, chief 
criminal judge of the kingdom." After 
transfixing with his keenest shafts, the 
commander-in-chief of the forces, the 
lord chief justice of the King's Bench, 
and the Duke of Bedford, he fastened, 
like a vulture, on the first minister. 
With an acrimony and ability that have 
perhaps never been equalled by any 
political writer, he endeavoured to point 
the public indignation equally against 
the person and the measures of the 
Duke of Grafton. Sujierior in beauty 
of diction, and all the elegance of literary 
composition, to Lord Bolingbroke ; not 
inferior to Swift in closeness, as well as 
correctness of style, and in force of sa- 
tire ; the letters of " Junius" will be 
read as long as the English language en- 
dures. Nor did his pen, after exposing 
the want of spirit and energy in tlie go- 
vernment, respect even the majesty of 
the throne. In his memorable " Letter 
to the king;" dated the 19th of De- 
cember, 1769, vvhiidi cannot be perused 
without a mixture of admiration and in- 
dignation, he too successfully labours to 
render even the virtues of the sovereign 
suspicious and odious ; while he at- 
temps to degrade the royal character, 
in the opinions of his subjects. The 
avidity with which these publications 
were then sought after and perused, is 
difficult to be conceived at the present 
time, and never was exceeded at any 
period of our history. " Junius" may 
indeed justly be reckoned among the 
leading causes which drove the Duke of 
Grafton from the helm of affairs. 

I have been assured by persons of 
honour and veracity, who were in the 
habits of continually seeing Mr. Brad- 
shaw, then secretary of the treasury, 
and of knowing his private sentiments ; 
that he made no secret to them, of the 
agony into which the Duke of Grafton 
was thrown by these productions. Such 
was their effect and operation on his 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



155 



mind, as sometimes utterly to incapaci- 
tate him during whole days, for the mi- 
nisterial duties of his office. There are, 
nevertheless, many who believe and as- 
sert, that his sudden resignation was not 
so much produced by the attacks of 
"Junius," as it originated from another 
quarter. It has been pretended that liie 
Princess Dowager of Wales, highly in- 
dignant at the mention made of her name, 
in the examination and depositions of 
Dr. Musgrave at the bar of ihe House of 
Commons ; remonstrated strongly with 
the king, on the supineness of his lirsl 
minister, in permitting, or rather in not 
suppressing such parliamentary enqui- 
ries. However the fact may be, it is 
certain that at a moment when such an 
event was least expected, in January, 
1770, he resigned his office ; giving as 
Lord Bute had done beibre another in- 
stance of tninisterial dereliction, but not 
the last of the kind which has occurred 
in the course of the present reign. | 
Lord North, who succeeded to his 
place, inherited likewise a considerable 
portion of his unpopularity. | 

Having mentioned the subject, and the | 
productions of "Junius," it seems im- 
possible to dismiss them without making 
some allusion to their author. I have 
always considered that secret, as the best 
kept of any in our time. It was, indeed, 
on many accounts, and for many reasons, 
a secret of the most perilous nature. 
For, the offences given, and the wounds 
inflicted by his pen, were too deep, and 
too severe, to admit of forgiveness, when 
we reflect that living sovereigns and 
ministers formed the objects selected for 
his attack. I have been assured that the 
king riding out in the year 1772, accom- 
panied by his equerry. General Desagu- 
liers, said to him in conversation, " We 
know who Junius is, and he will write 
no more." The general, who was too 
good a courtier to congratulate upon such 
a piece of intelligence, contented himself 
witli bowing, and the discourse pro- 
ceeded no further, Mrs, Shuttlevvorth, 
who was General Desagulier.s's daughter, 
believed in the accuracy of this fact; but 
1 nevertheless report it with becoming 
doubt. If, however, the king had pe- 
netrated to the secret, I do not believe 
that the Duke of Grafton, or the first 
Lord Mansfield, had arrived at any cer- 



titude on the point, though their sus- 
picions might be strongly directed to- 
wards some one individual. It is certain 
that Sir William Draper died in igno- 
rance of his antagonist; and that he 
continued to express, down to a very 
short time before his decease, which 
took place at Bath, his concern at the 
prospect of going out of life, uninformed 
on the subject. Lord North cither did 
not know, or professed not to know, his 
name. The laie Lord Temple protested 
the same ignorance. He must never- 
theless have lain within a very narrow 
circle : for, every evidence, internal and 
external, proves him to have been a per- 
son of pre-eminent parts, admirable in- 
formation, hicfh connexions, living almost 
constantly in the metropolis, and in good 
company ; ignorant of nothing which 
was done at St. James's, in the two 
houses of parliament, in the war office, 
or in the courts of law ; and personally 
acquainted with many anecdotes or facts, 
only to be attained by men moving in 
the first ranks of society. 1 do not s[)eak 
of his classical attainments ; because 
those might have been found among 
mere men of letters. "Junius" was a 
man of the world. Henry Sampson 
Woodfall, who printed the letters them- 
selves, was ignorant of the name or qua- 
lity of the writer, and remained so during 
his whole life. Who then, we repeat, 
was he ? 

Many individuals have become suc- 
cessively objects of suspicion, or of ac- 
cusation. Lord George Germain, father 
of the present Duke of Dorset, was 
named among others. I knew him very 
intimately, and have frequently con- 
versed with him on the subject. He 
always declared his ignorance of the 
author, but he appeared to be gratified 
and flattered by the belief or imputation 
lighting on himself. As far, however, 
as my opinion can have any weight, 
though, in common with mankind at 
large, I estimated very highly Lord 
George's talents, I considered tliem as 
altogether unequal to such literary pro- 
ductions. And I possessed the best 
means, as well as opportunities of form- 
ing my judgment, from his conversation 
and correspondence, both which I en- 
joyed for several years. Indeed, I ap- 
prehend it is unnecessary to waste much 



156 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



time in attempting to disprove such a 
supposilioa, which has few advocates or 
supporters. Those persons who ori- 
ginally suggested, or who continue to 
maintain it, lound the opinion principally 
on the attack of Lord Granby, con- 
tained in " Junius's" first letter. But, 
if we examine that composition, we 
shall see that the marquis is by no 
means singled out for animadversion. 
He only attracts his portion of satire, as 
a consiiiuenl member oi the cabinet; and 
it was Sir William Draper's officious 
vanity which rendered him uiilorlu- 
natelj' more conspicuous tlian the Duke 
of Grafton, or Lord Mansfield. *' It is 
you. Sir William Draper," says Junius, 
" who have taken care to re[)resent 
your friend in the character of a drunken 
landlord, who deals out his promises as 
liberally as his liquor, and will suflTer no 
man to leave his table eiihersorrowful or 
sober." And in a subsequent letter heob- 
serves, " I should justly be suspected of 
acting upon motives of more than common 
enmity to Lord Granby, if I continued to 
give you fresh materials, or occasion for 
writing in his defence." If, indeed, 
Lord George Germain was " Junius," 
his powers of composition had sufTered 
a diminution between 1770 and 1780, 
and no longer continued as powerful at 
the latter period, as they had been ten 
years earlier in life. Bui, no man pre- 
served at near seventy, the freshness 
and strength of his faculties in every 
branch, more perfect or undiminished 
than that nobleman. Nor, from the 
knowledge which I possessed of his 
loyalty, and attachment to the person of 
his sovereign, do I believe ih it any mo- 
tives or feelings could ever have induced 
him to address to his majesty, the 
"Letter of Junius to the King." 

As little do I conceive Wilkes to have 
been the man. I knew him likewise 
well, though not with the same inti- 
macy as I did the last named nobleman. 
It must be owned that Wilkes possessed 
a classic pen, keen, rapid, cutting ; and 
capable, as we have seen in the " North 
Briton," no less than in other political 
productions, of powerfully animating, or 
inflaming the public mind. His inju- 
ries were great; his feelings, acute: 
his spirit, undaunted ; and his composi- 
tions, full of talent. But it was not 



'■ Junius." Wilkes's two memorable 
letters, the one addressed to Lord Tem- 
ple, in October, 1762, from Bagshot, 
immediately after his duel wiih Lord 
Talbot; and the other, written from his 
house, in Great George Street, on the 
19th of December, 1763, to Dr. Brock- 
lesby, subsequent to his duel with Mar- 
tin ; may vie in wit, pleasantry, and 
powers of ridicule, with any composi- 
tions in the English language. His 
letter, dated from "Paris, 22d October, 
1764," appealing to the electors of 
Aylesbury, against the treatment which 
he met with from both houses of parlia- 
ment, and from Lord Mansfield, chal- 
lenges equal admiration. Lastly, his 
address to the Duke of Grafton, written 
likewise from " Paris, on* the 12th of 
December, 1766," containing the ani- 
mated relation of his arrest, followed 
by his interview with the Earls of Egre- 
inont and Halifax, which took place at 
the residence of the former nobleman in 
Piccadilly, now Cholmondeley House ; 
can hardly be exceeded in energy, se- 
verity, and powers of reasoning. They 
charm, perliaps, as much as the writings 
of "Junius;" but, the difference be- 
tween the two productions cannot be 
mistaken by any man who allows his 
reason fair play. Wilkes himself, who, 
instead of shii iking from the avowal, on 
the contrary would have gladly assumed 
the fame attending on it, at whatever 
personal risk, always disclaimed any 
title to such a distinction. " Ulinam 



scripsisseni 



,'" Would to heaven I 



could have written them ! was his re- 
ply, when charged with being the au- 
thor. I 
Hugh Macauley Bnyd, a gentleman * 
who accompanied or followed Lord Ma- 
cartney to Madras, in 1781, where he 
died a few years afterwards ; has been 
named, and his pretensions have been 
strongly maintained in print, as well as 
in private society. It has been attempt- 
ed, both in liis^case, and in that of Wilkes, 
to prove from facts of various kinds, 
and anecdotes, either true or imaginary, 
their respective right to the works of 
" Junius." But, I never could discover 
in the avowed writings of Boyd, any 
similaiity, and still less any equality, 
with the letters of the unknown and im- | 
mortal person in question. Nor would f j 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



157 



it seem, as far as we are able to judge, 
that Boyd had, or could liave, access to ihe 
information profusely exhibited ilirough 
almost every page of " Junius," and 
which very few individuals were com- 
petent to attain. Boyd did not live in 
the circle where alone such materials 
were to be found, or to be collected. 

I have heard the Reverend Philip 
Rosenhagen pointed out as "Junius." 
But the opinion never, I believe, had 
many supporters, nor did I ever regard it 
as entitled to serious refutation. 1 knew 
him as an acquaintance, between 1782 
and 1785. He appeared to me to be a 
plausible, well informed man, imposing 
in his manner, of a classic mind, and 
agreeable conversation ; living mucli in 
the world, received on the most intimate 
footing at Shelburne House, and possess- 
ing very considerable talents. There is, 
however, a wide interval between such 
abilities, however eminent, and those 
displayed by the writer under examina- 
tion. 

A more probable, or at least, a belter 
concerted story, confidently circulated at 
the time, and winch has been lately re- 
vived, was, that Mr. William Great- 
rakes, a native of Ireland, who lived with 
the Earl of Slielburne, and acted as his 
private secretary, composed the letters. 
The materials were said to have been 
furnished by Lord Shelburne, and 
worked up by his secretary. It was 
added, that he died in August, 1781, 
at Hungerford in Berkshire, not very far 
from that nobleman's seat, of Bow Wood ; 
and lies buried in Hungerford church- 
yard, with a plain stone over his re- 
mains, together with a short inscription, 
terminated by the three Latin words, 

" Stat Nominis Umbra;" 

the motto, usually, or always prefixed 
to Junius's Letters. I have never con- 
sidered this narration, however plausi- 
ble it appears, as worthy of credit, or as 
meriting attention. 

It has been recently attempted to prove 
that Glover, the distinguished author of 
" Leonidas," was " Junius ;" and the 
confirmation of the assertion has been 
sought, in the " Memoirs of a Celebrated 
Literary and Political Character," lately 
published. But though every line of 
14 



those " Memoirs," bespeaks the writer 
to have possessed equal ability and in- 
tegrity ; living in a high circle, himself 
a member of the House of Commons 
during many years ; — though the same 
ardent spirit of freedom which animates 
Glover as a poet, is diff'used over this 
production ; and though various pas- 
sages in it, may seem to bear a degree of 
resemblance or analogy to the animated 
Apostrophes of" Junius ;" — yet, no per- 
son who has perused attentively the 
work in question, can for an instant per- 
suaile himself of the identity of the two i 
men. If, however, these grounds of 
belief, drawn from the internal evidence 
contained in the respective compositions, 
should fail in producing a decided opi- 
nion, I can adduce better proof. Mr. 
Glover, son of the author of " Leoni- 
das," and whom to name, is sufficient 
to stamp the authenticity of all that he 
asserts ; assured me only a short time 
ago, in answer to my enquiries on the 
subject, that " he had not the least rea- 
son to suppose, or to believe, that his 
father composed the letters of Junius:" 
an admission far outweighing any real 
or fancied similarity between those wri- 
ters. Still more recent attempts have 
been made in favour of a foreigner, De 
Lolme ; but, however speciously sup- 
ported on some points, they rest on no 
solid foundation. 

During many years of my life, not- 
withstanding the severity with which 
TVedderburn is treated by " Junius," 1 
nourished a strong belief, approacliing to 
conviction, that the late Earl of Ross- 
lyn, then Mr. fVedderburn, was him- 
self the author of those Letters. His 
abilities were eminent, his opportunities 
of information great ; and his political 
connexions between January, 1769, and 
January, 1772, the two extreme periods 
of the appearance of the compositions in 
question, favour the conjecture. Though 
Churchill calls Wedderburn. 

" A pert, prim prater of the northern race," 

his talents of every kind entitled him to 
hijih admiration ; and he particularly 
possessed the legal, jurisprudential, as 
well as parliamentary knowledge, la- 
vishly exhibited in various parts of " Ju- 
nius." I have heard men assert, who 



158 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



were entitled to respect and credit, that 
they had seen several of the originals, 
in the possession of Woodfall ; and that 
they recognised the hand-writing to be 
that of Mrs. Wedderburn, his tirst wife, 
with which manual character they were 
perfectly acquainted. If this fact in- 
deed were to be admitted, it might seem 
decisive : but, such assertions, however 
apparenUy well sustained, are frequently 
made on erroneous or mistaken founda- 
tions. Perhaps I ought to add, that the 
persons in question, were natives of 
Scotland ; and national vanity or par- 
tiality might mislead their judgment on 
such a point. 

All circumstances fully weighed, my 
own conviction is, that the letters of 
"Junius" were written by the Right Ho- 
nourable JFUliam Gerard HaiailLon^ 
commonly designated by the nick-name 
of " Single Speech Hamilton," from the 
report, generally, though falsely circu- 
lated, that he never opened his mouth 
more than once in the English Parlia- 
ment. He was during many years, 
chancellor of the exchequer in Ireland, 
and likewise a member of the British 
House of Commons, while I sat in it : 
but I had not the honour of his ac- 
quaintance ; and my opinion is founded 
on the general prevailing sentiment of 
those persons, who, from their situation, 
rank, and means of information, are en- 
titled to almost implicit belief. Through- 
out the various companies, in which, 
from 1775, down to the present time, I 
have heard this mysterious question agi- 
tated, the great majority concurred in 
giving to Hamilton the merit of com- 
posing the letters under examination. 
Various noblemen or gentlemen, who 
lived on terms of intimate friendship, 
and of almnstdaily intercourse with him, 
during the period of their appearance 
or publication ; in particular, Horace 
Walpole, Earl of Orford, and the late 
Earl of Clermont; having protested in 
ray hearing, that they traced or recol- 
lected in Jiinius's Letters, the '•'■ ip sis si- 
ma verba,'' the precise words and ex- 
pressions of Hamilton, which had re- 
cently l^illen from his lips in conversa- 
tion. His pen is universally admitted 
to have been most elegant, classical, 
correct, and nervous. Tiiis opinion, 
nevertheless, by no means amounts to 



demonstration, or approaches to Qer- 
tainty ; and it is possible, that as the 
secret has not been divulged from au- 
thority, during the lapse of so many 
years, posterity may never attain to any 
absolute proof upon the subject, and 
must rest satisfied with conjecture. 

If " Junius" could be supposed still 
alive, obvious motives for his conceal- 
ing himself, drawn from the strongest 
princi|)les of human action, will suggest 
themselves to every man's mind. On 
the other hand, if he be no more, what 
reasons sufficiently powerful can be 
produced, to account for the voluntary 
renunciation of that postluimous fame, 
which after his decease might have been 
reclaimed, without apprehension of any 
injurious consequences to himself? 
This argument or consideration, long 
induced me to suppose that " Junius" 
must be living ; and that his death, 
whenever it took place, would infallibly 
remove the veil which conceals his 
name. On more mature reflection, 
nevertheless, very strong causes for con- 
tinuing to preserve his incognito be- 
yond the grave, may present themselves. 
If he left behind him lineal representa- 
tives, he might dread exposing them to 
the hereditary animosity of some of 
those, whom he designates as " the 
worst, and the most powerful men in 
this country." Even should he have 
left no descendants, it is possible that 
he might dislike the comparison between 
his actions and his writings, which must 
have been involuntarily made by man- 
kind. If, for instance, it would have 
been proved that he accepted an ofHce, 
a pension, or a peerage, from the so- 
vereign and the minister whom he had 
recently accused as enemies to their 
country, or as having betrayed its in- 
terests; — would not the moral aversion 
or contempt, excited towards his me- 
mory by such a disclosure, having over- 
balanced the meed of literary fame ob- 
tained from the labours of his pen ? 
Should we admit the validity of liis rea- 
soning, we shall be led to infer, that 
"Junius" may remain as unknown to 
posterity, a century hence, as he con- 
tinues to be now in 1815. 

There is still another circumstance 
applicable to the present times, which 
did not exist when Burnet, or Bui- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



159 



strode, or Rereshy, wrote their " Me- 
moirs ;" and which fact must be sup- 
posed to have had ils due operation on 
"Junius." Between 1660 and 1714, a 
period of little more tiian fifty years, 
three families in succession reigned over 
this country : whereas from 1760, down 
to 1814, only one prince has occupied 
the throne, who still lives, though we 
lartient that he no longer reigns. Under 
William tiie Third, who had expelled 
his father-in-law, and who could not feel 
any esteem for Charles the Second ; 
"Junius," had he then flourished, and 
had levelled his shafts against those 
kings, might have unmasked, and boldly 
avowed his writings. When the two 
Houses of Nassau, or of Stuart, no longer 
swayed the sceptre, and when George 
the First was called to the crown ; the 
severest attacks made on the preceding 
sovereigns or ministers, could have ex- 
cited only a feeble degree of resentment, 
if they did not even give rise to opposite 
emotions. But, the case is widely dif- 
ferent with respect to " Junius," and 
might justly challenge from him another 
line of conduct. Not only the same fa- 
mily, but the same individual, remains, 
at least nominally, king. And that indi- 
vidual, whatever errors of judgment he 
may have committed, or however un- 
popular he was, almost from the period 
of his accession down to 1783, has been 
since that time embalmed in the affec- 
tions of his people. I mUst leave the 
degree of solidity contained in these ob- 
servations, to the decision of every man's 
judgment, as elucidatory or explanatory 
of the question respecting " Junius."* 

In addition to so many domestic causes 
which weakened tlie veneration felt to- 
wards the king, two foreign events had 
likewise occurred, productive of national 
dissatisfaction. The first arose from the 
line of policy, or rather of conduct, 
adopted by Great Britain relative to Cor- 
sica. That island, which in later times has 
attained a degree of odious celebrity, by 
giving birth to a man, whose vast mili- 

* Since I wrote the preceding observations, a 
perusal of the work lately published, denominated 
" The Identity of Junius with a distinguished 
living Character estabUshed," leaves little or no 
doubt on my mind, that those celebrated pro- 
ductions are to be attributed to Sir Philip 
Francis. 



tary talents, and insatiable ambition, 
aided by the progress of the French re- 
volution, enabled him to overturn and to 
trample under his feet, during many 
years, the ancient system of Europe : 
was, after a long series of insurrections 
against the Genoese government, ulti- 
mately transferred by Genoa to France. 
Choiseul, a minister of an elevated mind, 
and of ambitious designs ; anxious to 
raise the French name, as well as the 
reputation of Louis the Fifteenth, from 
the state of humiliation into which both 
were fallen by the ill success of the pre- 
ceding war ; undertook, and at length 
effected, the reduction of Corsica. It 
may however be justly questioned, whe- 
ther the conquest has really augmented 
the strength or resources of France. But, 
the generosity characteristic of the Eng- 
lish nation, the sympathy felt towards a 
race of brave, oppressed, and unfortunate 
islanders, contending for freedom ; when 
added to the jealous susceptibility natural 
to a state, always apprehensive of the 
aggrandizement of its rival ; — these 
feelings or political opinions, produced a 
powerful effect on the public mind. 
They were sustained by the publications, 
calculated to rouse the country from its 
apathy or indifference to the fate of Cor- 
sica. Pascal Paoli, chief of the insur- 
gents, was depictured in them, as another 
Gustavus Vasa, or William Tell, strug- 
gling against tyranny and oppression : 
while the English ministry, it was said, 
pusillanimously looked on, regardless of 
the event, and inattentive to so important 
an accession of power acquired by our 
natural enemy. 

Scarcely had the impression made 
by the French conquest of Corsica ' 
ceased to operate, and sunk into a de- 
gree of oblivion, when another occur- 
rence awakened ami exasperated the 
nation, against the Spanish branch of 
the House of Bourbon. The immediate 
cause of this dispute arose from the pos- 
session taken of the Falkland Islands 
by England ; but, the court of Madrid 
had always evaded or refused payment 
of the sum due for the ransom of 
Manilla. Never, perhaps, was any ob- 
ject in itself, abstractedly considered, 
less valuable, nor less worthy of public 
attention, than the Falkland Islands : 
yet, the manner in which Spain acted 



160 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



on the occasion, displayed so much arro- 
gance, as to compromise the honour of 
the British crown, and to demand a 
reparation no less public than the 
affront. The islands in question, situ- 
ated in a most inclement latitude, in the 
other hemispliere, not far removed from 
Cape Horn ; abandoned by nature to 
seals and to wild fowl ; scarcely covered 
with a scanty vegetation; could hardly 
merit from llieir intrinsic consequence, 
commercial or political, that any blood 
should be spilt in order to acquire, or to 
retain, their possession. But the jealous 
policy with which the old Spanish 
government always beheld even the 
slightest approach of any foreign 
power towards that vast continent uf 
South America, over which, though they 
could neither colonize, nor subject it, 
they nevertheless claimed a dominion ; 
impelled the court of Madrid to com- 
mence its operations, in a manner no 
less hostile than insulting to us. An 
English frigate was detained in the har- 
bour of Port Egmont by force. It must 
be owned, that the vigour, or rather 
audacity of such a proceeding, could 
scarcely have been exceeded by Cardi- 
nal Alberoni himself, when he presided 
in the Spanish counsels, under Philip 
the Fifth. 'I'he act was indeed only 
committed ostensibly by an imlividual, 
Buccarelli, who commanded the forces 
of Charles the Third in that quarter of 
the globe : but the government avowed, 
justified, and supported hint. 

Lord North, on whom had recently 
devolved the first place in administra- 
tion ; while he appeared deeply to feel 
the indignity offered to his sovereign, 
manifested likewise a disposition to 
resent it in the most effectual manner. 
Neither the state of the English navy, 
nor the preparations made in our ports 
for the immediate equipment of a 
powerful fleet, were said, however, to be 
such as the exigency obviously de- 
manded, and the public honour unques- 
tionably required. A mitigated com- 
promise, by which Spain, though she 
consented to cede the possession of 
Falkland Islands to Great Britain, yet 
refused to admit or recognise our right 
to them ; was, after long discussions, 
accepted by ministers. It prevented a 
war, but it gave no general satisfaction ; 



more especially, as any mention of the 
Manilla ransom was studiously omitted 
in the convention. Assuredly, the mo- 
ment seemed favourable to have im- 
posed almost any conditions on the 
Spanish crown. Louis the Fifteenth, 
sinking in years, and still more sunk in 
the general estimation of his subjects ; 
disgusted at the ill success of the former 
war, and determined not to engage 
again in hostilities against England ; 
having dismissed the Duke de Choiseul 
from ofRce, and lost to every sense of 
public duty, or national glory ; would, 
it was well known, have disregarded 
" the family compact," and would have 
abandoned the other branch of the 
House of Bourbon in the contest. 

But, Lord North, who preferred 
pacific measures ; besides the ordinary 
modes of negotiation, had recourse to 
expedients not usually adopted, in order 
to avert a rupture. The late Sir Wil- 
liam Gordon, whom I well knew, and 
who at that time filled the post of Bri- 
tish envoy at the court of Brtjssels, was 
selected by ministers, to undertake the 
commission of preventing a war. For 
this purpose, he received private instruc- 
tions to repair, in the most secret but 
expeditious manner, to Paris ; and there 
to use every possible exertion for pre- 
vailing on Louis the Fifteenth, and the 
new first minister, the Duke d'Aguillon, 
to compel the Spanish court to accom- 
modate the points in dispute. Gordon, 
who found in the French sovereign and 
his cabinet, the warmest disposition to 
preserve peace, succeeded completely in 
the object of his mission. Fie told me, 
that as a recompense for his service, he 
received from Lord North, a pension of 
three hundred pounds a year ; and from 
his majesty, the further sum of one 
thousand pounds, as a present ; but, the 
convention by which peace was made, 
excited universal disapprobation ; and 
afforded, to the pen of " Junius," an oc- 
casion which he did not lose, of pointing 
the public censure with inconceivable 
severity against the king himself person* 
ally, no less than against the administra- 
tion. 

Even after the interval of four years, 
which elapsed between the termination 
of this dispute, and the commencement 
of the American rebellion ; though the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



161 



nation enjoyed profound peace ; together 
with all the advantages of a flourishing 
commerce, augmenting opulence, and 
progressive prosperity, yet the sover- 
eign WHS by no means popular. New 
sources of discontent, and imaginary or 
doubtful subjects of complaint, were in- 
geniously discovered. Lord Bute had, 
indeed, disappeared from the theatre of 
public life ; and the Princess Dowager 
of Wales, whose supposed influence 
over her son, rendered her always an 
object of attack, was no more. She ex- 
pired in 1772, of a most painful disease, 
which she supported with uncommon 
firmness. But, other names and figures 
succeeded to their pretended influence 
behind the curtain of state. Bradshaw, 
surnamed " the cream-coloured para- 
site, and Dyson, gave place to the su- 
perior ascendancy of Jenkinson, who 
was accused of directing, unseen, the 
resolutions of the cabinet, and of possess- 
ing the interior secret, as well as con- 
fidence, of the crown. A prince, dis- 
tinguished by almost every domestic 
virtue, animated by the noblest inten- 
tions, and by the warmest aflfection for 
his people, was represented as despotic, 
inflexible, vindictive, and disposed lo 
govern by unconstitutional means or en- 
gines. His very pleasures, his tastes, 
and his private recreations, were tra- 
duced or satirized, as bearing the same 
stamp and impression. Poetry lent 
her aid to expose these personal weak- 
nesses, if such they were, to public ani- 
madversion or ridicule. The " Heroic 
Epistle to Sir William Chambers" 
(commonly, though perhaps erroneously 
attributed to one of the finest poetic wri- 
ters of the period. Mason) ; rivalled 
" Junius" in delicacy of invective, in 
its insulting irony, and in the severity 
of fls imputations. Such appeared to be 
the state of public opinion, and such the 
prejudices generally entertained against 
the king, throughout the nation, at the 
period when, in the summer of 1775, 
hostilities began on the American con- 
tinent. 

That George the Third, from a very 
early period of his reign, had imbibed a 
deeply rooted opinion of the parliamen- 
tary right inherent in the mother country, 
to tax her American colonies, and of 
the practicability, or rather the facility, 
14* 



of the attempt, if made ; no well-inform- 
ed man can entertain a doubt. I have 
been assured by a nobleman now alive, 
that as early as 1764, his majesty, con- 
versing with Mr, George Grenville, then 
first minister, on the subject of the 
finances, which, after the close of the tri- 
umphant" Seven Years War,"demanded 
economy, no less than ability, to re-esta- 
blish ; mentioned to him as one great 
pecuniary resource, the measure of tax- 
ing America. Mr. Grenville replied, 
that he had frequently revolved, and 
thoroughly considered the proposition, 
which he believed to be not only diffi- 
cult, but impracticable ; and pregnant, 
if undertaken, with the most alarming 
consequences to the sovereign himself. 
These apprehensions, far, however, from 
intimidating or discouraging the king, 
made no impression on his mind ; and 
in a subsequent conversation with the 
same minister, his majesty gave him 
plainly to understand, that if he wanted 
either nerves or inclination to make the 
attempt, others could be foimd who were 
ready to undertake it. The words pro- 
duced their full effect upon the person 
to whom they were addressed ; and Mr. 
Grenville preferred endeavouring to rea- 
lize the experiment, however hazardous 
he might esteem it, rather than allow it 
to be committed to other hands. It 
failed at that time, but was revived ten 
years later, with more serious national 
results, under Lord North's adminis- 
tration. 

I have always considered the princi- 
ple upon which that war commenced, 
and peculiarly as affecting the king, to 
have been not only defensible, but meri- 
torious. It was not a war of preroga- 
tive, but a contest undertaken for main- 
taining the right of parliament to impose 
taxes on British America. If George 
the Third would have separated the in- 
terests of his crown, from those of the 
legislature, he might have made advan- 
tageous terms with his trans-Atlantic 
subjects : but he disdained any compro- 
mise by which he must have dissevered 
himself from his parliament. Nor have 
I ever esteemed the political and mili- 
tary conductors of the American revolu- 
tion, as other than successful rebels of 
unquestionable courage, constancy, and 
ability ; whatever eulogiums were con- 



162 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ferred on ihem in the House of Com- 
mons, by Fox and Burke. I well know 
that the names of Franklin and of 
Washington have been consecrated by 
a very numerous part of the inhabi- 
tants of Great Britain. The former, if 
considered as a natural philosopher, a 
philanthropist, and a man of genius, 
doubtless may lay claim to universal 
esteem. Nor are the abstract preten- 
sions of Washington less conspicuous, 
when contemplated as a general, and a 
citizen of America. In both capacities 
he may rank with Cincinnatus, or with 
the younger Calo. But, in the estima- 
tion of all who regard the parliamentary 
supremacy of the mother country over 
colonies, which had been not merely 
planted, but likewise preserved, by the 
expenditure of Britisii blood and trea- 
sure, as constituting an immutable prin- 
ciple ; a sovereign who would not have 
maintained that supremacy, must have 
been unworthy of the sceptre. 

The whole life of William the Third, 
from his attainment of manhood, down 
to the last moments of his existence, was 
passed in a continual struggle to pre- 
serve the liberties of his own country, or 
those of England, against arbitrary 
power. His name will ever be connect- 
ed with constitutional freedom, and as 
such, is cherished in our remembrance. 
But, does any person suppose, that if 
William had reigned over the British 
Isles, at the period of the American 
rebellion; whatever love of civil liberty 
might animate him as a man, he would 
on that account have relinquished the 
rights of his parliament and his crown ? 
Or that he would have tamely acqui- 
e ced in the refusal of his American sub- 
jects, to contribute, by indirect taxation, 
to the general wants of the empire ? 
'j'hose who venture to form such a con- 
clusion, must, as it seems to me, have 
very imperfectly studied the character, 
or appreciated the actions, of that illus- 
trious prince. 

The wisdom and policy of the Ameri- 
can war, may perhaps appear more 
doubtful. The attempt in the first in- 
stance to tax, and afterwards to reduce 
by force, a vast continent, separated from 
Great Britain by an immense ocean, in- 
habited by a people who were individu- 
ally indebted many millions to the mo- 



ther country, ardent for emancipatioiT, 
and sufficiently unanimous in their re- 
sistance to the parent state, to be able 
to call out into action nearly all the per- 
sons capable of bearing arms; — such 
an experiment, even, if speculatively 
considered, would doubtless have im- 
pressed any wise statesman, as hazard- 
ous in itself, and of very uncertain 
issue. In the case before us, all these im- 
pediments acquired additional strength, 
from other concurring circumstances. 
A large proportion of society here at 
home, regarded the American rebellion 
with favourable eyes, and secretly wish- 
ed success to the cause ; because they 
dreaded lest the British constitution it- 
self would not long survive the increase 
of power and influence, that the crown 
must necessarily derive from the subju- 
gation of the colonies beyond the Atlan- 
tic. In both Houses of Parliament, a 
numerous, active, and increas^ing party 
openly maintained and justified the in- 
surrection, rejoiced in their triumphs, 
and reprobated in theory, no less than 
in practice, the attempt to subjugate the 
revolted stales. Even those who did 
not approve such political principles, 
yet saw in the war, if it should prove 
unsuccessful, a means of overturning the 
administration. 

The inability of Great Britain to levy 
and to send from her own population, a 
military force sufficiently numerous for 
reducing to obedience so many pro- 
vinces, extending from the frontiers of 
Canada, to the borders of Florida; com- 
pelled the government to obtain addi- 
tional troops, by application to various of 1 
the German powers. From the Land- ■ 
grave of Hesse Cassel in particular, who 
had married a daughter of George the 
Second, many thousands were procured. 
These stipendiaries, though perhaps not 
more justly objects of moral or political 
condemnation, than were the Swiss and 
Grison regiments permanently retained 
in the service of France, or the Scotch 
corps then serving in the pay of Hol- 
land ; yet increased the popular cry, and 
furnished to the opposition, subjects of 
obloquy, or of declamation. That 
France must, sooner or later, interfere in 
favour of the Americans, became like- 
wise obvious ; because the French minis- 
try, listening only to the narrow sugges- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



163 



lions of national rivality, did not, or \ 
would not perceive, tliat it could never 
be llie wise policy of a despotic govern- 
ment, to aid tlie cause of revolt, by send- 
ing forces out of the country, to imbibe 
principles of freedom and resistance 
among rebels. It is an unquestionable 
fact, that the late unfortunate Louis the 
Sixteenth possessed enlargement of mind 
and sound discernment sufficient to feel 
this truth. He even objected strongly 
to the policy of detaching French troops 
to the assistance of Washington ; and he 
was only overruled in his opposition to 
the measure, by his deference for the coun- 
sels of Maurepas and Vergennes. France 
has since dearly paid, under Robespierre 
and Bonaparte, for her deviation from tlie 
dictates of wisdom, as well as of magna- 
nimity, in thus supporting insurrection. 
' It is, however, in the conduct of that 

unfortunate contest, that we must pnri- 
cipally seek for the cause of its ill suc- 
cess. Near three years elapsed from the 
lime of its commencement, before the 
court of Versailles ventured openly to in- 
te'^rpose as an enemy. But, the Howes 
appear to have been either lukewarm, 
or remiss, or negligent, or incapable. 
Lord North's selection of those two com- 
manders, for the purpose of subjecting 
America, excited, at the time, just con- 
demnation ; however brave, able, or me- 
ritorious, they miglit individually be es- 
teemed as professional men. Their 
ardour in the cause itself was doubted ; 
and still more questionable was their at- 
■' _ lachment to the" administration. Never, 
m perhaps, in the history of modern war, 

■ has an army, or a fleet, been more pro- 

■ fusely supplied with every requisite for 
^k brilliant and efficient service, than were 
Hta the troops and ships sent out by Lord 
^H North's cabinet in 1776, across the At- 
lantic. But, the efforts abroad, did not 
correspond with the exertions made at 
home. The energy and activity of a 
Wellington, never animated that torpid 
mass. Neither vigilance, enterprise, 
nor co-operation, characterized the cam- 
paigns of 1776 and 1777. Dissipation, 
play, and relaxation of discipline, found 
their way into the British camp. New 
York became another Capua, though the 
genius and resources of Hannibal were 
not displayed by Sir William Howe. 
The defeat at Trenton, which was criti- 



cally unfortunate, rescued the Congress 
from the lowest slate of depression. 
After Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga, 
little rational probability of success re- 
mained ; and when Clinton succeeded to 
the command of the army at New York, 
by the recall of Sir William Howe, the 
French were on the point of declaring in 
favour of the Americans. The loyalty 
and courage of Sir Henry Clinton were 
besides more distinguished, than were 
his military talents. Even the British 
troops, engaged in a species of civil war, 
did not maniiest the same eagerness or 
alacrity, as when opposed to a foreign 
enemy, though they displayed in every 
engagement their accustomed steadiness 
and valour. The service itself, from the 
nature of the country, became severe, 
painful, and discouraging. Lakes, 
swamps, morasses, and almost impene- 
trable forests, presented, at every step, 
obstacles not easily overcome by the 
bravest soldiers. And though the scene 
of hostilities was successively shifted, 
from Boston to New York ; thence to 
the banks of the Chesapeake and the 
Delaware; finally, to the southern and 
central provinces of Carolina and Vir- 
ginia ; yet the results, however promis- 
ing they might be at the commencement, 
proved always tiltimately abortive. We 
have recently witnessed similar conse- 
quences flowing from nearly the same 
causes, during the progress of our 
second contest with America. 

At home, a gradual and increasing 
discontent overspread the kingdom, 
pervaded all classes, and seemed to me- 
nace the administration with the effects 
of popular, or national resentment. The 
navy, divided into parties, no longer 
blocked the enemies ports, or carried 
victory wherever it appeared, as it had 
done in the commencement of his ma- 
jesty's reign. Our distant possessions, 
unprotected by superior fleets, fell into 
the hands of France or Spain. Even 
our commerce were intercepted, cap- 
tured, and greatly diminished. Each 
year seemed to produce new foreign ad- 
versaries, and to augment the public 
embarrassments or distress. Ministers 
who were neither vigorous, nor fortu- 
nate, nor popular, holding even their 
offices by a precarious tenure, inspired 
no coflfidence in their measures. The 



164 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



opposition, though diminished by the 
exertions which government had made 
to secure a majority in the lower house, 
on the convocation of a new parlia- 
ment, were numerous, confident, able, 
and indefatigable. They saw, or be- 
lieved they saw, the object of their 
grasp, at no great distance. Futurity 
presented to all men, a most discoura- 
ging prospect ; and peace appeared to be 
not only distant, but unattainable, except 
by such sacrifices of national revenue, 
territory, and honour, as could not be 
contemplated without a degree of dis- 
may. America might be considered as 
lost to Great Britain ; while our pos- 
sessions in the East Indies seemed to be 
menaced with total subversion. Those 
who remember the period to which I 
allude, will not think the colours of this 
description either heightened or over- 
charged. At no moment of the revolu- 
tionary war whicli we almost unintermit- 
ingly sustained against the French, 
from 1793 to 1614; neither in 1797, 
during the mutiny in the navy ; nor in 
1799, after the unsuccessful expedition 
to the Helder; nor in 1805, subsequent 
to the battle of Austerlitz ; nor in 1806, 
when the Prussian monarchy fell at 
Aiierstadt ; nor in 1807, at the peace of 
Tilsit ; nor when Sir John Moore was 
compelled, early in 1809, to re-embark 
at Cornnna, and the whole Pyrenean 
peninsula seemed to lie prostrate at 
the fleet of its Corsican master: — 
though each of these aeras unquestion- 
ably presents images of great national 
depression, did a deeper despondency 
prevail among all ranks of society, than 
existed towards the close of the Ameri- 
can contest, as the administration of 
Lord North drew to its termination. 

In the midst of so universal a dejection, 
the king remained altogether unmoved. 
Neither defeats, nor dilHculties, nor the 
number of his foreign enemies, nor 
domestic opposition, unhinged his mind, 
or shook his resolution. Convinced 
that he could not abandon the struggle 
in which he was engaged, however ar- 
duous or doubtful might be the result, 
without renouncing his own birlh-rigiil, 
the interests of his crown, the supremacy 
of parliament, and the best portion of the 
British empire; he never vacillated, nor 
showed, for a single moment, any dispo- 



sition to dismiss his ministers. What- 
ever irresolution, difference of opinion, 
or apprehension, might pervade the cabi- 
net itself, at certain moments, none of 
these sentiments agitated the sovereign. 
He only desired to abide the issue, and 
to maintain the contest. It is perhaps 
for posterity to decide on the degree of 
approbation or of blame, political and 
moral, which such a character and con- 
duct, under such circumstances, may 
justly challenge : but, even if we should 
incline to censure, or to condemn, we 
cannot help in some measure respecting 
and admiring it. As, however, his ma- 
jesty's opinions and wishes were uni- 
versally known or understood throughout 
the country, a proportionate degree of 
unpopularity fell personally on him ; 
and he was regarded as the vital princi- 
ple which animated, sustainerl, and pro- 
pelled the administration. When we 
consider this fact, in addition to all the 
preceding statements given of his mea- 
sures since he acceded to the throne; 
we shall no longer wonder, that in de- 
fiance of so many claims to the aflfec- 
tionate veneration of his people, he was 
nevertheless, at this period of his reign, 
by no means an object of general par- 
tiality or attachment. 

Lord North, who had already occu- 
pied the post of first lord of the trea- 
sury, and chancellor of the exchequer, 
during eleven years, was then in the 
full vigour of his faculties, having nearly 
accomplished the forty-ninth year of his 
age. His head and face exceedingly re- 
minded the beholder, of the portraits of 
Pope Leo the Tenth. In his person he 
was of the middle size, heavy, large, 
and much inclined to corpulency. There 
appeared in the cast and formation of 
Ins countenance, nay even in his man- 
ner, so strong a resemblance to the royal 
family of England, th:it it was difficult 
not to perceive it. Like them, he had 
a fair complexion, regular features, light 
hair, with bushy eyebrows, and grey 
eyes, rather prominent in his head. His 
face might be indeed esteemed a carica- 
ture of the king; and those who re- 
membered t!ie intimacy which subsisted 
between Frederic, the late Prince of 
Wales, and the Earl, as well as Countess 
of Guildford, Lord North's father and 
mother; a circumstance to which allu- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



165 



sion has already been made ; found no 
difficulty in accounting, though perhaps 
very unjustly, for that similarity. He 
possessed an advantage, considered in 
his ministerial capacity, which neither 
of his iwo immediate predecessors, the 
Marquis of Rockingham, or the Duke of 
Grafton, could boast ; and, in which, 
his three immediate successors in office, 
Lord Rockingham, liord Shelburne, and 
the Duke of Porthind, were equally deti- 
cienl. I mean, lliat being, not a member 
of the House of Peers, but a commoner, 
he had attained in the course of years, 
that intimate knowledge of the lower 
house, its formation, composition, and 
the modes of conducting or influencing 
it as a hody, which nothing can confer, 
except long habits of debate, and the 
necessity of daily personal attendance. 
His natural affability rendered him be- 
sides so accessible, and the communi- 
cativeness of his temper inclined him so 
much to conversation, that every mem- 
ber of the house found a facility in be- 
coming known to him. Never indeed 
was a tirst minister less intrenched 
within the forms of his official situation. 
He seemed, on the contrary, always 
happy to throw aside his public cha- 
racter, and to relapse into an individual. 
His tongue being rather too large for 
his moutii, rendered his articulation 
somewhat thick, thougli not at all indis- 
tinct. It is to this peculiarity or defect 
in his enunciation, that " Junius" al- 
ludes in one of his Letters, written in 
January, 1770, when he says, after men- 
tioning the Duke of Grafton's resigna- 
tion, " The palm of ministerial firmness 
is now transferred to Lord North. He 
tells us so, himspjf, with the plenitude 
of the ore rotundo.'''' He did not, how- 
ever, bedew his hearers while addressing 
his discourse to them, as Burnet tells us, 
the Duke of Lauderdale, so well known 
under Charles the Second's reign, al- 
ways did, in consequence of the faulty 
conformation of his tongue. In parlia- 
ment, the deficiency of Lord North's 
sight was productive to him of many 
inconveniences. For, even at the dis- 
tance of a few feet, he saw very imper- 
fectly ; and across the house, he was 
unable to distinguish persons with any 
degree of certainty or accuracy. In 
speaking, walking, and every motion, it 



is not enough to say that he wanted 
grace : he was to the last degree awk- 
ward. It can hardly obtain belief, that 
in a full House of Commons, he took 
off, on the point of his sword, the wig of 
Mr. Welbore Ellis, and carried it a con- 
siderable way across the floor, without 
ever suspecting, or perceiving it. The 
fact happened in this manner. Mr. 
Ellis, who was then treasurer of the 
navy, and well advanced towards his 
seventieth year, always sat at the lowest 
corner of the treasury bench, a few feet 
removed from Lord North. The latter, 
having occasion to go down the house, 
previousl}' laid his hand on his sword, 
holding the chafe of the scabbard for- 
ward, nearly in a horizontal direction. 
Mr. Ellis, stooping at the same instant 
that the first minister rose, the point of 
the scabbard came e.\actly in contact 
with the treasurer of the navy's wig, 
which it completely took off, and bore 
away. The accident, however ludicrous, 
was wholly unseen by Lord North, who 
received the first intimation of it, from 
the involuntary bursts of laughter that it 
occasioned in every quarter of the house. 
Mr. Ellis, however, without altering a 
muscle of his countenance, and preserv- 
ing the most perfect gravity in the midst 
of the general convulsion ; having re- 
ceived back his wig, re-adjusted it to 
his head, and waited patiently till the 
house had recovered from the effect of 
so extraordinary, as well as ridiculous 
an occurrence. 

In addition to his defect of sight. Lord 
North was subject likewise to a consti- 
tutional somnolency, which neither the 
animated declamations of Fox, nor the 
pathetic invocations of Burke, nor the 
hoarse menaces of Barre, could always 
prevent. It attacked him even on the 
treasury bench, sometimes with irresist- 
ible force. Nor was he altogether ex- 
empt from its influence when in private 
society. Having called on a lady of 
condition, one evening, the charms of 
whose person and conversation were 
universally acknowledged at the time of 
which I am writing, but, whom I forbear 
to name, he found her engaged in a vie- 
lent altercation with her sister-in-law. 
Lord North, with his characteristic good 
humour, attempted to interpose his me- 
diation, and to accommodate the quarrel : 



166 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



but he found this negotiation more diffi- 1 pelled to say, ' O quam belle concio 



cult than that of tlie Falkland Islands, 
and they were not to be pacified without 
recurrinjr to legal assistance. He con- 
sented therefore to wait, till the lady of 
the house should return from her solici- 
tor's chambers in Lincoln's Inn, which 
she promised to do without delay. 
Seating himself in an arm-chair before 
the fire, he soon fell into a profound 
sleep, from which he was nftt awakened 
by the entrance of one of the maid ser- 
vants ; who, seeing a corpulent man, 
with a blue ribband across his breast, 
asleep in her mistress's drawing room, 
and being unacquainted with the lirst 
minister's person, ran down into the 
kitchen, to give the alarm. Yet in de- 
fiance of all these physical infirmities, 
whenever he rose to reply in the House 
of Commons, he displayed no want of 
rexjollection, presence of mind, or accu- 
racy. He seldom, or never, took notes ; 
trusting to his memory for retaining the 
principal facts which occurred during 
the preceding discussion. Sir Grey 
Cooper, however, who commonly saton 
his left hand, supplied on particular oc- 
casions that deficiency. 

Lord North was powerful, able, and 
fluent in debate; sometimes repelling 
the charges made against liim, with solid 
argument; but, still more frequently 
eluding or blunting the weapons of his 
antagonists, by the force of wit and hu- 
mour. Fox, conscious of the first mi- 
nister's superiority in exciting a laugh, 
and irritated at being often the object of 
his talent for ridicule, more than once 
endeavoured to silence him by severity 
of animadversion. I remember, soon 
after I came into parliament, towards 



nans J' " Mr. Thomas Townsend, al- 
luding about the same time, in the House 
of Commons, to Lord North's unequalled 
powers of that nature ; expressed his 
astonishment at the facility with which, 
while the empire was convulsed in every 
quarter, the first lord of the treasury 
could summon to his aid, all the 
weapons of wit and levity. " Happen 
what will," said he, " the noble lord is 
ready with hisjoke. Amidst the calami- 
ties of the war, and the ruin of the coun- 
try, while the state of pul)lic affairs 
renders every other person serious, he is 
prepared to treat events the most dis- 
tressing, as subjects of merriment, of 
gaiety, and of repartee ! Such is his 
luxuriant fancy, and sportive elasticity 
of character," These observations, 
however acrimonious, were not desti- 
tute of truth ; but it was impossible to 
resist the effect of Lord North's talents 
for ridicule. They never forsook him ; 
not even on the night of the seventh of 
June, 1780, when London was blazing 
round him ; nor on the I8th of March, 
1782, only forty-eight hours before he re- 
signed, when he jested in the House of 
Commons on the tax which he meant to- 
impose upon hair-dressers : — such was 
the formation of his mind. Sir Thomas 
More, chancellorunder Henry the Eighth, 
one of the greatest, wisest, and most vir- 
tuous ministers that England ever saw, 
displayed the same facetiousness through- 
out every stage of his life, and exhibited 
it even on the scaffold, during his last 
moments. 

Lord North rarely rose to sublimity, 
though ho possessed vast facility and 
command of language. If necessary, he 



the close of 1780, during the debate could speak for a long time, apparently 



which arose upon Sir Hugh Palliser's 
nomination to the government of Green- 
wich Hospital ; Lord North having ex- 
hibited his talents in that line of de- 
fence, Fox exclaimed, " there may be 
ingenuity, and there doulitless is wit in 
the noble lord's reply, but there is no 
judgment. A joke constitutes a poor 
consolation for so many gallant admirals 
as have been forced out of the service. 
The prime minister is satisfied if he can 
only raise a laugh. He hopes that if the 
opposers of his measures cannot approve 
his reasoning, they may still be cora- 



with great pathos, and yet disclose no 
important fact, nor reveal any secret. I 
have heard Fox himself, while inveigh- 
ing in the strongest manner against 
Lord North, yet bear a sort of reluc- 
tant testimony to his ability in this re- 
spect. When the subject of opening a 
treaty with the American colonies was 
agitated in the House of Commons, to- 
wards the conclusion of the session of 
1781, the first minister having opposed, 
on general grounds, the motion brought 
forward by opposition, Fox, in the 
course of a long and very animated 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



167 



speech, observed, " The noble lord pre- 
fers speaking indefinitely on the present 
question. It is frequently inconvenient 
for him to answer directly to matters of 
fact, and he tlierefore amuses parliament 
with general ideas or propositions. For, 
there exists, not within these walls, nor 
in the kingdom, a more complete master 
of language than the chancellor of the 
exchequer, nor one who can more 
plausibly discourse on any subject." 
The sincerity, as well as the justice of 
this recognition, could admit of no dis- 
pute. Tlien adverting to Lord George 
Germain's well known fair or unguarded 
mode of expression, Fox added, " Tlie 
noble lord who sits near the first lord of 
the treasury, is less accustomed to en- 
tertain his audience with general 
speeches, and commonly comes directly 
to the fact." An unalterable suavity 
and equality of temper, which was na- 
tural to Lord North, enabled him to 
sustain, unmoved, the bitter sarcasms 
and severe accusations, levelled at him 
from the opposition benches. They 
always seemed to sink into him, like a 
cannon ball into a wool sack. Some- 
times, the coarse invectives of Alder- 
man Sawbridge, or the fiery sallies of 
George Byng, roused him from his 
seeming apathy; and effected the object, 
which the delicate irony, or laboured at- 
tacks of more able adversaries, had 
failed to produce. Once, and only 
once, during the time that I sat in par- 
liament, I witnessed his rising to a 
pitch of the most generous indignation. 
Barre attracted this storm on himself, 
by the reproaches which he made the 
first minister, for oppressing the people 
with taxes; or as he coarsely termed it, 
" scourging them to the last drop of 
their blood :" reproaches, equally un- 
called for by the occasion, as they were 
delivered with insulting asperity of lan- 
guage. 

The incident happened after the close 
of that memorable debate, when Gene- 
ral Conway, on the 22d of February, 
1782, may be said to have terminated 
the American war ; administration only 
carrying the question by a single vote. 
Lord North, alluding to this recent 
triumph of the opposition, said in reply 
to Barre, that " He presumed the divi- 
sion of that evening had inflamed the 



colonel's valour to such intemperate 
abuse," which he qualified with the 
epithets of "insolent and brutal." I 
scarcely ever recollect a scene of greater 
tumult and general disorder, than took 
place on his pronouncing the above 
words. The first minister had time, 
during the uproar and cries oi order, to 
recollect himself; and as soon as silence 
was in some measure restored, he apo- 
logised to the house for his indiscre- 
tion ; adding in a manner the most good 
humoured, '■ To bs sure, Mr. Speaker, 
it was wrong in me, who have been so 
long accustomed to parliamentary abuse, 
to be irritated at any expressions. I 
can bear, 1 believe, as much as any 
man ; and I am persuaded, the house 
will give nie credit, when I repeat that I 
support abuse as patiently as any indi- 
vidual." Several of the opposition 
members, among whom were Colonel 
Barre's colleague, Dunning, and Mr. 
William Pitt ; insisting that a personal 
excuse or apology was due to Barre 
himself, as well as to the house, Lord 
North submitted to the expressed plea- 
sure of the assembly. " But, the co- 
lonel, " cui lumen adonptwn,''' by no 
means manifested the same suavity and 
complacency in accepting, which the 
chancellor of the exchequer had exhi- 
bited in makincr, the required apology. 
Getting up, he began a speech of con- 
siderable length, by observing that 
"Though he in general differed upon 
political points with the noble lord, and 
despised him as a minister, yet as a pri- 
vate genUeman, he esteemed ,Lord 
North." He then proceeded to demon- 
strate that every member possessed a 
right to use witli impunity, the most 
severe epithets towards a public func- 
tionary, the servant of the state, though 
that right was not reciprocal. He 
would even have again recapitulated the 
particulars of the whole transaction, 
if Cornwall had not very properly 
interposed from the chair, and imposed 
silence on him. Thus terminated the 
business. Pitt did not then foresee that 
a day would arrive, when he should 
stand precisely in the predicament of 
Lord North. No doubt, Pitt and 
Tierney, when they met on Putney 
Common in 1798, exchanged shots for 
less provocation : but, a duel between 



les 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Lord North and Barre, would have ex- 
cited a sort of ridicule ; the former see- 
ing very imperfectly with both eyes, 
and the latter possessing only one de- 
fective eye. Besides, the emotions of 
anger and resentment appeared to be 
foreign to Lord North's nature, and as if 
only put on occasionally in order to 
serve a particular purpose. He was 
indeed incapable of retaining enmity, 
though he felt, and sometimes expressed 
contempt for those individuals, who 
abandoned him from mean and merce- 
nary motives. The best proof of his 
placability was exhibited by himself, 
several years afterwards, accompanied 
with that wit and pleasantry which cha- 
racterised him on every oc ;asion. 
Barre and he meeting on the Pantiles at 
Tunbridge Wells, where great civilities 
took place between them ; " Colonel," 
said Lord North, " notwithstanding all 
that may have passed formerly in par- 
liament, when we were on different 
sides, I am persuaded that there are not 
two men in the kingdom, who would 
now be more happy to see each other." 
They were both at that time totally de- 
prived of sight, and led about by their 
attendants. 

Baited, harassed, and worried as he 
always was in parliament, during the 
latter years of his administration, he 
never manifested any impatience for the 
termination of the session : on the con- 
trary, doubts were entertained among 
those persons who knew him best, whe- 
ther he did not derive a gratification 
from keeping the House of Commons 
sitting. That assembly presented in 
fact a theatre on which he acted tlie 
first personage, where he attracted almost 
all attention, and where his abilities ren- 
dered him hardly less conspicuous, than 
4iis ministerial situation. In opening 
the budget, he was esteemed peculiarly 
lucid, clear, and able. On that account 
it constituted a day of triumph to his 
friends and supporters, who exulted in 
the talent which he displayed, whenever 
he exhibited the state of the national 
finances, or imposed new pecuniary 
burthens. I was twice present at his 
performance of this arduous task ; first, 
in 1781, and afterwards, in the follow- 
ing year, when he executed it for the 
last time. Each performance appeared 



to me, very deserving of the encomiums 
lavished on it; and if compared vvith 
the incapable manner in which the hud- 
get was opened by his successor, Lord 
John (Javendish, when he was chancel- 
lor of the exchequer in 1783, 1 still con- 
tinue ol the same opinion. But Lord 
North could sustain no competition with 
the late Mr. Pitt, who on those, as on 
all oilier occasions, manifested a perspi- 
cuity, eloquence, recollection, and talent, 
altogether wonderful; which carried 
the audience along with him in every 
arithmetical statement, left no calcula- 
tion obscure or ambiguous, and impress- 
ed the house at its close with tumultu- 
ous admiration. 

Lord North could descend without ef- 
fort, I might say, with ease and dignity, 
from the highest offices of his public 
situation in the House of Commons, to 
the lowest duties of a private member. 
In the spring of the year 1781, when 
"the Secret Committee for enquiring into 
the Causes of the War in the Carnatic," 
was appointed by ballot, I was named 
one of the scrutineers, to examine the 
names of the persons chosen to compose 
it. The house being about to break 
up, we were standing round the table, 
when some voices called out the name 
of Lord North for a scrutineer. Far 
from declining to engage in such an oc- 
cupation, which he might easily have 
done, on account of his official busi- 
ness and employments, he instantly re- 
paired with the members nominated, to 
one of the committee rooms. We sal 
till a late hour before the scrutiny was 
finished, and dined together up stairs. 
And if he made the worst scrutineer, 
he was certainly the pleasantest and 
best companion, during the whole time- 
He possessed a classic mind, full of in- 
formation, and always enlivened by wit, 
as well as sweetened by good humour. 
When young, he had travelled over a 
considerable part of Europe, and he 
knew the continent well : he spoke 
French with facility, and was equally 
versed in the great writings of antiquity. 
It was impossible to experience dulness 
in his society. Even during the last 
years of his life, when nearly or totally 
blind, and labouring under many infirmi- 
ties ; yet his equanimity of temper never 
forsook him, nor even his gaiety, and 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



169 



powers of conversation. I have fre- 
quently seen him display the utmost 
cheerfulness, under those circumstances 
so trying to human nature. 

As a statesman, his enemies charged 
him with irresolution : but he might ra- 
ther be taxed with indolence and procras- 
tination, than with want of decision. 
He naturally loved to postpone, though 
when it became necessary to resolve, 
he could abide firmly by his determi- 
nation. Never had any minister purer 
hands, nor manifested less rapacity. 
In fact, he amassed no wealth, after an 
adminislraUon of twelve years. When 1 
he quitted office, his circumstances were 
by no means opulent, and he had a nu- 
merous family. I well remember that 
when Powis accused him (in the course 
of that memorable speech which made 
so deep an impression on the house pro- 
nounced in December, 1781), of insen- 
sibility to the calamities of tlie country, 
and (»f clinging to employment, from 
unworthy motives of an interested or pe- 
cuniary nature ; Lord North repelled the 
imputation with the calmness and dig- 
nity of conscious integrity. " I do not 
desire," said he, " to make any affected 
display of my personal purity or disin- 
terestedness. I will, however, declare, 
that with respect to my inco(ne, I 
would most cheerfully give it all ; not 
only the part which 1 derive from the 
public purse, but my own private for- 
tune, if I could thereby accelerate an 
honourable, speedy, and advantageous 
peace !" There was not, I believe, a 
man on the opposite side of the house, 
without even excepting George Byng 
or Sawbridge, though both were bitter 
enemies to the minister, who doubted 
either his sincerity or his veracity. His 
adversaries reproached him likewise, 
that though incapable of personally de- 
scending to unworthy means of enrich- 
ing himself, he allowed speculations or 
abuses to be practised by those em- 
ployed under him. Sawbridge, when 
speaking in his place, as a member of 
parliament, alluding to this accusation, 
exclaimed with Calo, 

" Curse on his virtues, they've undone his 
country!" 

A similar charge was made against 
15 



the late Mr. Pitt, who, after having 
been first minister during almost his 
whole life, left only debts behind him. 
But it never entered into any man's 
mind, however inimical he might be, to 
accuse either Lord North or Mr. Pitt, 
of making undue purchases in the public 
funils, or of turning their ministerial in- 
formation to private purposes of pecu- 
niary emolument. They were known 
to be upright and disinterested. The 
great delect of Lord North's government 
arose from the easiness of his natural 
temper, which sometimes perhaps in- 
duced him to adopt or to defend measures 
that had not always the sanction of his 
judgment. Another, and perhaps a 
greater evil, arising from his facility and 
want of energy, was, that he did not, 
like the great Earl of Chatham, suffi- 
ciently coerce the other members of the 
cabinet ; each of whom, under Lord 
North, might be said to form a sort of 
independent department. They were in 
fact, rather his co-equals, than his subor- 
dinates, as they ought to have been ; and 
the public service often sufl'ered, as I 
well know, from iheir want of union, or 
from their clashinginteresis, and private 
animosities. Duudas himself, while 
making the panegyric of his friend the 
first minister, yet avowed this constitu- 
tional defect in his formation of mind., 
It happened on the 12lh of December, 
1781, during one of the debates in the 
House of Commons previous to the ter- 
mination of the American war. " The 
noble Lord in the blue ribband," said 
Dundas, *' is actuated in all his measures 
by the most disinterested zeal for his 
country. He wants only one quality 
to render him a great and distinguished 
statesman ; I mean, a more despotic and 
commanding temper.'' Burke affected 
to treat with contemptuous ridicule, 
these eulogiums of the lord advocate 
on the chancellor of the exchequer. 
" The splendour of the noble lord's pub- 
lic character and administration," observ- 
ed he, " can only be equalled by the 
sincerity of the learned lord's praises." 
But, whatever motives might be impu- 
ted to Dundas, the fact was indisputable. 
Lord North excited affection, as well as 
respect; and awakened admiration at his 
variety of talents and attainments. But 
he knew not how to inspire terror, like 



170 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the first Mr. Pilt ; of whom Wilkes says, ) unguarded in private conversation, or in 
that " the keen lighlning^s of his eye | debate, he was careless in many respects, 
spoke the haujjhiy, fiery soul, before his [ to a degree hardly credible. I have 
lips had pronoiuifed a syllable." Even heard a member of his cabinet say, that 
liis son, the late first minister, though '• it was dangerous to trust him with state 
he wanted the featwres of the father, in- papers, which he perpetually mislaid or 
heriled no inconsiderable portion of" the iorgot. A letter of the first political ini- 
lightniiigs of his eye." j portance, addressed to him by the king, 

Want of political couracre cannot be j which he had lost ; after a long search, 
justly attributed to Lord North. If we ! was found lying wide open in the water- 
reflect that his administration equalled I closet. A strong and mutual afl^'ection 
in duration, the aggregate period occu- 1 subsisted between his majesty and him, 
pied by the five preceding mini.-iters, ! as was natural, after the many heavy 
namely, Mr. Pitt, Lord Bute, Mr. Gren- ' storms that they had weathered together, 
ville. Lord Rockingham, and the Duke for so many years. This attachment on 
of Grafton; — and if we consider how the part of the former, though shaken 
critical, as well as [)erilous, were the and interrupted when Lord North joined 
limes, particularly during the reverses Mr. Fox in 1783, yet revived in the 
of the American war, and throughout the I royal bosom at a subsequent period, on 
riots of June, 1780, which last convul- j Lord North becoming blind ; a circum- 
sions might have appalled the stoutest I stance at which, when made known to 
mind; we shall not refuse him a jnstj him, his majesty expressed the deepest 
claim to the praise of ministerial firm- | concern and syinpalhy. He did not then 
ness. Even hi.- ultimate resignation in ' probably foresee that he should himself 
1782, 1 am convinced, arose more from ! be visited with the same affliction ; a 
disgust and weari+vess, added to despair, } point of similarity between them, which 
than from personal fear, or from any is not a little remarkable, 
defect of nerves. How well aware he | Besides his ministerial offices. Lord 
was of the precarious tenure by which j North was lord warden of the Cinque 
he held his power during the four or | Ports, and Lady North enjoyed the ran- 
five last years of the American war, and i gership of Bushy Park. It was there, 
how suddenly he might be compelled to j that having escaped from the " Fumum 
quit his official residence in Downing ! et opes strepitumque Romae,^^ surround- 
street, may be inferred from a single | ed by his family, he appeared peculiarly 
circumstance. He had a house at tlie ' an object of esteem and of attachment, 
south east angle of Grosvenor Square, ! divested of all form or ostentation ; 
•vhich from its situation in so elegant lively and playful as a boy, yet never 
and fashionable a quarter of the town, j without dignity ; difl'using gaiety and 
would easily have found a permanent I good humour round him. Even those 
tenant. But, Lord North, conscious on who opposed the minister, involuntarily 



how frail a basis his administration re- 
posed, would never let it for a longer 
period than one year. In consequence 
of this pinci[)le, it annually changed its 
possessor ; and being frequently taken 



oved the man. I have had the honour 
to visit him at Bushy Park, to dine with 
him when no otherslranger was present, 
and to participate of the scene that I 
here describe. As Pope asserts of Sir 



by newly married couples, ii olitained \ Robert VValpole, so may 1 on this sub 
the name of Honey Moon Hall. To the ! ject say, 
house of which I speak, Lord North 
repaired at the termination of his minis- 
try, and continvied to reside in it while 
inhabiting London, down to the time of 
his decease in 1792. I have often paid 



'Seen him I have, but in the social hour 
Of private converse, ill exchanged for power* 



The Earl of Guildford, Lord North's 
my respects to him there of evenings, i father, attained to a very advanced age: 



between hisla t dismission from employ- 
ment in December, 1783, and the close 
of his life; never without sentiments of 
admiration iSnd respect. Though not 



I believe, to eighty-six, and had nearly 
survived his son, only dying about two 
years before him. So that Lord North, 
like his predecessor, Sir Robert Wal-» 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



171 



pole, remained a member of thfi House 
of Commons, durinir almost iiis wliole 
life. Lord Guildford had been three 
times married ; Dr. North, the present 
Bishop of VViachesler, being his son by 
the second wife. Lord North sprung 
from his first marriage. The minister 
secured the reversion, if I may so term 
it, of the bishoprick of Winc-hester, for 
his brother, by a piece of address. For, 
the archiepisoopal see of York havinjj- 
become vacant on the decease of Dr. 
Druinniond; Lord North, who knew 
that the king had destined tliat hiiih ec- 
clesiastical promotion for Dr. Markham. 
then Bishiip of Chester, deifrniined 
nevertheless to ask it for Dr. Nordi, 
Bishop of Worcester. Conscious that 
he should meet with a refusal, for which 
he was prepared, he ably made it sub- 
servient to the atiainntent of his real ob- 
ject, Winchester ; a mitre that might 
be reasonably expected soon to drop, 
from the aofe and infirmities of its pos- 
sessor, Dr. Thomas. When Lord North 
preferred his request, the king replied, 
that it was impossible to gratify him, as 
the archbishoprick of York must be 
conferred on the Bishop of Chester. The 
first minister insisted : but the sovereign 
remained firm, recapitulated tlie obliga- 
tions which he owed to Dr. Markham, 
for his care of the Prince of Wales's 
education, and left no prospect of effect- 
ing any change in his resoluiioii. " Your 
majesty then," said Lord North, " will, 
I hope, have no objection to give my 
brotlier the see of Winchester, when- 
ever it may become vacant?" "Oh, 
by all means," answered the king, 
" you may rely on it :" a promise, which 
soon afterwards received its accomplish- 
ment. 

I will conclude the subject of Lord 
North, on which I dwell with compla- 
cency, by observing, that though he can- 
not be esteemed a great statesman in the 
most comprehensive sense ; though he 
neither possessed those vast energies of 
character and extraordinary talents, 
which have immortalized the first Mr. 
Pitt ; nor that assemblage of qualities 
fitted for the conduct of a popular govern- 
ment, which distinguished the second 
Mr. Pitt; though Lord North was even 
a very unfortunate, as well as a most 
unpopular minister, during the far greater 



part, or the whole course of his adniinis- 
tration ; yet he possessed distinguished 
claims to national esteem. The Ameri- 
can war formed the weight which dragged 
him down : a load that would have sunk 
the great Lord Chatham himself, if he 
had attempted to lift it, notwithstanding 
his endowments of mind, sus^lained by 
popular favour. In the year 1758, when 
that eminent statesman was called to the 
direction of p\iblic affairs, not by the 
sovereign, but by the nation, he had only 
to conduct and point the resources of 
the country against France. His son, 
in 1793, beheld himself placed, as the 
champion of order, morals, religion, and 
monarchical government, in -opposition 
to the most sanguinary and detestable 
republic (if a fierce democracy, whose 
sceptre was the guilloline, could be with 
justice entitled to that denomination) ; 
which ever arose among men. Both 
ministers were in some measure sustain- 
ed and impelled by the very contest. 
But Lord North, who derived litile sup- 
port from his countrymen, and none 
from the nature of the war, could only 
look to the crown for protection against 
public clamour, in and out of parliament. 
In the distribution of honours and digni- 
ties, he was far more sparing than his 
successor ; a fact of which we shall be 
convinced, if we compare the list of 
peerages created between 1770 and 1782, 
with those made by Mr. Pitt, when first 
minister, within the same portion of 
time, during any period of his adminis- 
tration. Nor was Lord North equally 
profuse of the public money, as Mr. Pitt 
proved himself, whatever severity of cen- 
sure he underwent for his extravagance 
or negligence, in the management and 
expenditure of the finances. No im- 
peachment of any subordinate minister, 
or of any member of his cabinet, ever 
took place, for defalcation, or misappli- 
cation of sums which passed through his 
hands, as we witnessed in 1805. Yet 
the opposition in the lower bouse of 
parliament, during the whole progress of 
the American war, exceeded in numbers, 
and at least equalled in virulence, the 
minority which impeached Lord Mel- 
ville. 

As a man, considered in every private 
relation, even in his very weakn^^sst s. 
Lord North was most amiable. Under 



172 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



that point of view, his characli;r will rise j 
on a comparison with any hrsl minister 
of Great Britain, who existed during liie 
course of the eighteenth century ; not 
excepting Lord Godolphin, Mr. Pelham, 
or the Marquis of Rockingham. The 
two former individuals were justly ac- 
cused of a passion for play, which ac- 
companied them through life ; a vice 
from which Lord North was wholly 
exempt. Burnet, who recounts the 
fa(;l relative to the Lord Treasurer Go- 
dolphin, says, " He loved gaming the 
most of any man of business 1 ever 
knew; and gave one reason for it; be- 
cause it delivered him from the obligation 
to talk much." Dodington, when re- 
laiing Mr. Pelham's attachment to the 
same ruinous gratification, adds, that he 
studiously concealed it with the utmost 
care. Lord North possessed better in- 
tellectual resources in himself. He pos- 
sessed likewise the highest sources of 
enjoyment in his family, surrounded by 
his numerous and amiable children, 
'i'he Marquis of Rockingham, however 
personally estimable, was childless ; 
and liord Bute's fire-side was not cha- 
racterized by the same expansion of the 
heart, the same emancipation from all 
severity of form, or the same ebullitions 
of fancy and intellect. His immediate 
predecessor, the Duke of Grafton, re- 
s.pecling whom "Junius" observes, 
when speaking of his domestic qualities, 
" Your grace has now made the complete 
revolution of the political zodiac, from 
the scorpion in which you stung Lord 
(Chatham, to the hopes of a virgin in 
the House of Bioomsbury ;" — the duke 
could support no competition with Lord 
North, in the endearing charities of life, 
where the minister becomes merged in 
the father, the husband, and the indi- 
vidual. If we would try to find his 
equal in these endowments and virtues, 
we must remount to Wriolhesley, Earl 
of Southampton, or to Hyde, Earl of 
Clarendon. Every beholder, while 
contemplating the monument where rest 
the remains of the great Earl of Chat- 
ham, or of the second Mr. Pitt, erected 
to their memory by national gratitude, 
must be penetrated with emotions of 
admiration and respect: but, all those 
who personally knew Lord North, or 
had ever mixed with him in society, 



when regarding his tomb, would in- 
voluntarily find their eyes suffused in 
leiTs. 

The post of secretary of state for the 
northern department, was at that time 
filled by Lord Stormont ; a nobleman, 
who having passed great part of his life 
in a diplomatic capacity, on the conti- 
nent, principally at the courts of Dresden 
and Vienna, necessarily possessed a 
considerable knowledge of the interests 
and politics of Europe. He had never- 
theless manifested no great vigilance, 
nor displayed any superior penetration, 
during his recent embassy at Paris ; 
where, it was commonly believed, he 
had been deceived by the protestations, 
or duped by the artifices, of Maurepas 
and of Vergennes, previous to the open 
interference of France in the afi'airs of 
America. I well remember, Powis, 
when speaking of him, on the 8th of 
March, 1782, in the course of a speech 
which made a deep impression on the 
House of Commons, observed, " Lord 
Stormont fills the post of one of the . 
secretaries of state. But, what treaties 
has he ever signed ? In what instance 
has he ever displayed the talents of a 
statesman or a politician 1 Perhaps he 
may have received at his office, and 
notified to the king in due form, accounts 
of the birth, the marriage, or the death 
of foreign princes. But, all his politics 
seem there to terminate. How far he 
can be regarded as a proper minister to 
negotiate peace with the American colo- 
nies, we may infer from one of his 
answers to them." — "His majesty's 
ministers receive application from rebels, 
only when they sue for pardon." Yet, 
what other reply could Lord Stormont 
then make, representing, as he did, the 
king, whose embassador he was at the 
court of Versailles ? Decorated with the 
insignia of the order of the thistle, his 
person, noble and imposing, presented 
the appearance of a man of quality : but 
his manners, destitute of amenity, stiff 
and constrained, were not calculated to 
ingratiate, or to seduce. His enemies 
accused him of parsimony ; and his 
greatest admirers admitted that he bore 
no resemblance to Timon, either in his 
household, his table, or his general ex- 
pense. His near alliance to the Earl 
of Mansfield, of whom he was the ne- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



173 



phew and collateral heir, if it conferred 
no claim to popular favour, unquestion- 
ably conduced to render him more ac- 
ceptable at St. James's. Even his op- 
ponents admitted liim to possess jiulir- 
ment, as well as applicatitm ; and when- 
ever he rose in the House of Peers, he 
displayed a thorough acquaintance with 
itie subject on which he spoke, together 
with great precision of language, and 
force of argument. 

The Earl of Hillsborough, who held 
the southern department, was a man of 
elegant manners, and wanted neither 
ability, nor attention to public business : 
but, his natural endowments, however 
solid, did not arise above mediocrity. 
He had owed his political, as well as 
personal elevation in life, more to his 
good sense, penetration, suavity, and 
address, than to any intellectual supe- 
riority. At St. James's he was more at 
home, than at Westminster; and might 
rather be esteemed an accomplislied 
courtier, than a superior minister. His 
mind was indeed highly cultivated, but 
ii seemed to be rather the information 
of a gentleman, than the knowledge of a 
statesman. I have seen him much em- 
barrassed and disconcerted in the session 
of 1781, when called on officially in the 
House of Lords, to explain, or to jus- 
tify, the measures adopted in Bengal: 
— an embarrassment which arose from 
his ignorance of names, places, and cir- 
cumstances in that quarter of the globe, 
^with which, as secretary of state for the 
East Indies, he ought to have been ac- 
quainted. We must, however, recollect 
that very few persons, except such as 
were locally connected with India, had 
then attained any accurate information 
respecting the company's territories, 
revenues, and atTairs. Of this assertion 
I could adduce many proofs. In Fe- 
bruary, 1782, when Lord Shelburne, 
while speaking in tiie House of Peers, 
made allusion to " a king, or supreme 
rajah of the Mharattas." he felt himself 
compelled to explain to their lordships, 
the natvire and narrow limits of that 
nominal sovereitiniv ; with which, as 
well as with the ohice of '' peshvv.i," 
or efficient ruler of the M haratta empire, 
nine-tenths of his audience were utterly 
onacquaintcd. I recollect the a.-tonish- 
tiient, not unmixed with tiuuic degree ol 
15* 



ridicule, excited in the House of Com- 
mon's on Governor Johnstone's first 
mention and description of the Harbour 
of Trincomale in the Island of Ceylon ; 
a bay, which probably, till that occa- 
sion, had never been heard of by the 
greater part of the country members. 
Though the irruption of Hyder Ally into 
the Carnatic in 1780, powerfully awa- 
kened and attracted the national attention 
to the subject; it was Fox's memora- 
ble " Bill," followed at a short interval, 
by Hastings's trial, that diffused over 
the whole kingdom, an eagerness for 
oriental knowledge. 

But Lord George Germain, who pre- 
sided over the American department, ex- 
cited, from a variety of causes, far more 
public consideration, while he presented 
a fairer mark for parliamentary attack, 
or for popular declamation, than either 
of the other secretaries of slate. His 
recognised abilities, the circumstance of 
his being a member of the House of 
Commons; not, like his two colleagues, 
removed from the front ranks of war- 
fare, by their situation in the upper 
House of Parliament ; even the events 
of his former life, when commanding 
the British forces in Germany ; and 
above all, the object of the war in which 
we were engaged;' a war, that at the 
commencement of 1781, still professed 
to be the subjugation of the revolted 
colonies ; — these united circumstances 
rendered him, after Lord North, the 
most prominent person in adminis- 
tration. As 1 had the honour to enjoy 
a place in his friendship, and to live 
with him during the latter years of his 
life, on terms of great inlimacy, I may 
pretend to haveknown him well. Nor will 
I deny that I am partial to his memory ; 
but, that partiality will never induce me 
to pervert, or to misrepresent any fact; 
though 1 am aware that it may uninten- 
tionally bias my opinion. He had 
completed his sixty-tifiii year, at this 
time ; but, a frame of body naturally 
robust, and a vigorous constitution, 
secured him almost uninterrupted 
health, together with the enjoyment 
of all his faculties ; among which, his 
memory was conspicuous. In his 
per'^on, which roic to near six feet, he 
was muscular, and capable of enduring 
much bodily as well as menial fatigue. 



174 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Though liis features were strongly pro- 
nounced and saturnine, yet considered 
together as a whole, their effect by no 
means displeased. An air of high birth 
and dignity, illuminated by strong 
sense, pervaded every lineament of his 
face. His countenance indicated intel- 
lect, particularly his eye, the motions of 
which were quick and piercing. On 
first acquaintance, his manner and air 
impressed those who approached him 
wiih an idea of proud reserve; but no 



that period, the materials which he pro- 
fusely threw before me, 1 might have 
composed a work of the highest interest 
to the present age, and to posterity : but 
mine are only reminiscences. 

Though Lord George Germain was 
highly born, his education did not alto- 
gether correspond with his extraction, 
and he owed far more to nature than 
to cultivation. He had, indeed, been 
brought up in the college of Dublin ; 
but he possessed little information de- 



man, in private society, unbent himself rived from books, nor had he improved 
more, or manifested less self-importance, his mind by extensive reading, in 
In the midst of his family ; — for he the course of subsequent years. Even 



rarely dined from home, except at the 
cabinet dinners; and in the company of 
a few select friends, he soon forgot the 
toils annexed to public life, the aspe- 
rities of debate, and the vexations of 
office. Even after the latest nights in 
the House of Commons, he always sat 
down to a delicately served table, drank 



after his retreat from public employment, 
in the decline of life, wlien at Drayton, 
where he possessed a fine library, he 
rarely opened an author, except for a 
short time on his return from coursing, 
shooting, riding, or other favourite exer- 
cises. He had visited Paris, when 
young, with his father, the Duke of 



a pint of claret, unbent his mind, and Dorset ; and the French language was 
passed in review the incidents of the familiar to him : but, with Horace, 
preceding evening. It was then that Tacitus, or Cicero, he had formed little 



his conversation became most enter- 
taining; seasoned with curious anec- 
dotes collected during the course of a 
long life, passed in the highest circles, 
amidst the greatest affairs in England, 
Ireland, Scotland, and on the conti- 
nent, where he had served ; embra- 
cing the secret history of the present, 
and of the two late reigns. Nor was 
his information limited to the accession 
of the Hanoverian line, but extended to 
the preceding sovereigns. The Duchess 
of Dorset, his mother, had been a maid 
of honour to Queen Anne ; and his 
father, the duke, remembered William 
the Third. When Lord George eniereti 
on the events of those times, he n)ighi 
be said to raise the curtain that con- 
cealed from vulgar eyes, the palaces of 
Whitehall, of St. James's, of Kensing- 
ton, and of Hampton Court, 'i'he pri- 
vate adventures, all the minute recitals 
calculated to awaken, as well as to 
gratify curiosity ; many particulars rela- 
tive to the illustrious persons of both 
sexes who composed the courts of Wil- 
liam and of Anne; particulars, which 
though the gravity of historymay disdain, 
yet which delight and instruct; — -such 
were the frequent subjects of his dis- 
course. Had I committed to paper at 



acquaintance. His initiation into pub- 
lic life, politics, and parliament, took 
place too early, to admit of storing his 
mind with classic images or ideas. 
Though he was versed in English his- 
tory since the time of Elizabeth, during 
which period of near two centuries, 
some one of his immediate ancestors had 
almost always sat, and sometimes pie- 
sided, in the councils of the sovereign, he 
was not conversant in our annals of an 
earlier date. l>ut, on the other hand, 
he had witnessed much with his own 
eyes, he had heard still more from 
others, he seized with eiise on whatever 
w;is submilled to his understanding, and 
he forgot nothing. 

In business he was rapid, yet clear 
and accurate ; rather negligent in his 
style, which was that of a gentleman and 
a man of the world, unstudied, and fre- 
quently careless, even in his official 
despatches. But,there was no obscurity 
or ambiguity in his compositions. 
Capable of application in cases of neces- 
sity, he nevertheless passed little time at 
the desk, or in the closet: and while 
secretary of state, under critical, as well 
as perilous circumstances, when every 
courier brought, or might bring, accounts 
the most disastrous ; no man who sa\^ 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



175 



him at table, or of an evening in his 
drawing room, would liave suspected from 
his deportment anti conversation, tliat tiie 
responsibility of the American war re- 
posed princi|ially on his shoulders. More 
than one member of the cabinet was sup- 
posed to enjoy a greater degree of per- 
sonal acceptability with the king ; but 
none exercised the privilege of speaking 
wiiii more freedom to him. Lord Ueorge 
seldom hazarded to ask favours ; but when 
he undertook any cause, he rarely re- 
ceded till he had obtained the object. 
Dr. Eliot, who then practised physic 
with some celebrity, and of whose medi- 
cal skill Lord George entertained a high 
opinion ; induced him to exert his inter- 
est at court,- for procuring the doctor to 
be created a baronet. The king, who 
disliked Eliot personally, and regarded 
his professional talents with as little par- 
tiality, displayed much repugnance to 
grant the request. Yielding, however, at 
last, " Well," my lord," said he, " since 
you desire it, let it be : but, remember, 
he shall not be my physician." " No, 
sir," answered Lord George, bowing, 
" He shall be your " Majesty's baronet, 
and my physician." The king laugh- 
ed, and Eliot was raised to the barone- 
tage. 

In the House of Commons, down to the 
last hour that Lord George remained a 
member of that assembly, he was con- 
ptanUy the object of tlie severest and 
most pointed attacks of the opposition ; 
-who always hoped to force, from his 
irritability, the secret or the fact, which 
they had vainly attempted to extort from 
the apathy and tranquillity of Lord North. 
In this endeavour they frequently suc- 
ceeded ; for Lord George, goaded by 
reproaches, often fictitious, frequently 
unjust, and always exaggerated, gene- 
rally started up sooner or later, repelled 
the charges advanced, and in so doing, 
sometimes put the adversary in posses- 
sion of the very matter which they 
sought to discover. I have continually 
witnessed the fact to which I allude. 
Fox himself admitted this characteristic 
feature of Lord George's formation of 
mind. I recollect, that during the de- 
bate which took place relative to the 
capture of the Island of St. Eustaiius, in 
the session of 1781 ; Fox, while he 
censured most severely the proceedings 



of our commanders, in their confiscation 
of the private property there found, ac- 
knowledged " the unwary frankness of 
the secretary of state (Lord George), as 
a quality for which he was sometimes 
praised in the House of Commons, and 
blamed out of it." A still more con- 
spicuous exhibition of this merit, or of 
this delect in his character, — for 1 am 
uncertain under which class it ought to 
be ranked, — I witnessed only a few 
days later in the same session. Hurke 
having brought forward a very pointed 
and serious charge against government, 
for neglect in not supplying the garrison 
of Gibraltar, then beseiged by the Spa- 
niards, with gunpowder ; in consequence 
of which egregious want of percaution. 
Admiral Darby, when sent to the relief 
of the fortress, was reduced to the neces- 
sity of stripping his fleet, in order to 
leave two thousand barrels of powder in 
the magazine ; Sir Charles Cocks, Mr. 
Kenrick, Sir Charles Frederic, and other 
members of the board of ordnance, who 
were present, attempted to contradict 
the story as not authentic, or of which 
they had at least no information. But, 
George Byng persisting in the charge, 
and demanding a more satisfactory an- 
swer, the American secretary rose, and 
observed that though he could only speak 
from rumour, and had no official nor 
other intelligence on the point to com- 
municate, yet that his own opinion was, 
the report had a foundation in truth. 
He added, that if it should so turn out, 
Admiral Darby had acted in a very me- 
ritorious manner, by leaving for the sup- 
ply of the garrison whatever quantity of 
gunpowder he could spare, without en- 
dangering the saffity of his own fleet. 
Lord North remained silent during this 
avowal of Lord George, and took no 
part whatever in the debate. 

Lord George spoke, as he wrote, with- 
out much premeditation, from the im- 
pulse of the occasion ; in animated, 
rather than in correct language ; with 
vehemence, but not without dignity. 
His voice was powerful, and his ficrnre 
commanding; though he did not always 
thoroughly possess himself, nor display 
the coolness demanded by so trying a 
situation as that of American secretary. 
His opponents, who well knew, availed 
themselves of this defect in his formation 



176 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



of mind. On the other hand, the keen- 
ness of his sight gave him a prodigious 
advantage over Lord North, when in the 
House of Commons. Lord George Ger- 
main had nosooner taken his seat on the 
treasury bench, than he pcirvaded with a 
glance of his eye, the opposition benches ; 
saw who attended, as well as who were 
absent; and formed his conclusions ac- 
cordingly on the business of the day. 
He used to say, that for those who were 
enabled to exercise this faculty, every 
thing was to be seen in the house; 
where, on the contrary, nothing except 
<Jeclamation was to be gained by the ear. 
No man better understood the manage- 
ment of parliament ; the prolongation or 
acceleration of a debate, according to the 
temper or the number of the members 
present ; and every detail of official dex- 
terity or address, requisite in conducting 
affairs submitted to a popular assembly. 
To all these arts of government, he had 
served two long and severe apprentice- 
ships in Ireland, as secretary to his 
father, the Duke of Dorset, wben suc- 
cessively lord lieutenant of that king- 
dom. In political courage and firmness 
lie was not deficient. 1 have seen him 
in circumstances which sufficiently put 
those qualities to the proof, towards the 
close of the American war, when intelli- 
gence arrived of Lord Cornwallis's sur- 
render at Yorkiowii : a disaster of the 
most irreparable nature, the load of 
which fell almost exclusively on him- 
self. 

While summing up Lord George's 
character, it is so impossible not to think 
of the business at Minden, and conse- 
quently not to allude to it, that my 
silence on this subject would seem to 
imply my conviction of the justice of the 
sentence passed on him by the court 
martial. On the other hand, I feel how 
delicate and invidious a matter it is, on 
which to touch, even at the distance of 
more than half a century. Yet, as per- 
sonal and political courage, though alto- 
geilier dissimilar, are commonly con- 
sidered to have an intimate connexion ; 
as we are even with difficulty induced 
to allow, or duly to estimate any vir- 
tues, however eminent, in a man whom 
we suppdse to have been deficient in the 
former of those essential qualities ; as 
general prejudice is certainly in Jjord 



George's disfavour, and as I may claim 
to possess some information on the sub- 
ject, I shall enter briefly into the disqui- 
sition. 

I lay no stress on Lord George Ger- 
main's illustrious extraction, since we 
all know that the greatest houses have 
produced the most degenerate descend- 
ants ; instances of which in point, to 
which, from motives of delicacy and 
personal consideration I forbear alluding, 
have occurred in our own times. Pope 
justly exclaims, 

" What can ennoble slaves, or sots, or cowards T 
Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards !" 

It is nevertheless an incentive to noble 
achievements, when we descend from 
those who have performed such actions. 
The memorable letter of Edward, Earl 
of Dorset, describing his duel with Lord 
Bruce, under the reign of James the 
First, commemorated in the " Guar- 
dian ;" and the celebrated song, begin- 
ning, 

" To all you ladies now on land, 
We men at sea indite," 

which was composed by Charles, Earl 
of Dorset, Lord George's grandfather, 
as we are assured, on the night before 
the engagement between the English 
fieet, and that of Holland, commanded 
by Opdam, under Charles the Second's 
reign : — these two productions, which 
are as universally known as the lan- 
guage in which they are written, suffi- 
ciently attest that he drew his lineage 
from men of courage. His maternal 
grandfather. Marshal Colyear, brother 
of the first Earl of Portmore, and gover- 
nor of Namur, with whom Lord George 
passed much time in his youth ; had 
grown grey in all the sieges and battles 
of the Low Countries, under William 
the Third. As soon as England took 
a part in the war occasioned by the acces- 
sion of Maria 'I'heresa, in 1743, Lord 
George was sent to the continent ; where 
he served, if not with marked distinc- 
ion, certainly without the slightest re- 
proach, under the command of Loru 
Stair, and of his late Britannic Majesty. 
In 1745, at the battle of Fonlenoy, where 
such a number of our officers fell, he 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



177 



received a musket-ball in the breast, and 
was thrown upon a wagon, with many 
others. He had preserved the uniform 
that lie wore on that day, which I have 
seen and examined ; bearing on it tlie 
mark of the ball, corresponding to the 
place where he was struck, and other 
holes in the skirts of the coat, perfo- 
rated by bullets. During the domestic 
rebellion that followed the defeat of 
Fonlenoy, being recalled to his own 
country, he accompanied William Duke 
of Cumberland, from the commence- 
ment, to the close, of the insurrection in 
Scotland ; where great condemnation 
was bestowed on his services. 

Among the Dorset papers, which I 
have seen, were preserved a series of 
letters, addressed by him to the duke 
his father, containing many interesting 
incidents of the years 1745 and 1746, 
while he was serving in the Highlands, 
against the rebels. On the breaking 
out of the war in 1756, he acfompanied 
the late Duke of Marlborough, on those 
desultory expeditions to ttie coast of 
Normandy and Brittany, productive of 
little benefit, and of still less honour, 
when we boinbarded Si. Malo, and de- 
molished Cherburgh. After liie demise 
of the duke, which took place at Muns- 
ter, towards the close of 1758, it is well 
known that Lord George commanded 
the British forces during the ensuing 
campaign ; and in particular, at the bat- 
tle of Minden. That lie did not ad- 
vance at the head of the cavalry, on that 
occasion with the celerity tliat might 
have been wished; and that his delay 
is ever to be regretted on a national 
account, because, if he had so advanced 
the defeat of the enemy would have 
been much more complete ; that con- 
sequently he became a just subject of 
blame or of censure, if we judge by tJie 
result, and not by the motive; — all 
these points must be conceded to his 
accusers. But, the only question is, 
whether he manifested any such back- 
wardness to lead on the horse, after he 
received Prince Ferdinand's orders for 
that purpose, as justly rendered him liable 
to the suspicion of reluctance or to the 
imputation of cowardice ? 

The dispositions of Lieutenant Colo- 
nels Ligonier, Sloper, and Fitzroy, 
would certainly seem to affix on him, 



either one or the other of these charges. 
But, the evidence of Lieutenant Colonel 
Hotham, as well as the positive testi- 
mony of Captains Lloyd and Smith, 
two of Lord George's Aid-du-Camps, 
appears as completely to exculpate him. 
There were even negative, if not posi- 
tive doubts, stated by Hotham and 
Smith, relative to the accuracy, not to 
say the truth or existence, of the as- 
serted conversation held by Colonels 
Fitzroy and Ligonier with Lord George, 
when they successively delivered him 
Prince Ferdinand's orders. Captain 
Smith, Sir Sidney Smith's father, 1 
very intimately knew ; who was him- 
self a man of distinguished personal 
courage, strictly conscientious, and in- 
capable of asserting any fact that he dis- 
believed. He never entertained an idea 
that Lord George was withheld by un- 
becoming personal motives, from ad- 
vancing at Minden. Even on the testi- 
mony of Fitzroy, Sloper, and Ligonier, 
it plainly appeared that either Prince 
Ferdinand's orders were in themselves 
contradictory, or were misunderstood by 
the Aid-du-Camps, or were imperfectly 
delivered by them. Lord George dis- 
played evident irresolution under those 
circumstances. He first halted, and 
afterwards did not cause the cavalry to 
advance with the rapidity, that would 
have ensured the enemy s entire defeat. 
Probably, similar accidents happen in 
almost every great engagement. But, 
the world, which pardons the excesses 
of intemperate courage, never forgives 
the slightest appearance of backward- 
ness in the field. Prince Rupert, who 
three times ruined the affairs of Charles 
the First ; who by his impetuous valour, 
lost him the three battles of Edge Hill, 
of Marston Moor, and of Naseby, is 
pardoned by posterity : while Admiral 
Byng and Lord George Sackville re- 
main under imputation. Such, however 
unjust it seems, will ever be the lot of 
military men who venture to hold back, 
when they might go forward in action. 

It must nevertheless excite no small 
surprise, that Prince Ferdinand, though 
he alludes in the general orders issued 
on the day following the battle, to Lord 
George's supposed misconduct ; yet, in 
the first despatches sent to this country, 
containing the account of the victory, 



178 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



made no public mention whatever of it; i English public; by whom he was con 



and some days elapsed, before the prince 
preferred any formal accusation against 
him. 1 have seen among the Dorset 
papers, a series of Lord George's letters 
to his father, written from the allied army, 
during that campaign, extending to 
within very few days of the action at 
Minden. And I have likewise perused 
the notes addressed to Lionel, Duke of 
Dorset, from the foreign office of the 
secretary of state here, on the arrival of 
the official intelligence of the engage- 
ment; felicitating the duke on the result 
of a battle so glorious to this country, 
and in which he must necessarily feel so 
deep a personal interest. Not a word, 
nor a hint, appears in these notes of 
Lord George's supposed want of alacrity. 
How are we to explain this line of con- 
duct in the prince ? It would seem as 
if the charge should have instantly fol- 
lowed the act. 

George the Second, it must be re- 
membered, was at this time near seventy- 
six years old ; strongly prejudiced, as 
we well know, in favour of his relative 
and countryman. Prince FertHnand ; and 
naturally chagrined at an event, which, 
even though it should have been pub- 
licly recognized as the mere effect of 
misconception or mistake in the orders 
sent by the commander-in-chief, yet 
equally afforded subject for regret, on 
account of its injurious public conse- 
quences. Under these circumstances 
the court martial took place, and the 
king's sentiments respecting Lord 
George's culpability, were universally 
known throughout the country. It is a 
fact that his late majesty sent him a 
message, acquainting him of his own 
ideterminalion to put into execution the 
sentence of the court, whatever it might 
be, without delay or mitigation. Lord 
George was tried in March, 1760. Had 
the late king died in October, 1759, in- 
stead of October, 1760 ; or if Lord 
George's trial had taken place in 1701, 
might not the result, in all probability, 
have been far less severe, or altogether 
different, under a new reign, when the 
clamour of the hour had subsided ? 

Other considerations come to the aid 
of these reflections. In 1759 and 1760, 
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswic occupied 
a high place in Hhe admiration of the 



sidered as only inferior in the field, to 
the protestant hero, as he was then ab- 
surdly denominated ; Frederic, King of 
Prussia. But his popularity, I mean 
Prince Ferdinand's, proved of very 
short duration. As early as January, 
1761, we may see " in Dodinglon's 
Diary," how low the prince had fallen 
in general estimation, and what serious 
accusations were brought against him. 
Dodington, relating the particulars of a 
conversation wliich he had at that time 
with the Earl of Bute, says, I told him, 
" That I thought Prince Ferdinand was 
become as unpopular in the army, as he 
was once popular: that he was accused 
of three great heads of malversation. 
The first was, that he had exacted com- 
plete pay for uncomplete corps : the se- 
cond, that not one siiilling of all those 
devastating contributions, had been car- 
ried to the public account : the third, 
that he had received good money, and 
had paid the troops in bad, to a very 
great amount, and at a great discount." 
Tliese charges do not appear to have 
ever been refuted. The precedent of 
Admiral Byng, shot very unjuslly, on an 
accusation of cowardice, was recenf. If 
the members of the mditary tribunal 
who tried Lord George, believed that he 
had committed the same crime as the 
one imputed to that unfortunate naval 
commander, why did they not pass on 
him the same sentence ? There can be 
only one answer. The evidence brought 
forward, fell short of proof; and under 
those circumstances, they doubtless were 
not convinced that he merited death. 
But, still, as the prejudices, or prevailing 
opinions of the time, hardly admitted on 
the other hand, of his acquittal, they 
casliiered him. It is for posterity to 
revise, perhaps to reverse, that sentence : 
not juridically, but as a court of opinion, 
deciding in the last resort, on all human 
actions submitted to their censure or ap- 
proval. I have endeavoured fairly to 
state the leading circtimstances, on which 
they may found a judgment. 

Lord George's duel with Governor 
Johnstone, is a well known fact. On 
that occasion, even by his adversary's 
admission, he exhibited perfect self- 
possession ; presenting so fair and erect 
a mark, while he calmly waited for the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



179 



governor's fire, thai it exlorled from 
him an involuntary testimony of Lord 
George's coiiraiie. The late Lord Syd- 
ney, then Mr. Thomas Townsend, who 
was his lordship's second, equally wit- 
nessed and attested his coolness. How 
can we believe or conceive that such 
a man, on such a field as Minden, 
before so many spectators, would, from 
personal fear, have at once covered him- 
self with iiinominy ? As little is it 
proved, whatever we may suspect, that 
motives of personal animosity to Prince 
Ferdinantl, with whom we know he was 
on bad terms, operated on Lord George's 
mind, and impelled him to delay mov- 
ing forward with the cavalry to com- 
plete the victory. It is evident, on the 
calmest and most dispassionate review 
of the transaction, which has obtained 
such a melancholy celebrity in our mili- 
tary annals under George the Second ; 
that an ambiguity in Prince Ferdinand's 
orders to Lord George, or a contradic- 
tion in them, produced the whole mis- 
fortune. We may indeed assert, or be- 
lieve, that the British commander in- 
tentionally misunderstood them. But, 
where was the proof adduced of that 
fact? Captain Ligonier brings an order 
for the ivhole cavalry to advance. Colo- , 
nel Fitzroy, almost in the same mo- 
ment, orders only the British cavalry to 
advance. On receiving these opposite 
messages. Lord George halts the ca- 
valry, while he gallops up to Prince 
Ferdinand, in order to receive his per- 
sonal instructions. There might be 
error in this delay, and public injury 
might accrue from it, as Prince Ferdi- 
nand asserts did actually ensue, when 
in his " General Orders" above alluded 
to, he says, that if the " Marquis of 
Granby had been at the head of the 
cavalry of the riglit wing, he is per- 
suaded, the decision of that day would 
have been more complete and more bril- 
liant." Still there is no proof of Lord 
George's voluntary misconstrticlion of 
the orders, or of his reluctance to exe- 
cute them ; and the error might have 
originated in mistake, as well as in 
volition. How easily would the whole 
misfortune have been rendered impossi- 
ble, if Prince Ferdinand had, like Prince 
Eugene of Savoy, whom he might have 
copied on this point ; only sent one 



of his successive orders written in pen- 
cil? Prince Eugene expressly says in 
his "Memoirs" — "I derived much 
benefit from always carrying in my 
pocket a pencil, to write in the Officer's 
Memorandum Book, the order which I 
gave him to carry." Such was the constant 
practice of that illustrious commander, 
when in the field ; a practice peculiarly 
demanded in the instance before us, if 
Prince Ferdinand thought that he had 
any reason to doubt Lord George's 
prompt and ready obedience. 1 return 
from this digression. 

The Earl of Sandwich, who had pre- 
sided during ten years at the head of the 
admiralty, was universally admitted to 
possess eminent talents, great applica- 
tion to the duties of his office, and tho- 
rough acquaintance with public business. 
Like Lord George Germain, he was tall, 
of a vigorous frame, apparently design- 
ed for longevity ; and his physiognomy 
full of expression : but conviviality, ra- 
ther than forethought or profound reflec- 
tion, characterized his features. A dis- 
tinguished votary of wit, conviviality, 
and pleasure, like Wilmot, the licentious 
Earl of Rochester, from whom he line- 
ally descended, he had nevertheless been 
early initiated into political life ; and was 
sent by Mr. Pelham, then first minister, 
as one of the plenipotentiaries in 1748, 
at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. In all 
official functions he displayed perspicu- 
ity, as well as'despatch. No naval offi- 
cer who stated his demand to the first 
lord of the admiralty, with becoming 
brevity, ever waited for an answer; and 
he was accustomed to say, " If any man 
will draw up his case, and put his name 
at the foot of the first page, I will give 
him an immediate reply. Where he 
compels me to turn over the sheet, he 
must wait my leisure." How laconi- 
cally, yet forcibly he could write, with 
what conciseness and severity blended, 
he exhibited in his memorable note to 
Mr. Eden, afterwards created Lord Auck- 
land. That gentleman, when he quitted 
his political friends in 1786, in order to 
join Mr. Pitt, who sent him over to 
Paris, for the purpose of negotiating the 
commerical treaty ; addressed a circular 
letter to them, endeavouring to explain 
and to justify his line of conduct. Lord 
Sandwich, in answer to the letter that he 



180 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



received on the occasion, instantly wrote 
back, these words. "Sir, yovir letter is 
before me, and it will presently be be- 
hind me. I remain, sir, your most hum- 
ble servant." For the accuracy of this 
anecdote, I think I may answer, having 
received it from the late Earl of Sand- 
wich, his son ; though the " Quarterly 
Review" has had the impudence and 
folly to assert that "the joke was the 
property of Lord North." Polile, ac- 
cessible, and endowed with great natural 
capacity, it might have been expected 
that as hrst lord of the admiralty, he 
would acquire the public favour, in no less 
a degree than he enjoyed the confidence 
of his sovereign. But, many causes con- 
duced to render him an object of popular 
dislike ordisapprobation ; some of which 
were personal, others political. At an 
earlyperiod of his majesty's reign, Wilkes 
and Churchill combined their powers, 
in order to expose his character to uni- 
versal condemnation. The former, in 
his " Letter to the Electors of Ayles- 
bury," written from Paris, in October, 
1764, designates Lord Sandwich, as the 
most abandoned man of the age :" while 
Churchill, in his poem of the " Candi- 
date," speaking of him, says, 

" Vice, bold substantial vice, puts in her claim, 
And stamps him perfect in the books of shame, 
Observe tiis follies well, and you would swear 
Folly had been his first, his only care. 
Observe his vices, you'll that oath disown, 
And swear that he was borii for vice alone. 
Search earth, search hell, the devil cannot 

tind 
An agent like Lothariu to his mind." 

However unjust or exaggerated might 
be these accusations, yet we must own 
that the part he took in denouncing the 
" Essay on Woman," to tiie House of 
Peers, laid him open to the charge of 
breach of confidence ; and attracted to- 
wards him the severest animadversions 
of the author, whose pen inflicted the 
most incturable wounds. Though he 
had already attained at this time his 
sixty-second year, his licentious mode of 
life seemed more befitting a minister of 
Charles the Second, than a confidential 
servant of George the Third. His for- 
tune, which did not altogelhercorrespond 
with his high rank, and habits of grati- 
fication or expense, was supposed to 



lay him open to seduction ; or at least 
to render him capable of listening to 
propositions, that a more independent 
man might have disdained. Even his 
warmest adherents reluctantly admitted 
that the unanimity and concord, which 
previous to his being placed at the head 
of the admiralty, characterised the Bri- 
tish navy, was become extinct under his 
administration. I well recollect, the 
Honourable Captain John Luttrell, who 
in January, 1782, when Fox attacked 
Lord Sandwich, defended him with great 
zeal and no ordinary ability, in the 
House of Commons ; yet did not atletnpt 
to deny this feature of the time. " At 
present," said he, " the navy is torn to 
pieces by dissensions. Officers scarcely 
ever see eacti other, except on duty. 
Nor have they any longer access to the 
tables of their superiors, as formerly, 
when an Annon, a jBoscawen, a Hcnvke, 
a Saunders, and a Kepple commanded 
the fleets of England. Then, all was 
cordiality, ardour, and afl'ection. The 
commanders took a pride in teaching the 
inferior orders their professional duties. 
Now, party, disunion, mutual jealousy, 
and want of confidence, are universal." 
It would, however, be unjust to attri- 
bute so deplorable a change to the cha- 
racter, system, or conduct of the minis- 
ter who presided at the head ^f the naval 
department. It originated in the nature 
and spirit of a civil contest, '.which un- 
happily divided in sentiment the whole 
nation ; and like the wars under Charles 
the First, though not in so extended a 
degree, pervaded the island from one 
extremity to the other; tearing asunder, 
in many instances, the closest connex- 
ions of friendship, or even of consan- 
guinity. Ambition and sell-interest, two 
of the most powerful impulses to human 
action, were not always proof to politi- 
cal opinions, during the course of the 
American war, as we witnessed in vari- 
ous instances. 

Lord Sandwich's enemies, who were 
numerous and violent, maintained that 
even official appointments were some- 
times conferred, under conditions not 
honourable to the first lord of the ad- 
miralty. Naval commanders, sent to 
important stations, on which great emo- 
luments might be naturally expected to 
arise from captures, were asserted to 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



181 



liave a fellow feeling with their patron, 
and even to divide with him a certain 
proportion of their pecuniary acquisi- 
tions. However improbahle or unproved 
were these assertions, which doubtless 
originated in party malevolence ; yet, as 
names and minute particulars were 
added or invented, they obtained general 
credit, and made a deep impression. 
All the eloquence of Fox in one House 
of Parliament, and all the laborious per- 
tinacity of the Duke of Richmond in the 
other, had been employed during succes- 
sive sessions, not without etlecl, in im- 
pressing the public mind with unfavour- 
able sentiments towards him, Palliser 
was represented as the object of his par- 
tiality ; Kepple, as the victim of his 
persecution. During the riots of the 
preceding summer, in June, 1780, he 
had been marked out by the mob as a 
sacrifice, and narrowly escaped the 
efTects of their blind animosity. 

There can remain no reasonable doubt 
in the mind of any impartial man, that 
when Lord Sandwich succeeded Sir Ed- 
ward Hawke in that great office, the 
admiralty ; on the able and vigorous 
administration of which, theconsequence, 
power, and grandeur of Britain so emi- 
nently depend ; he found the navj' in a 
state of decline and depression. An in- 
judicious, narrow system of economy, 
had reduced the fleet to such a point, 
during the seven years subsequent to the 
peace, that in 1770, when we were me- 
naced with a rupture on the business of 
Falkland Islands, it was found impos- 
sible speedily to fit out a force compe- 
tent to impose the law on Spain. Lord 
Hawke, great on the element of the 
water, where he had triumphed over 
and nearly annihilated the French fleet 
in 1759, made a very inefficient first 
lord of the admiralty. I believe this 
fact was not contested by the warmest 
admirers of that illustrious commander, 
though Admiral Kep|)le, in a speech pro- 
nounced towards the close of the Ameri- 
can war, when every species of obloquy 
was heaped on Lord Sandwich, with a 
view to drive him out of office ; alludinir 
to Sir Edward Hawke, denominated 
him " the father of the English navy, 
whom it was now the fashion to revile." 
But Lord Mulgrave, rising immediately 
in reply, observed, " I love and revere 
16 



the memory of that gallant seaman so 
much, that I cannot sit here, and allow 
him to be degraded by unmerited praise. 
He was, indeed, so great and so able a 
seaman, that he was not formed for the 
details and civil duties of office : nor 
did 1 ever consider him as a great naval 
minister." Lord Sandwich was un- 
questionably industrious, zealous, inde- 
fatigable, enlightened, and in every point 
of view adequate to the duties of his sta- 
tion i but he could not surmount the 
augmenting pressure of war and cala- 
mity which, between 1775 and 1782, 
pressed upon this country. Yetscarcely 
iiad he been driven from the admiralty 
for pretended neglect or want of exer- 
tion, than the fleet which he had just 
sent out to the West Indies, obtained the 
most glorious and decisive victory over 
the enemy. 

With consummate ability, Lord Sand- 
wich had constructed a species of po- 
litical citadel within the ministerial 
trenches, which acknowledged hardly 
any other commander or comptroller 
than himself. The India House con- 
stituted this fortress, of which he was 
supposed to possess the secret keys. 
Many of the leading directors, among 
whom were the two chairmen, looked 
for orders, as it was commonly believed, 
not so much to Lord North, as to the 
first lord of the admiralty. The influ- 
ence, necessarily conferred by such a 
source of power, at a time when the 
East India Board of Control had no 
existence, cannot easily be estimated. 
He was not wanting in endeavours to 
sustain his interest in Leadenhall-street, 
by every possible means ; and well 
aware of its importance, he contrived to 
distribute among his chief adherents in 
that quarter, some of the minor honours 
of the crown. On all great occasions, 
when the concealed springs of that 
complicated machine, denominated the 
East India Company, were necessary 
to be touched, application was made to 
Lord Sandwich. Even the intimations 
sent iVom the treasury remained ineffi- 
cient, till confirmed by him ; and when 
the first minister, towards the close of 
the year 1780, was prevailed on to re- 
commend Lord Macartney for Governor 
of Madras, as successor to Rumbold, he 
found that no serious attention was paid 



182 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



to his wishes, before the admiralty lent 
its co-operation. So vast a field of 
exclusive patronage and favour, ren- 
dered its possessor not only independent 
of his colleagues in the cabinet, but 
formidable to iheni ; he might justly 
be accounted one of the most powerful, 
as he was certainly one of the most 
able, members of the administration. 

Fox, in order to render Lord Sand- 
wich odious, did not hesitate to enu- 
merate his commanding interest in 
Leadenhall-street, as one among his 
political crimes. On the 23d of Janu- 
ary, 1782, when Fox moved for a num- 
ber of papers, preparatory to the pro- 
posed inquiry into the administration of 
the admiralty under that nobleman ; he 
observed, that " of all the members of 
the cabinet, there was not one more 
formidable from influence, if so for- 
midable, as the Earl of Sandwich. As 
first lord of the admiralty, he could in- 
fluence a whole profession. As a minis- 
ter, he must of course be sustained by 
the influence of his colleagues in oflice. 
But," added he, " independent of these 
two sources of influence, Lord Sand- 
wich possesses a third, which, though 
not equal to the power of the crown, 
forms a material addition to it ; and 
when conjoined with it, is sufficient to 
crush any individual who shall venture 
to bring forward charges against him. 
The influence to which I allude, he de- 
rives from the East India Company.'''' 
Lord Mulgrave, who with very consider- 
able ability and great zeal defended 
Lord Sandwich ; after animadverting 
severely on the calumnies and invec- 
tives in which Fox had indulged himself 
against the first lord of the admiralty ; 
demanded, " What connection there 
was between the supposed influence 
possessed by the Earl of Sandwich in 
the India House, and his official conduct 
at the liead of the naval department?" 
Fox proceeded so far on the occasion to 
which I allude, as to denominate Lord 
Sandwich, " this faithful servant of the 
King of France.''^ Pulleney treated 
Sir Robert Wulpole in a similar manner. 
Adverting to the capture made by the 
Spaniards in 1780, when Captain Mou- 
tray's convoy fell into their hands. Fox 
observed, that " the circumstances at- 
tending It, augmented the suspicion 



occasioned by many other acts of the 
first lord of the admiralty ; that he was 
desirous to perform good and faithful 
service to his masters of the House of 
Bourbon.^' Not that Fox lent the 
slightest faith to these calumnious im- 
putations, of which he well knew the 
lalsehood and absurdity : but they were 
necessary towards attaining the great 
object, of overturning Lord North's 
administration. We cannot however re- 
flect without amazement, tiiat a House 
of Commons should allow such epithets 
to be used, and such charges to be made, 
by one of its own body, against a great 
nobleman, an earl of ancient family re- 
nowned for loyally, holding one of the 
highest employments, and himself a 
member of the cabinet. The fact itself 
eloquently proves how low the ministry 
was fallen in public respect and estima- 
tion, during the last weeks that Lord 
North continued at the head of aff'airs. 

With Lord Amherst, who had already 
passed his sixty-third year, I was well 
acquainted. In his person he was tall 
and thin, of an adult habit, with an aqui- 
line nose, and an intelligent counte- 
nance. His manners were grave, for- 
mal, and cold. As comander-in-chief, 
or to speak more accurately, as com- 
(nanding-in-chief the forces, he enjoyed 
a place in tlie cabinet. To Lionel, 
Duke of Dorset, he owed his first en- 
trance into the army. From the situa- 
tion of a private gentleman, descended 
of a good Kentish family in Holmesdale, 
but of very slender fortune ; his mili- 
tary talents, and his success in America, 
had deservedly elevated him to the 
British peerage. Selected by the dis- 
cerning eye of the Earl of Cliatham, he 
had been sent out as a companion of 
JVolfe, whose brilliant conquest of Que- 
bec, was confirmed by Amherst's sub- 
sequent reduction of Montreal and Up- 
per Canada. Under the shade of these 
laurels so honourably earned, which had 
likewise been remunerated with the or- 
der of the Bath, he seemed to cliallenge 
the national esteem, not to say their gra- 
titude. Individually, he possessed both : 
but in his ofiScial character, at the head 
of the army, he did not escape censure 
on various points materially aff'ecting 
the discipline and the honour of the 
service. Not that I would be understood. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



183 



when speaking of Lord Amherst, to 
make the same assertion which Junius 
does of the Marquis of Granby, in his 
first memorable Letter, dated 21st Janu- 
ary, 1769 : a letter which foriunaiely 
for the fame of "Junius," induced Sir 
William Draper to become Lord Gran- 
by's defender, and thus attracted public 
notice towards the production. He 
there charges that nobleman with " de- 
grading the office of commander-in- 
chief, into a broker of commissions." 
But, though Lord Amherst was not liable 
to such an imputation, yet neither he, 
nor any subject except one nearly allied 
to the throne, is raised by birth and 
situation, sufficiently above the crovvd 
of petitioners who assail him in his 
military cai)acity', to set at defiance pri- 
vate clamour, menaces, and importu- 
nity. 

As a member of the administration, 
no ability, however recognised or tran- 
scendent, and no past service, however 
eminent they might be, could have se- 
cured the public favour of Lord Am- 
herst, in the midst of a war such as that 
carried on against America, marked by 
ill success, and now become almost 
hopeless in its prospective objects. The 
constitutional tranquillity of his temper, 
secured him however from being ruffled 
at any indications of popular dissatisfac- 
tion. I have scarcely ever known a 
man who possessed more stoical apathy, 
or command over himself. Naturally 
taciturn and reserved, he rarely dis- 
closed his sentiments on any subject of 
a political nature. Even at the cabinet 
dinners, which were held weekly, I 
have heard Lord Sackville say, that 
though he usually gave his decided 
affirmative or negative to the specific 
measure proposed, yet he always did it 
in few words, often by a monosyllable : 
but, never could without great difficulty 
be induced to assign the reasons, or to 
state the grounds of his opinion. He 
was disinterested, of an elevated mind, 
that aspired beyond the accumulation 
of"mone}^ His judgment was sound, 
and his understanding solid ; but neither 
cultivated by education, nor expanded 
by elegant knowledge. From the high 
sense entertained of his early services 
beyond the Atlantic, he would have at- 



larity attached to the official and minis- 
terial posts which he occupied, had not 
counterbalanced the operation of those 
resplendent services on the public 
mind. 

Lord Thurlow, who at this time had 
held the great seal between two and 
three years, though in point of age, he 
was the youngest member of the cabinet, 
enjoyed in many respects greater public 
consideration, than almost any other in- 
dividual composing it. He had been 
indebted in his youth, to the indefatiga- 
ble exertions and importunities of the 
celebrated Duchess of Queensberry, the 
friend of Gay, Pope, and Swift, for first 
procuring him from Lord Bute a silk 
gown, to which legal distinction he long 
ineffectually aspired. His talents had 
subsequently excited admiration in both 
Houses of Parliament, not less than they 
attracted notice at the bar. While he 
sat in the House of Commons, as attor- 
ney general, during more than seven 
years, from 1771 down to 1778, Lord 
North derived the greatest assistance 
from his eloquence and ability. His re- 
moval to the House of Peers would 
even have left an awful blank on the 
treasury bench in the midst of the Ame- 
rican war, if his place had not, during 
the two succeeding years, been ably 
filled, perhaps fully supplied, by Wed- 
derburn. As speaker of tlie upper house, 
Lord Thurlow fulfilled all tlie expecta- 
tions previously entertained of him by 
his greatest admirers. His very person, 
figure, voice, and manner, were formed 
to lend dignity, blended with awe, to the 
woolsack. Of a dark com|>lexion, and 
harsh, but handsome and regular features ; 
with a severe and commanding demea- 
nour, which might be sometimes deno- 
minated stern: he impressed his auditors 
with respect, before he opened his lips. 
Even his eyebrows, like those of Jove, 
'■'cuncta siipcrcilio movoitis,''^ conduced 
to complete the effect of his countenance 
on the beholder. Energy, acuteness, 
and prodigious powers of argument, 
characterised him in debate. His com- 
prehensive mind enabled him, when he 
chose to exert its powers, to embrace 
the question under discussion, whatever 
it might be, in all its bearings and rela- 
tions. Nor, if we omit Lord Camden, 



tracted universal r.es|)ect, if the unpopu- | who was already far advanced in life' 



184 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



did the opposition possess any jurispru- 
dential talents in the House of Peers, 
that could be justly put in competition 
with those of Lord Thurlow, 

Fox himself, during die whole course 
of Lord North's administration, always 
excepted him from the invectives with 
which he loaded the other members of 
the cabinet. I remember, on the 8th of 
May, 1781, when addressing the House 
of Commons, Fox observed, that " inca- 
pable as were his majesty's ministers, 
he must yet make one exception, namely, 
the chancellor. He is able. He is 
lionest. He possesses a noble and inde- 
pendent mind. He stands alone, as a 
part of such an administration. His 
situation and treatment among his col- 
leagues, correspond with the features of 
his character. They detest him for his 
virtues. They envy him for his abili- 
ties. They thwart and torment him by 
every invention in their power. They 
seize every occasion to render his posi- 
tion uneasy. But, from his great intel- 
lectual resources, his unbroken spirit 
soars above them ; manifesting at once 
his consciousness of the injuries medi- 
tated, and his contempt of their eflbrts." 
Again, on the 8lh of March, in the sub- 
sequent year, 1782, only a few days 
before Lord North resigned, Fox, while 
expressing his detestation of the ministers 
collectively, added, " yet even among 
them, there exists one for whom I enter- 
lain a great respect. 1 mean, the lord 
chancellor. He always takes care in- 
deed to convince the world that he has 
no share in their measures." If Lord 
Thurlow had really merited these eulo- 
giums ; — if, while despising and dis- 
approving the measures of the cabinet in 
which he sat and voted, he nevertheless 
supported lliem in his place on the wool- 
sack in the House of Peers, and on all 
occasions; — how relaxed must have 
been his political principles ? But, Fox 
dispensed his praises, or his censures, as 
I always thought, with loo much regard 
to present circumstances ; retracting the 
one or the other, just as the exigency of 
the moment dictated ; and covering all 
contradictions under the blaze of his elo- 
quence. Only one year later, in March 
1783, at which time he had formed his 
union with Lord North, he launched out 
UVto the sever;est stccusaiions. of Lord 



Thurlow, because at that time Fox kneir 
the chancellor formed the principal im- 
pediment to tJie coalition gelling pos- 
session of the government. 

Lord Thurlow's admirable inlellectual 
parts were nevertheless by no means un- I 
accompanied with corresponding defects, i 
As lord chancellor, he was accused of 
procrastination, in suffering the causes 
brouoht before him in his court, to ac- 
cumulate without end. Perhaps, this 
charge, so frequently made against those 
who have held the great seal, was not 
however more true, as applied to him, 
ihan of others who succeeded to his 
office. But, even in parliament, his 
temper, morose, sullen, and intractable, 
sometimes mastering his reason, pre- 
vented him from always exerting the 
faculties with which nature had endowed 
him; oral least clouded and obscured 
their effect. In the cabinet, these shades 
of character, which rendered him often 
impracticable, were not to be surmounted 
by any efforts or remonstrances. It can 
hardly be believed that at the weekly 
ministerial dinners, where, after the 
cloth was removed, measures of state 
were often discussed or agitated ; Lord 
Thurlow would frequently refuse to take 
any part. He has even more than once 
left his colleagues to deliberate while he 
sullenly stretched himself along the 
chairs, and fell, or appeared to fall, fast 
asleep. If I had not received this fact 
from an eye-wimess, and a member of 
that cabinet, 1 should not indeed venture 
to report a tlxing so improbable. The 
circumstance was, however, it may be 
presumed, well known to Fox and his 
friends. 

Notwithstanding the ruggedness and 
asperity which he displayed, as well as 
ihe bold freedom of speech exercised by 
him ; qualities that procured him the 
nick-name o[ the figei' ; no man could 
at times appear more pleasing, affable, 
and communicative in conversation. 1 
have once or twice seen him on such 
occasions, which were more highly 
valued, because they were rare or un- 
expected. During 'the period of his 
youth, he had led a dissolute life ; and 
like " Ranger" in the " Suspicious Hus- 
band," had given proofs of his devotion 
to pleasures, scarcely compatible, as it 
might. have been thoughtjVviih the so- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



185^ 



vere studies and profession of the law. 
To these irregularities, the Duchess of 
Kingston imprudently ventured to allude, 
when she said tiiat she could relate *' a 
Canterbury tale," while on her trial at 
the bar of the House of Lords, when 
Thurlow filled the post of attorney 
general. Like Henley, Earl of Nor- 
thington, his predecessor in the high 
office of chancellor (the Lord Ringbone 
of Anstie's " Hath Guide"), Thurlow 
mingled oaths and execrations with his 
common discourse. In the afternoon of 
life, conviviality, wine, and festive so- 
ciety, unbent his mind. It was in com- 
pany with Mr. Rigby, Lord Gower, 
Lord Weymouth, Mr. Dundas, and a 
few other select friends, that he threw 
off his constitutional severity. At the 
pay office in Whitehall, where Rigby 
then resided, Lord Thurlow frequently 
forgot the double toils annexed to his 
situation, as head of the law, and as 
minister of state. Perhaps, on these 
occasions, when the bottle circulated 
freely, he sometimes indulged himself in 
animadversions on men and measures, 
which were afterwards reported to Fox, 
and might in some measure justify, or at 
least explain, the expressions used by 
the latter, when speaking of Lord Thur- 
low, in the House of Commons. Pos- 
sessed of faculties so transcendent, how- 
ever mingled with human weakness and 
infirmity, he must always be consid !red 
as one of the most distinguished indi- 
viduals who has sat in the councils of 
George the Third, at any period of his 
reign. 

We descend now to the less efiicient 
members of the cabinet. Lord Balluirst, 
who had been at this time president of 
the council, ever since the resignation of 
Lord Gower, in the autumn of 1779, 
was son to the celebrated Allen Bathurst, 
creatfd a peer by Queen Anne, in 1711 ; 
and who might, at the time of his de- 
cease, be considered as the last of the 
great knot of wits and men of genius, 
that rendered in some measure illustrious 
the short, as well as inglorious ministry, 
of Oxford and Bolingbroke. It is to 
him thai Pope addresses the " Third 
Epistle of his Moral Essays ;" to him, 
in conjunction with Lord Burlington, 
the famous architect, that he alludes, 
when he says, 
16* 



" Who then shall grace, or who improve the 
soil] 
Who plants like Bathurst or who builds 
like Boyle." 

He lived to an almost patriarchal age, 
in possession of nearly all the faculties 
of his body and mind; passing, the 
greater part of the evening of his life 
amidst those superb woods^ and under 
those shades which he had reared, im- 
mortalized by Pope, at Oakley Grove in 
Glocestershire ; enjoying the rare felicitj 
to see his son hold the great seal of 
England. I believe he died in 1775; 
having by a singular destiny, which 
perhaps has no parallel in our history, 
ouUived more than sixty years, the 
princess who raised him to the peerage. 

His son may probably be considered 
as the least able lawyer to whom the 
great seal of this country was confided, 
in the course of the eighteenth century. 
Lord King, who became chancellor under 
George the First, though he survived 
his faculties, and is said to have drivel- 
led on the bench, originally displayed 
eminent intellectual powers ; which de- 
servedly raised him from an obscure 
origin, his father having been a book- 
seller at Exeter, to that greatlegal dignity 
Yet, Lord Bathurst held his office dur 
ing seven or eight years ; and I have been 
assured that his decrees, while he pre- 
sided at the head of the Court of Chan-' 
eery, were in general regarded by the 
bar, as wise, just, and unexceptionable. 
A fact, equally singular as it is true, but, 
which I know from the best authority,, 
is, that from November 1775, down to 
June, 1778, comprehending a period of 
more than two years and a half, when 
Lord Weymouth and Lord Bathurst sat 
together in the same cabinet ; the for- 
mer nobleman, and not the chancellor, 
decided all the law questions brought 
before them in their 7?iiAu"s^er«a/ capacity. 
His decisions, dictated by admirable 
sense, united brevity and perspicuity to 
the most comprehensive intelligence. 
Lord Bathurst was, of all the members 
of administration, the most advanced in 
age ; nor could he, like hit father, boa^t> 
of exemption from the infirmities usually 
attendant on that period of life. A de- 
gree of caducity was visible in his frame, 
and even his mind did not appear to be 
wholly exempt from decay. In parlia-- 



186 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS: 



inent, his talents were rarely exerted ; 
but his unsullied character, and moral 
qualities, entitled him to universal re- 
spect. 

The Earl of Dartmouth, as lord privy 
seal, in right of h-is office tilled a seat in 
the cabinet. His near affinity to Lord 
North, and that circumstance alone, 
placed him ostensibly in administration ; 
Lord Dartmouth's mother, Viscountess 
Lewisham, having married, after her 
first husband's decease, the Earl of 
Guildford. In his public character, 
whether in, or out of parliament, he ex- 
cited no share of general attention, and 
lays claim to no place in the history of 
his own time. 

The secretary at war, on the contrary, 
though not possessing a seat in the cabi- 
net, constituted an object of universal 
consideration, and attracted all eyes 
towards him. Mr. Charles Jenkinson, 
since created Earl of Liverpool, occu- 
pied in 17S1 that employment. Few 
persons in the course of this long and 
eventful reign, have played so import- 
ant a part behind the curtain of state. 
Still fewer individuals have attained to 
such eminence, personal as well as poli- 
tical, unaided by the advantages of high 
birth, orofnatural connexions. Descend- 
ed from a very respectable family, that 
had been raised to the baronetage by 
Charles the Second in 1661, his pater- 
nal fortune was nevertheless of the most 
limited description, when he commenc- 
ed his career. But, his talents, which 
were admirably adapted to secure his 
future elevation, soon dispersed the 
clouds that attended the morning of his 
life.. Tliey recommended him to Lord 
Bute, then at the head of the treasury, 
who. made Mr, Jenkinson his private 
secretary ; and through the interposition 
of that nobleman, he became not only 
personally known to the sovereign, but 
highly acceptable at St. James's. When 
Lord Bute withdrew in 1763, from the 
post of first minister, Mr. Jenkinson 
still continued to occupy the same con- 
fidential employment under his succes- 
sor, George Grenville; nor was he. dis- 
placed till Lord Rockingham came into 
power, in July, 1765; when Burke suc- 
ceeded him in that situation. Those who 
supposed or asserted, that a secret com- 
munication was still niainlained be- 



tween Lord Bute and tlie king ; as well' 
as all those who chose to consitler Lord 
Bute as the efficient, though concealed, 
mover of the machine of gnvernment ; 
accused Mr, Jenkinson of forming the 
conlidential medium, through which that 
intercourse was principally maintained. 
So delicate a trust, if we assume its ex- 
istence, necessarily exposed him to popu- 
lar clamour, as being equally unconsti- 
tutional in itself, and dangerous to the 
liberties of the British people. But, in 
porporlion to the obloquy that such an 
im{)utation excited, was the respect that 
it attracted. 

As Lord Bute gradually retired into 
the shade of private life, and became 
insensibly forgotten, Mr. Jenkinson pro- 
porlionably came forward in his own 
person, and on his own proper merits^ 
Throughout the whole period of Lord 
North's administration, from 1770 down 
to 1782, his intercourse with the king, 
and even his influence over the royal 
mind, were assumed to be constant, pro- 
gressive, commensurate with, and some-- 
times paramount to, or subversive of, 
the measures proposed by the first 
minister. However difficult of proof 
such assertions were, and however con- 
trary, as I believe, they were to truth or 
fact, they did not operate the less forci- 
bly on the bulk of the nation, and were 
not less eagerly credited by men of all 
parties. No denials on the part of per- 
sons in power, could erase the impres- 
sion, which newspapers and pamphlets 
industriously circulated through the 
kingdom. In the House of Commons, 
where their operation was widely felt, 
the speakers in opposition continually 
affected to consider Lord North, together 
with the whole cabinet, as played on by 
unseen agents, who alone possessed the ' 
secret of state, and tlie real confidence 
nf the crown. " The noble lord," said 
Fox, when addressing parliament on 
the 26th of March, 1781, where I was 
present and heard him, " would never 
have been invited to accept his present 
office, except under the condition of 
promising to execute the measures 
chalked out to him respecting America. 
He would not have been suffered to re- 
main in office, if he had declined to carry- 
on the war with the colonies. His ac-. 
quiescence in, and submission to ihosei; 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



187 



weak, as well as wicked measures, in 
madly beginninfj, ami more madly per- 
severing in that accursed war, is the 
price of his place." Lord North, 
though he rose when Fox sat down, 
and though he answered many other 
passages of Fox's speech with great 
ability, descending to the most minute 
details, yet neither denied this charge, 
nor expressed any indignation at such 
an assertion. His silence emboldened 
his opponents, who did not scruple even 
to designate Mr. Jenkiuson as llie depo- 
sitary ol" this mysterious and undefined 
influence ; if not exclusively, yet in an 
eminent degree. Of course, whenever 
he rose to speak, all attention was ab- 
sorbed by him, as being the supposed 
oracle who knew, and might promulgate 
those hidden truths of stale, in which 
ministers themselves, it was pretended, 
were not always allowed to participate, 
and of which he constituted the only 
certain channel. 

At this time he was about fifty-four 
years of age, and in his person he rose 
above the common height; but his lank 
limbs and figure were destitute of ele- 
gance or grace. The expression of his 
countenance I find it diflicult to describe, 
as without having in his face any lines 
strongly marked, it was not destitute of 
deep intelligence. Reflection and cau- 
tion seemed to be stamped on every 
feature ; while his eyes, like those of 
Don Manuel Ordonnez in " Gil Bias," 
were usually, even in conversation, di- 
rected downwards towards the earth. 
Something impervious and inscrutable 
seemed to accompany and to character- 
ize his demeanour, which awakened 
curiosity, while it repressed or discour- 
aged inquiry. His enemies asserted 
that he resembled a dark lanthorn ; and 
as much as the human figure or physio- 
gnomy can ever be supposed to ofl'er 
such a strange similarity, unquestionably 
it existed in him. Even the twinkling 
motion of his eyelids, which he half- 
closed from, time to time in speaking, 
made the allusion, however fanciful, 
more close and striking. Nor should it 
be omitted, when attempting to transmit 
to posterity an imperfect outline of the 
person and address of this celebrated 
nobleman, that his head continuall)? re- 
"Aolving on its axis while he addressed 



his discourse either to the House of 
Commons, or to any individual, moved 
in a perpetual circle. His manners were 
polite, calm, and unassuming; grave, 
if not cold ; but not distant, without any 
mixture of pride or affectation. In so- 
ciety, though reserved, he was not silent: 
and though guarded on certain topics, 
communicative on ordinary subjects. 
He always appeared as if desirous to 
disclaim, and to reject the consideration, 
which he involuntarily attracted. It 
was not difficult, on a short acquaint- 
ance, to discover that he had read men 
more than books ; though he had re- 
ceived an academic education, had been 
originally destined for the clerieiil pro- 
fession, and had even been admitted to 
deacon's orders. Yet he neither mani- 
fested the elegant information only to 
be acquired by visiting foreign countries, 
nor the classical ideas or images derived 
from a familiarity with the productions 
of antiquity. Even his knowledge of 
modern history was rather financial and 
commercial, than general or critical. 
But in recompense for these deficiencies 
of an ornamental kind, he possessed 
more useful and solid attainments, calcu- 
lated to raise their possessor in life. 

No man in official situation, was sup- 
posed to understand belter the principles 
of trade, navigation, manufactures, and 
revenue. He had written and published 
on those subjects, in a manner that suffi- 
ciently proved his profound acquaint- 
ance with them. Supple, patient, mild, 
laborious, persevering, attentive to im- 
prove the favourable occasions which 
presented themselves, and always cool, 
he never lost the ground that he had 
once gained. As a speaker in the House 
of Commons, he rose seldom, unless 
called out by particular circumstances ; 
nor, when on his legs, did he ever weary 
the patience of his auditors. No ray 
of wit, humour, or levity, pervaded his 
speeches. He neither introduced into 
them metaphors, digressions, nor cita- 
tions. All was fact and business. His 
language had nothing in it animated or 
elevated. Scarcely was it indeed al- 
ways correct, or exempt from some little- 
inelegancies and redundancies of dic- 
tion. But it never was defective in the 
essentials of perspicuity, brevity, and' 
thorough, inforrnatio.io. He used to re,-- 



188 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



mind me of a man crossina: a torrent on 
stones : and so carefully did he place 
his foot at every step, as never once to 
wet his shoe. I have seen him, before 
a crowded house, acquit himself with 
wonderful dexterity, while secretary at 
war, when officially addressing parlia- 
ment. Such qualifications, even inde- 
pendent of the supposed favour of the 
sovereign, necessarily rendered him an 
object of respect and the attention to 
every party. 

Rigby, sole paymaster of the forces, 
occupied scarcely an inferior place to 
JenkinsoTi in the public estimation, and 
seemed to fill a much higher, in his 
opinion of himself. As if he had meant 
to show that he acted independently of 
ministers, and was above their conlroul, 
he never sat on this government side of 
the House of Commons; but he did not 
on that account give the less unqualified 
support on all occasions to administra- 
tion. Sheridan, with equal severity 
and wit, animadverted on this line of 
conduct, during the course of the de- 
bate on the 8th of March, 1782 ; when 
Rigby, though he admitted that Lord 
North would act properly by resign- 
ing, yet added, that he should vote for 
that nobleman's continuance in power. 
♦•The right honourable gentleman," ob- 
served Sheridan, " has long declared 
that the American war ought to be 
abandoned, but he has invariably voted 
for its prosecution. I nevertheless be- 
lieve that he is very sincere. I doubt 
not that as a member of this house, as 
a privy counsellor, and as a private in- 
dividual, he has always detested the 
war with America, as much as any man. 
But, unfortunately, he has never been 
able to succeed in persuading the pay- 
master, that it is a bad war. And in 
whatever character he may speak, it is 
always the paymaster who votes within 
these walls. The attacks which he 
sometimes makes on his noble friend at 
the head of administration, are in fact 
therefore only an ingenious mode of giv- 
ing him support. They are only meta- 
phorical : but, ^ye and No are speeches 
that do not admit of a trope." The 
obtrusive manner in which, at the levee, 
lie often thrust himself between persons 
of. the greatest rank, in order more ex- 
peditiously to approach the sovereign, 



sufficiently indicated the value in which 
he held his personal appearance in St. 
James's. • When in his place in the 
House of Commons, he was invariably 
habited in a full dress suit of clothes, 
commonly of a purple or dark colour, 
without lace or embroidery, close but- 
toned, with his sword thrust through the 
pocket. Corpulent in his person, he 
was not, on that account, unwieldy or 
inactive. His countenance was very ex- 
pressive but not of genius : still less 
did it indicate timidity or modesty. 
All the comforts of the pay office seem- 
ed to be eloquently depictured in it ; and 
the " lumen piirpureiim'^ which beamed 
from his sufi'used features, served as a 
comment on the text of " Junius," when 
he panegyrizes the Duke of Bedford's 
solitary protection of " blushing merit," 
in Mr. Rigby's person. His manner 
rough, yet frank; bold and overbearing, 
if not insolent, but manly; admirably 
set off whatever sentiments he uttered in 
parliament. 

Like Jenkinson, he borrowed neither 
from ancient, nor from modern authors. 
El is eloquence was altogether his own, 
simple, strong and natural ; addressed, 
not 10 the fancy, but to the plain com- 
prehension of his hearers. Whatever he 
meant, he expressed indeed without cir- 
cumlocution, or declamation. There 
was a happy audacity about his forehead, 
which must have been the gift of nature : 
art could never attain to it by any eflorts. 
He seemed neither to fear, nor even to 
respect the house, whose composition, 
as a body, he well knew ; and to the 
members of which assembly, he never 
appeared to give credit for any portion of 
virtue, partriotism, or public spirit. Far 
from concealing these sentiments, he in- 
sinuated, or even pronounced them with- 
out disguise ; and from his lips they 
neither excited surprise, nor even com- 
monly awakened reprehension. Fox 
usually treated Rigby with great cour- 
tesy ; and on some occasions, even with 
a degree of attention, approaching to 
predilection or regard: — sentiments 
which always met willi a suitable re- 
turn. Rigby had succeeded liis father, 
Lord Holland, in the pay office, after a 
short interval of three years. But She- 
ridan observed no such management or 
delicacy towards the paymaster. On 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



18^ 



the same day tliat he liad commetited 
with such ingenious severity reh\tive to 
the incousisient, but, invariable support 
extended by Rigby to administration : 
Sheridan animadverted in strong terms, 
on the disrespectful, or rather, the con- 
temptuous manner, in which, on all oc- 
casions, he mentioned the constituent 
body of the people. " That right ho- 
nourable member," said he, " treats the 
petitions recently presented from vari- 
ous parts of the kingdom, praying for a 
termination of the American war, in a 
way highly indecent, and at the same 
lime equally impolitic. The people 
begin to be sufHcienlly irritated, and 
gentlemen will act wisely not to make 
use of contumelious expressions towards 
them, in this assembly. They have 
borne much, and it may perhaps be pru- 
dent not to insult their patience." 
Rigby, though not easily arrested or in- 
timidated, yet submitted in silence to 
Sheridan's reprehensions of his conduct. 
If Jeiikinson might be esteemed tiie 
secret oricle, to whom all those men 
denominated the kin g''s friends constant- 
ly looked for direction in difticult cases, 
as occasionally arose ; Rigby was the 
avowed standard round which they ral- 
lied. Their numbers were considerable, 
though differently reported; and they 
were supposed by no means to lake their 
directions implicitly on all occasions, 
from the treasury. " Junius" treats 
them with his accustomed severity. 
" Ministers," says he, when speaking 
of parliament, "are no longer the pub- 
lic servants of the state, but, the private 
domestics of the sovereign. One par- 
ticular class of men are permitted, to call 
themselves the king's friends, as if 
the body of the people were the king's 
enemies : or as if his majesty looked for 
a resource or consolation in the attach- 
ment of a few favourites, against the 
general contempt and detestation of his 
subjects. Edward and Richard the Se- 
cond, made the same distinction between 
the collective body of the people, and a 
contemptible party who surrounded the 
throne." Even in the House of Com- 
mons, the king's friends were alluded 
to by name. I remember, on the 15tli 
of March, 1782, which formed the last 
debate that took pbice within those 
walls, previous to Lord North's resigna- 



tion ; a member of opposition, Mr. Har- 
rison, one of the two representatives for 
Grimsby, mentioned them without cir- 
cumlocution. Lord North, as well as 
Sir Grey Cooper and Robinson, the 
two secretaries of the treasury, having 
declared that they had not named or re- 
commended any individual for a share 
in the loan recently negotiated ; Harri- 
son observed, that he gave them credit 
for the truth of their assertion. " But," 
continued ho, " I entertain too good an 
opinion of the gratitude of the gentlemen 
who have contracted for the whole of 
the loan, not to suppose that they will 
anticipate the noble lord's wishes, by 
giving to such members of this house as 
may desire it, a sufficient share of it to 
retain them steadily in that list, which 
by way of pre-eminence is denominated, 
by the honourable appellation of the 
king's friends. An appellation no 
doubt given, in order to distinguish them 
from the factious individuals who have 
uniformly resisted the salutary measures 
of his nuijesty's ministers, which have 
Ivrought the country into its present en- 
vied situation !" No notice was takea 
of Harrison's allusion, by any member 
of administration. As this body of men 
grew up and increased with the progress 
of the American war, so with its ter- 
mination, they seemed to become ex- 
tinct. After Pitt's victory over ♦' the- 
coalition," and the convocation of a new 
parliament in 1784, the king's friends, 
were found in every part of the House 
of Commons. But, it was not so in 
1781, under Lord North, when Jenkin-. 
son and Rigby were supposed, however 
erroneously, to be often more in the 
real secret of the crown, than the first 
minister hitiiself. A very select party 
usually adjourned to the pay office, after 
late evenings in the House of (commons, 
where the good cheer and the claret 
obliterated all painful recollections con- 
nected with public affairs. 

The post of treasury of the navy was 
held by Mr. Welbore Ellis, whom we 
have since seen, after ostensibly filling 
the office of colonial secretary of state, 
for a few weeks on the resiijnation of 
I^iord George Germain ; and after occu- 
pying during several years a distinguish- 
ed place in the ranks of opposition ; 
raised in the winter of life, by Mr. Pitt, 



190 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



like so many other individuals, to tlie 
dignity of a Brilit^h peer. He might be 
considered as the iV-es/or of the ministry, 
and of the House of Commons. In his 
figure, manner, and deportment, llie 
very essence of form, he regularly took 
his place on the treasury bench, dressed 
in all points as if he had been going to the 
drawing-room at St. James's. His elo- 
quence was of the same description as 
himself, precise, grave, and constrained ; 
unilluminated by taste, and calculated to 
convince, more than to exhilarate or 
electrify his audience. The respect due 
to his age, character, and employment, 
rather than the force or novelty of his 
arguments, commonly secured him a 
patient hearing; but he was neither lis- 
tened to with enthusiasm, nor regretted, 
when he ceased actively to exert his 
abilities in support of the measures of 
administration. 

The attorney general, Wallace, as 
well as Mansfield, solicitor general, 
were men of acknowledged talents, par- 
liamentary, no less than professional. 
The latter manifested great energies of 
mind and character. But it might be 
esteemed in some degree their misfor- 
tune, that having recently succeeded 
two persons so eminent as Thurlow and 
Wedderburn, the house could not avoid 
judging of them more by comparison 
with their predecessors, than by their 
own intrinsic merit. Both the attorney 
and solicitor general were moreover ob- 
scured » in the superior intellectual 
powers, that characterised Mr. Dundas, 
then lord advocate of Scotland and 
since created Viscount Melville. His 
figure, tall, manly, and advantageous ; 
his countenance, open, cheerful, and 
pleasingly expressive, though tinged 
with convivial purple, prejudiced in his 
favour. Neither the Scotticisms with 
which his speeches abounded, nor an 
accent peculiarly northern, as well as 
uncouth, could prevent his assuming and 
maintaining that conspicuous place in 
the ministerial ranks, to which his pre- 
eminent parts entitled him. These 
very defects of elocution or of diction, 
by the ludicrous effect that they pro- 
duced, became often converted into ad- 
vantages ; as they unavoi<Iably operated 
to force a smile from his bitterest oppo- 
nents, and checquered with momentary 



good humour, the personalities of de- 
bate. The apparent frankness of his 
manner, which formed a slrikin? con- 
trast with Jenkinson's guarded reserve ;; 
conciliated or disarmed in some measure 
those, whose political opinions were 
most adverse to government. Never 
did any man conceal deeper views of 
every kind, under the appearance of 
careless inattention to self-interest. In 
him was exemplified the remark, that 
"' Jirs est celare arte.m ;'''' and the seem- 
ing want of caution or artifice in his ordi- 
nary intercourse, capacitated him for'con- 
tending successfully with men of more 
habitual self-command. His voice, strong, 
clear, and sonorous, enabled him to sur- 
mount the noise of a popular assem- 
bly, and almost to enforce attention, at 
moments of the greatest clamour or im- 
patience. Far from shunning the post 
of danger, he always seemed to court it; 
and was never deterred from stepping 
forward to the assistance of ministers, by 
the violence of opposition, by the un- 
popularity of the measure to be defend- 
ed, or by the difliculty of the attempt. 

His speeches, able, animated, and 
argumentative, were delivered without 
hesitation, and unembarrassed by any 
timidity. If they displayed no orna- 
ments of style, and no beaulies of com- 
position, it was impossible to accuse 
them of any deficiency in sterling sense, 
or in solid ability. He w;is indeed, 
without excepting Lord George Ger- 
main himself, the most powerful aux- 
iliary whom Lord North could boast of 
possessing in the lower house. Though 
elevated in the trammels of Scotch juris- 
prudence, and long accustomed to plead 
at the bar of that country ; his mind, 
which disdained so confined a sphere of 
action, propelled him to try his force on 
a greater theatre. Animated by this re- 
solution, he quitted the study of law 
for the career of politics ; and in defi- 
ance of every impediment, abandoning 
the Court of Session, ventured to seek 
fortune in an English House of Com- 
mons. Conscious of his own intellec- 
tual superiority, and guided by a pro- 
found, but well-regulated ambition, he 
already aspired to offices and situations, 
seetningly beyond the pale of his legal 
profession. India, he thought, and 
wisely thought, opened to him a field 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



191 



worthy of his talents ; and the state 61' 
danger, as well as of disorder, into 
which those extensive dominions had 
been thrown, by the mismanagement 
or incapucity of the East India Com- 
pany's servants, particularly on the 
^ Coast of Coromandel, necessarily 
brought their affairs under parliamen- 
tary discussion. The occasion appear- 
ed favourable, and he availed himself 
of it with prompt decision. Placed, 
as he was soon afterwards, at the head 
of a secret committee, appointed to in- 
quire into the causes of the war exist- 
ing in the Carnalic ; he there laid 
down the foundation of the power 
which we have since seen him exer- 
cise as a minister of that department, 
under the administration of Mr. Put, 
during many successive years. Expen- 
sive from natural character, by no 
means averse to pleasure, or insensible 
to female charms ; always blending 
conviviality in • some measure with 
business, and regardless of money, ex- 
cept as constituting the source of en- 
joyment; he never failed to form one 
of the festive party which met at the 
Pay Office. Closely connected in poli- 
tics, no less than by habits of life and 
private friendship, with Rigby ; they 
might be said to act indeed in secret 
unison, and to lend each other a mutual 
assistance on every occasion. 

The two secretaries of the treasury 
occupied a very different place in the 
scale of ministerial, or rather, of parlia- 
mentary importance, under Lord North's 
administration. Sir Grey Cooper, with 
the single exception of the Cornish bo- 
roughs in the interest of the crown, and 
the revenues of the Duchy itself, both 
which were entrusted to his superin- 
tendence during the minority of the 
Prince of Wales ; was confined to the 
mere official duties of his post. But, 
Robinson might be considered as one of 
the most active and essential functionaries 
of the executive government, I knew 
him intimately, both in, and out of office. 
A native of the county of Westmoreland, 
and descended from an ancient family of 
highland origin ; though unadorned with 
any accomplishments of education, or 
advantages of address, he nevertheless 
displayed many qualifications that fitted 
him admirably for his situation. His 



person was coarse, inelegant, and some- 
what inclined to corpulency : but he 
possessed solid judgment, and suavity of 
temper, combined with plain, unaffected, 
and conciliating manners ; was capable 
of great application, as well as of steady 
friendship, and by no means wanted de- 
cision of character. 

On him devolved that delicate and 
most important department, then known 
by the denomination of /Ae mw?crg'emenf 
of the House of Commons : a branch of 
adminislraiion, or rather, of secret ser- 
vice, unfortunately interwoven with, and 
inseparable from, the genius of the British 
constitution ; perhaps, of every form of 
government in which democracy, or 
popular representation, makes an essen- 
tial part. 'J'owards the close of an un- 
fortunate war, when the ministry was 
threatened with annual, or almost month- 
ly dissolution, and when a numerous 
opposition acquired strength, in propor- 
tion to the national misfortunes ; this 
management required unceasing vigi- 
lance. Robinson was the depository of 
the " livre roiige,^^ where were sup- 
posed, or asserted to be contained, the 
names of those members of one, if not 
of both Houses of Parliament, who were 
retained by, and devoted to, the adminis- 
tration. But, it was not only in the 
secret arrangements of official business, 
that he manifested dexterity and energy. 
He more than once exercised with equal 
ability and efiect, as I know, the func- 
tions of higher officers of state. It was ' 
he, who, on the refusal of Lord Wey- 
mouth, then secretary for the southern 
department; countersigned the secret 
orders, which were sent out to Madras, 
over land, on the 14lh of April, 1778, by 
the chairman and deputy chairman of 
the East India Company, authorizing 
the immediate attack of Pondicherry. 
To the manly decision of this timely 
measure, which is not the less true, be- 
cause it may appear improbable, or be- 
cause venal and ignorant reviewers have 
declared it "a perfect impossibility;" 
a measure embraced by Lord North at 
a moment when the war with France, 
though inevitable and impending, was 
not actually commenced ; we owed the 
capture of that important settlement, the 
chief establishment of the enemy on the 
Coromandel coast, which gave us an 



192 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ascendant over the French, during the 
whole future course of hostilities in 
India. 

After having surveyed the members of 
the cabinet, and the principal parliamen- 
tary characters on the ministerial side of 
the House of Commons, it is natural to 
proceed to the great individuals who 
composed the opposition in ihatassembiy. 
Mr. Fox, from the union of birth, con- 
nexions, talents,^ and eloquence, which 
met in his person, had become, in the 
beginning of 1781, confessedly, without 
any competitor, their leader. Having 
attained liis thirty-second year, he con- 
sequently united all the ardour of youth, 
to the experience acquired in malurer 
life. It was impossible to contemplate 
the lineaments of his countenance, with- 
out instantly perceiving the indelible 
marks of genius. His features, in them- 
selves dark, harsh, and saturnine, like 
those of Charles the Second, from whom 
he descended in the maternal line ; de- 
rived nevertheless a sort of majesty, 
from the addition of two black and siiagoy 
eyebrows, which sometimes concealed, 
but more frequently developed, the 
workinj^s of his mind. Even these 



bare. Nor ought it to be forgotten that 
these colours, like the ivhite rose former- 
ly worn by the adherents of the family 
of SlKcirt, or the Corsican violet of more 
motlern times, then constituted the dis- 
tinguishing badge or uniform of Washing- 
ion and tlie Aruerican insurgents. In „ 
this dress he always took his seal, not 
upon the front opposition bench, but, on 
the third row behind, close to that pillar 
supporting the gallery, which is nearest 
to the speaker's chair. It was not till 

1782, or rather till the beginning of 

1783, that, with Lord North by his side, 
he first began to sit on the opposition 
bench, technically so denominated in 
ordinary language. I am sensible that 
these minute particulars are in them- 
selves unimportant, but they nevertheless 
approximate and identify the object. And 
that object is Mr. Fox. 

His paternal descent was by no means 
illustrious, nor was the elevation of his 
family sufficiently ancient, to shed over 
it that species of genealogical respect, 
only to be derived from the lapse of 
time. Collins, indeed, very equivocally 
observes in his " Peerage," when treating 
of the Barony of Holland, that "there 



features, however seemingly repulsive, ( were Foxes in England "before the 



yet did not readily assume the expres 
sion of anger, or of enmity ; whereas 
they frequently, and as it were naturally, 
relaxed into a smile, the effect of which 
became irresistible, because it appeared 
to be the index of a benevolent and com- 
placent disposition. His figure, broad, 
heavy, and inclined to corpulency, ap- 
jpeared destitute of all elegance or grace, 
except the portion conferred on it by 
the emanations of intellect, which at 
times diffused over his whole person, 
when he was speaking, the most im» 
passioned animation. In his dress, 
which had constituted an object of his 
attention, earlier in life, he had then be- 
come negligent to a degree not altogether 
excusable in a man, whose very errors 
or defects produced admirers and imi- 
tators. At five and twenty I have seen 
him apparelled en petit maitre, with a hat 
and feather, even in the House of Com- 
mons ; but in 1781, he constantly, or at 
least usually, wore in that assembly, a 
blue frock coat, and a buff waistcoat, 
neither of which seemed in general new, 
and .sometimes appeared to be thread- 



Norman conquest." But, I have al- 
ways understood that his grandfather, 
who rose by his abilities to considerable 
eminence, and was knighted by the 
name of Sir Stephen Fox, as well as 
raised to the dignity of a privy council- 
lor ; had been a chorister boy in the Ca- 
thedral of Salisbury, when in 1651 he 
accompanied Lord Wilmot to France, 
after the defeat of Charles the Second at 
the battle of Worcester. It has been 
maintained, and I have heard it asserted, 
that their names were originally Palafox ; 
that they formed a branch of that noble 
Arragonese family, so distinguished in 
the present age, by the glorious defence 
of Sarragossa ; and that they first came 
into this country in 1588, when one of 
ihe Spanish Armada being stranded on 
our coast, the survivors, among whom 
was a Palafox, settled in England. I 
have however always regarded this story 
as a mere fable. Sir Stephen Fox, to- 
wards the end of a long -life, during 
which he made great advances to ho- 
nours and dignities, having married, be- 
came at seventy-five years of age, the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



193 



father of two sons born at the same 
birth. These twins were both in pro- 
cess of time elevated to the peerage ; a 
fact which had antecedently been real- 
ized to a certain dej^ree, in tiie Cecil, as 
well as in the Herbert family, under 
James the First. Charles the First 
again exhibited it in the house of Bic/i ; 
and we have since seen it exemplified 
in the families of JValpole, of Percy, of 
Hood, of Jf^eUeslcy, and various others. 

While the elder son of Sir Stephen 
Fox was created Earl of llchester, by 
George the Second ; the youngest, 
Henry, acquired a barony in tlie be- 
ginning of the present reign, by the 
title of Lord Holland. He was unques- 
tionably a man of very eminent attain- 
ments, possesssing a classic mind, cul- 
tivated by study, adorned by travel, 
and illuminated by a taste for poetry, as 
well as all the elegant arts. But, he is 
better known in the political history of 
the late reign, where he performed a 
principal part in the ministerial ranks, 
no less than in the parliamentary annals, 
till he sunk under the superior ascend- 
ant, sustained by the irresistible elo- 
quence of ihe first Earl of Chatham, as 
Antony's genius is said to have been re- 
buked under that of Augustus. Of im- 
measurable ambition, and equally in- 
satiable of wealth. Lord Holland was 
enabled, by possessing the lucrative post 
of paymaster of the forces, which he 
held during several years in time of 
war, and subsequent to the peace of 
Fontainbleau down to 1765, to accumu- 
late an immense fortune. It was not 
however attained without great unpopu- 
larity and obloquy, which accompanied 
him to the grave ; and exposed him to 
much, perhaps to unmerited, abuse or 
accusation. His moral character did 
not indeed stand as high in the national 
estimation, either in a public, or in a 
private point of view, as did his abili- 
ties. Hut he cemented the greatness of 
his family, by allying himself in mar- 
riage with the ducal house of Lenox. 

Of his three sons. Lord Hi>lland early 
perceived the extraordinary talents which 
nature had conferred on the second ; and 
in the fond anticipation of that son's fu- 
ture political elevation, exhausteti on his 
education every eff'ort which might ex- 
pand or mature his opening capacity, 
17 



But he adopted a vicious and dangerous 
j)rinciple, in ordering that the boy should 
neither be contradicted or punished, for 
almost any acts in his power to commit, 
of peurile misconduct or indiscretion. 
" Let nothing be done to break his 
spirit," said Jjord Holland; " the world 
will effect that business soon enough." 
When he made the tour of France and 
Italy, he was accompanied by a gentle- 
man of eminent parts, Mr. George Ma- 
cartney, who afterwards, towards the 
close of a life passed in the public ser- 
vice, attained, himself, in his own per- 
son, to the peerage. We may see in 
the letters of Madame du Deffand to 
Horace Walpole, the species of impres- 
sion which Mr. Fox's endowments, and 
the sallies of his juvenile impetuosity 
made on the minds of the Parisians. 
They seem to have considered him as a 
sort of phenomenon, which dazzled and 
astonished, more than it pleased or de- 
lighted them. Before he attained fully 
to the age at whicli he coidil constitu- 
tionally vote, though he might speak, in 
parliament, his father procured him a 
seat in the House of Commons ; and 
his talents, aided by his connexions, 
placed him towards the close of 1772, 
on the ministerial bench, as a member 
of the board of treasury. He occupied 
the situation about two years. 

This early association to Lord North's 
administration, might nevertheless be 
considered as an unfortunate circum- 
stance in its results, since it involved 
him in the unpopularity attached to va- 
rious measures then adopted by the 
government, which subsequently led to 
a rupture with America. That even 
previous to his attainment or acceptance 
of office, he was regarded by the ene- 
mies of adminislraiion, as a devoted 
parlizan of ministry, in training for fu- 
ture desperate service, is evident from 
the manner in which " Junius" spijaks 
of him. Writing to the Duke of Graf- 
ton, in June, 1771, he says : " In vain 
would he (the king) have looked around 
him for another cliaracter so consum- 
mate as yours, liord Mansfield shrinks 
i'roiu his principles. His ideas of go- 
vernment perhaps go farther than your 
own, but his heart, disgraces the theory 
of his understaniling, — Charles Fox is 
yet in blossom ; and as for Mr. Wed- 



194 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ilerburn, there is something about him 
which even treachery cannot trust." 
These ministerial fetters did not, how- 
ever, long detain him in parliamentary 
bondage. The sarcastic, mode of ex- 
pression chosen by Lord North, to com- 
municate Mr. Fox's dismission from the { 
treasury board, is well known. " His 
majesty," observed th6 first minister to 
some persons near him, " has named 
new commissioners of the treasury, 
among whom 1 do not see the name of the 
Hon. Charles James Fox." From that 
period, having enlisted under the ban- 
ners of opposition, and being aided by 
the errors or misfortunes of the Ameri- 
can war, he attained in the course of 
about six years, to the highest eminence 
among the formidable body of men who 
then opposed the measures of the crown. 
Pleasures of every description, to 
which his constitution or inclinations 
impelled him, divided, however, with 
political pursuits, the early portion of 
his life ; some of which, if fame report 
truly, might have furnished matter for a 
new " Aialantis." It may be curious, 
nevertheless, for those persons who 
only remember him either as a leading 
member of the minority, or in office as 
minister, to contemplate Mr. Fox when 
at the head of the (on, who were then 
denominated " Macaronis." The au- 
thor of the " Heroic Epistle to Sir Wil- 
liam Chamliers," published, 1 believe, 
early in 1773; which production is 
commonly, though perhaps erroneously, 
attributed to Mason ^ describes or pro- 
duces Fox under that character. After 
enumerating, with vast felicity of hu- 
mour and satire, the Asiatic diversions 
^■^lpposed to be exhibited for the amuse- 
ment of the British sovereign, he then 
i-oncludes ; I cite by memory : 

"But hark! the sliouts of battle sound from 

far! 
The Jews and Macaronis are at war. 
The Jews prevail, and ihund'ring from the 

stocks. 
They seize, they bind, they circumcise Charles 

Fox. 
Fair Schwellenliergen smiles the sport to see, 
And all the maids of honour cry te he." 

Neither tlie pleasures of refined, or of 
licentious love, nor the social convivi- 
ality of the table, although he might oc- 



casionally indulge in each of these grati- 
fications, constituted, however, his pre- 
dominant passion. AH his inclinations, 
from a very early age, seemed to be 
concentrated in a more fatal attachment 
to play. In the prosecution of that pro- 
pensity, he had squandered prodigious 
sums before his father's decease, with 
which Lord Holland's paternal fondness 
furnished him. To the same pursuit, 
or rather ratje, he subsequently sacri- 
ficed a sinecure place of two thousand 
pounds a year for life, the clerkship of 
the Pells in Ireland ; of which he came 
into possession by the demise oi- his 
elder brother, Stephen, the second Lord 
Holland, in December, 1774. After 
holdinsj it scarcely ten months, he sold 
it to Mr. Charles Jenkinson, since bet- 
tor known as Earl of Liverpool. He 
disposed, in a similar manner, of a fine 
estate and a magnificent house, situated 
at Kingsgale, in the Isle of Thanet, 
which Lord Holland had embellished 
with classic taste, at an expense that 
could only have been furnished by a 
paymaster of the forces. On a bleak 
promonK-ry, the JNorlh Foreland, pro- 
jecting into the German Ocean, desti- 
tute of a single tree, and perpetually 
swept by the east winds, that nobleman 
constructed a splendid villa, worthy of 
Lucullus. A colonnade, such as Ictinus 
might have raised by order of Pericles, 
extended in front of the edifice ; but 
which has since been demolished. This 
supurb retreat, in consequence of Fox's 
infatuation to the gamino- table, speeddy 
passed into the possession of Powell, 
who had been cashier in the paymaster 
general's office under Lord Holland, and 
who subsequently finished so tragically 
his career. The office of clerk of the 
Pells h'ul been procured for Mr. Fox, 
as the estate at Kingsgale had been be- 
queathed to him, by his father. We 
must confess that these scandalous irre- 
guhirilies of conduct, or rather vices of 
character, remind us more of 'i'imon and 
of Alcibiades, than of Pericles or Demo- 
sthenes. 

Fox was not one of tliose dupes who 
never understand the principles of any 
game. On the contrary he played ad- 
ijiirably both at whist, and at picquet ; 
vvith such skill indeed, that by the ge- 
neral admission of Brookes's club, he 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



195 



might have made four thousand pounds 
a year, as they cahuilated, at those 
games, if he would have confined hiin- 
seif to thfni. But, his misfortune arose 
from phiyinof at games of chance, par- 
ticularly at faro. Alter eating and drink- 
ing plentifully, lie sat down to the faro 
table, and inevitably rose a loser. Once 
indeed, and only once, he won about 
eight tliousand pounds in the course of 
a single evening. Part of the money he 
paid away to his creditors, and the re- 
tnainder he lost again almost immediate- 
ly, in the same manner. Tlie late Mr. 
Boolhhy, so well known during many 
years in the first walks of fashion and 
dissipation ; himself an irreclaimable 
gamester, and an intimate friend of Fox ; 
yet appreciated him with much severity, 
though with equal truth. "Charles," 
observ'f'd he, " is unquestionably a man 
of fir3t-rate talents, but, so deficient in 
judgment, as never to have succeeded 
in any olijecl durino his whole life. He 
loved only three things ; women, play, 
and politics. Yet, at no period, did he 
ever form a creditable connexion with a 
woman. He lost his whole fortune at 
the gaming-table; and with the excep- 
tion of about eleven months of his lil'e, 
he has remained always in opposition." 
It is difficult to dispute the justice of this 
portrait. Perhaps we miffht add to 
Boothby's picture, that towards the 
close of [lis career, Fox emulated the 
distinction of. an historian; in the 
pursuit of which object he made labo- 
rious efforts, and with a view to facili- 
tate or to attain it, he appears princi- 
pally to have undertaken his journey to 
Paris in 1802. Whether he succeeded 
better than in the former attempts, pos- 
terity will determine : but he would cer- 
tainly have attained a more elevated 
place in the temple of history, by imita- 
tinof the line of Zenophon or of Sallust in 
antiquity, who commemorated the trans- 
actions of their own times, than by 
taking for his subject, the reign of James 
the Second. 

The first Lord Holland died when his 
son Charles was about twenty-four ; and 
before he attained his thirtieiti year, he 
had completely dissipated every shilling 
that he could either command, or could 
procure by the most ruinous expedients. 
He had even undergone at limes, many 



of the severest privations annexed to the 
vicissitudes that mark a gamester's pro- 
gress ; frequently wanting money to de- 
fray his common diurnal wants of the 
most pressing nature. Topham Beau- 
clerk, a man of high birth, of pleasure, 
and of letters, who lived much in Fox's 
society at that period of his life ; used 
to affirm, that no_ person could form an 
idea of the extremities to which he had 
been driven in order to raise money, 
after losing his last guinea at the faro 
table. He has been reduced for suc- 
cessive days, to such distress, as to be 
under a necessity of having recourse to 
the waiters of Brookes's club, to lend 
him assistance. The very chairmen 
whom he was unable to psy, used to 
dun him for their arrears. All dignity 
of character, and independence of mind, 
must have been lost amidst these scenes 
of ruinous dissipation. In 1781, he 
might, however, be considered as an ex- 
tinct vole mo ; — for, the pecuniary ali- 
ment that had fed the flame, was long 
consumed. He never indeed affected or 
attempted to conceal the stale of poverty 
into which his passion for play had 
plunged him. Even on his legs in the 
House of Commons, I have heard him 
frequently allude to it. When Lord 
Holland, his father's accounts, as pay- 
master of the forces, were brought in 
some measure before the view of par- 
liament, during the sesionof 1781 ; Fox 
observed, that as one of the executors of 
that deceased nobleman, he lamented the 
inability under which his nephew lay to 
make any transfer of property, while 
those accounts remained unsettled. 
" Perhaps " added he, " / have not, 
myself, any more estates to sell ; but I 
nevertheless feel for the persons who 
have purchased of me the landed pro- 
perly bequeathed me under my father's 
will; the titles to which must always 
remain in a certain degree precarious, 
while his executors have not obtained a 
quietus from the exchequer." 

Only a few days later in the same 
session, on the 12th of June, 1781, 
fiord George Germain, having asserted 
in the course of his speech, that " mi- 
nisters had some property to lose, as 
well as the gentlemen on the other side 
of the house; and in ruining their coun- 
try, as they were accused of doing, 



196 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



they must involve themselves personally j 
in destruction," Fox answered, " It is i 
well known that I have no stake to lose, j 
but that circumstances willnot abate my ! 
zeal for the public welfare." Kigby, who 
probably besran already to foresee the \ 
termination of Lord North's administra- 
tion as rapidly approaching, if not immi- j 
nent, paid Fox many compliments on tiie 
occasion. " Tiie honourable gentleman," j 
said Riijby, " represents himself as an j 
insignificant person, possessing no pro-' 
perty, and having no stake in liie conn-j 
try. No man, in my opinion, possesses 
a more important stake. His talents, | 
liis connexions, and his prospects, con-' 
stitute a far more valuable possession, j 
than a rent roll of many thousands. He 
is an honour to his country, wliich feels 
a corresponding public interest in him." 
Tliese flattering expressions, though re- 
ceived by Fox with urbanity, he did not 
the less disclaim in his reply ; adding, 
" that he could nf)t accept any testimo- 
nies of good will shown to himself, 
which were accompanied with censures 
on his friends," At the time of which 
I speak. Fox occupied a liouse or lodg- 
ings in St. James's street, close to the 
club at Brookes''s, where he passed al- 
most every hour which was not d(-v(iied 
to the House of Commons; and during 
Lord North's administration, parliament 
usually remained sitting, with short ad- 
journments, from November till July. 
That club might then be considered as 
the rallying point and rendezvous of the 
opposition ; where, while faro, whist, 
and suppers prolonged the night-, the 
principal members of the minority in 
both houses met, in order to compare 
their information, or to concert or mature 
their parliamentary measures. 

It must not, however, be imagined that 
either Fox, or the club that he frequented, 
could altogether escape some severe 
animadversions, on the part of men who 
contemplated both the one and the other 
as objects of moral censure and reproba- 
tion. 1 recollect that during the session 
of 1781, Mansfield, then solicitor gene- 
ral, having brought a bill into the House 
of Commons, for the prevention of cer- 
tain abuses practised on the Sunday ; 
Martin, member for Tevvksbnry, one of 
the most conscientious and honest men 
who ever sate in parliament, while he 



highly commended it, expressed liis j 
concern that " the gaming houses which 
were open every Sunday in the imme- 
diate vicinity of St. James's palace, had 
not attracted the notice of the learned 
framer of the bill." He went on to say 
that " he was astonished how men who 
passed their whole time in a continued 
round of offence to morality, could re- 
concile it to their conscier.ces, to come 
down to that assembly, and there make 
laws for the suppression of similar, or 
even smaller violations of decency among 
their inferiors in rank and fortune." No 
notice whatever being taken of these 
remarks, Martin, in a subsequent stage '| 
of the bill, spoke out in still bolder Ian- ' 
guage when Fox was present. He call- 
ed on the solicitor-general to answer, i 
why those al)oniinable nurseries of 
gambling in St. James's street, were 
not suppressed? "They are," con- 
tinued he, " the bane of our young men 
of rank, who, becoming first necessitous, 
lie open to the seductions of a minister, 
whose pernicious measures can only be 
sustained by corruption." Then desig- 
nating Fox in colours loo accurate to be 
mistaken, he admitted that there might 
be some shining exceptions to this de- 
pravity. " But," added he, " if there 
are any individuals of pre-eminent abili- 
ties in this house, who might be the 
scourge and the terror of any bail admi- 
nistration, I trust that the learned srentie- 
man, who is himself a represeniaiive of 
one of the two universities, will exert 
his best endeavours to extinguish so cry- 
ing and so destructive an evil." These 
sentiments were re-echoed, though in 
less pointed terms, from other parts of 
the house. In answer, the solicitor- 
general observed, that ".no country in 
Europe could boast of better laws against 
gaming, than were to be found in our 
statute books; but, that if men of rank 
and distinction were determined to com- 
mit crimes which from their nature must 
be perpetrated in private, no law could 
thoroughly reach the evil." Fox mak- 
ing no reply, though the allusions to 
himself were palpable, Sheridan rose, 
and with great address turned aside the 
weapon, of which he could not altogether 
blunt the point. Unwilling to offend 
Martin, who generally voted with op- 
position, Sheridan directed his attack 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



197 



against the administration. " I Inist," 
said he, " that the learned gentleman 
who presents himself to the house on 
this day, in tlie double capacity of a 
Cato and a Pelronius, at once the cen- 
soj- morion and the arbiter elegantiarum 
of the ajre, will turn his attention to- 
wards tlie suppression of a species of 
gaming more destructive to morals than 
any other, and which is nevertheless 
patronized by the legislature. 1 mean 
lotteries, which, by suspending all the 
pursuits of industry, introduce among 
the lower orders of people every species 
of depravity. This would be, indeed, 
an object worthy of his exertion." 
Mansfield was in his turn silent, and the 
debate took a new turn. Unquestion- 
ably, the club at While's, as well as at 
JBrookes^s, was designated by Martin, 
when he denounced the evil itself, as he 
spoke in the plural number. But no 
member of the cabinet being accused 
of a pasoion for the gaming-table, though 
more than one among them frequented 
White's, the blow fell heavily on Fox, 
Fitzpatrick, Burgoyne, and their asso- 
ciates, while it scarcely glanced on mi- 
nisters. 

Nature, besides the exrtraordinary en- 
dowments of mind which she conferred 
on Fox, had given him likewise a con- 
stitution originally capable of prodigious 
exertion. But he had already impaired 
his bodily powers, by every variety of 
excess, added to the most violent mental 
agitations. These acts of imprudence 
had produced their inevitable conse- 
quences, though for some time counter- 
acted by youth, or obviated by medical 
aid. As early as 1781, Mr. Fox was 
already attacked with frequent com- 
plaints of the stomach and bowels, at- 
tended by acute pain : to moderate the 
symptoms of which, he usually had re- 
course to laudanum. The strongest 
frame must indeed have sunk under such 
physical and moral exhauslure, if he 
had allowed himself no interval of re- 
laxation or repose. But, happily, his 
passion for some of the amusements 
and sports of tlie country, almost rivalled 
his attachment to the gaming-table. No 
sooner had the shooting season com- 
menced, than he constantly repaired to 
Norfolk. Lord Robert Spencer gene- 
rally accompanied hirn ; and after visit- 
17* 



ing various friends, tliey sometimes 
hired a small house in the town of 
Thelford, rose at an early hour, and 
passed the whole day with a fowling- 
piece in their hands, among coveys of 
partridges and pheasants, for successive 
weeks, during the autumn. These salu- 
tary occupations never failed of restoring 
the health that lie had lost in St. James's 
street, and in the House of Commons. 

Nor did the rage for play ever en- 
gross his whole mind, or wholly absorb 
his faculties. Nature had implanted in 
his bosom many elevated inclinations, 
which, though overpowered and op- 
pressed for a time, yet, as he advanced 
in life, continually acquired strength. 
If ambition formed the first, the love of 
letters constituted the second, of these 
passions. When he contemplated the 
extent of his own parliamentary talents, 
and compared them with those of Lord 
North, or of every other individual in 
either house : it was impossible for him 
not to perceive the moral certainty of 
his attaining by perseverance, in the 
course of a few years, almost any public 
situation to which he might aspire. In 
the possession and enjoyment of power, 
he necessarily anticipated the recovery 
of that independence which he had 
sacrificed at the gaming-table ; as well 
as the means of recompensing the 
zealous friendship or devotion of his 
numerous adherents. 

No man in public life, ever possessed 
more determined friends, or exercised 
over them a more unbounded influence ; 
though he was by no means as trac- 
table and amenable to reason, or to en- 
treaty, on many occasions, as the appa- 
rent suavity of his disposition seemed to 
indicate. Even interest could not always 
bend him to a compliance with the dic- 
tates of his judgment, nor expostulation 
induce him to pay the most ordinary 
attention to persons who had materially 
served him. In 1784, at the election of 
a member for Westminster, which was 
very obstinately contested ; Horace 
Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford, 
whose age and delicate health prevented 
him from almost ever leaving his own 
house ; yet submitted to be carried in a 
sedan chair, from Berkley Square to 
the hustings, in Covent Garden, to 
vote for him. But no remonstrances 



198 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



could prevail on Fox to leave his name 
ai Mr. Waipole's door, thouy;li he passed 
it continually in his morning walks. 
Hare himself, who was one of his most 
favoured associates, vainly exerted every 
effort to make him say a few civil words 
to a lady of quality ; the late Mrs 



of office under Lord North, and his very 
wants rendered indispensable to him a 
return to power. JNor, whatever moral 
disapprobation his private irregularities 
unquestionably excited in the breast of a 
sovereio-n, whose whole life was exempt 
from any breach of decency ordetrorum 



Hobart, afterwards Albinia, Countess of | could tbose defects of conduct have 
Buckingliamshire ; by whom he was 
seated at supper in a great public com- 
pany, met at Mrs. Crewe's expressly to 
celebrate the success of his election : a 
success, to which that lady, as he knew, 
had contributed by every means in her 
power ; and who, as her reward, only 
aspired to attract his notice or attention 
for a few minutes. He turned his back 
on her, and would not utter a syllable. 
Hurt at Fox's neglect. Hare, who sat 
nearly opposite to him, and who was ac- 
customed to treat him with the utmost 
freedom ; took out a pencil, wrote three 
lines, and pushed the paper across the 
table to his friend. The lines I shall 
not transcribe, as they were too ener- 
getic, or rather, coarse, to allow of their 
insertion: but, they adjured Fox (in 
language as strong as Maecenas used to 
Augustus, when he wrote to the em- 
peror, " Sistc tandem, Carnifex T^) to 
turn himself round towards the lady in 
question. He calmly perused the billet, 
and then, having torn it in small pieces, 
which he placed on the table ; without 
appearing to pay any attention to Hare, 
he turned his back, if possible, still more 
decidedly on the person, in whose be- 
half the expostulation was written. 
These facts were related to me by a 
nobleman, a friend of Fox, who was 
present on the occasion. 

If ever an individual existed in this 
country, who, from his natural bias, 
would have inclined to maintain in their 
fullest extent, all the just prerogatives of 
the crown; and who would have re- 
strained within due limits, every attempt 
on the part of the people, to diminish its 
constitutional influence ; we may assert 
that Fox was the man. The principles 
of his early education ; the example and 
exhortations of his father, for whom he 
always preserved an afieclionate refer- 
ence, which constituted a mosi pleasing 
feature of his character ; his first poiiiical 
connexions ; — all led him to the foot of 
the tlirone. He had tasted the comforts 



formed any insurmountable impediment 
to his attainment of the highest employ- 
ments. In point of fact, neither the 
Duke of Grafton, whom "Junius" stig- 
matizes as " a libertine by profession ;" 
nor the Earls of liochford and Sandwich, 
nor Lord Weymouth, nor Lord Barring- 
ton, nor Lord Thurlow, had been dis- 
tinguished by sanctity of manners, though 
they had all occupied the first situations 
in the stale. Sir Francis Dashwood, 
who afterwards became premier Baron 
of England, under the title of Lord Le 
Despenser; and whom Lord Bute made 
chancellor of the exchequer in 1762, for 
his skill, as Wilkes asserts, in casting 
up tavern bills ; far exceeded in licen- 
tiousness of conduct, any model exhi- 
bited since Charles the Second. He 
had founded a club or society, towards 
the end of George the Second's reign, 
denominated from his own name, " the 
Franciscans, who, to the number of 
twelve, met at Medmenham Abbey, near 
Marlow in Bucks, on the banks of the 
Thames. Wilkes was a member of this 
unholy fraternity, of which he makes 
meniion in his letter to Earl Temple, 
written from Bagshot, in Seplemijer, 
1763. Rites, of a nature so subversive 
of all decency, and calculated, by an 
imitation of the ceremonies and myste- 
ries of the Roman Catholic Church, fo 
render religion itself an object of con- 
tumely. Were there celebrated, as cannot 
be redected on without astonishment and 
reprobation. Sir Francis himself some- 
limes officiated as high priest, habited 
in the dress of a Franciscan monk ; en- 
gaged in pouring a libation from a com- 
mniiion-cnp, to the mys.ierious object of 
their homage. Churchill, in his poem 
of " The (.^andidale," has drawn him 
under ihis character at Medmenham : but 
I cannot prevail on myself to cite the pas- 
sige. Immorality or even profligacy, 
abstractedly considered, formed therefore, 
it is evident, no insurmountable bar to 
employment under George the Third. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



199 



Fox's error arose, if not wholly, yet 
principaiiy, from a liiH'ereiU source. In 
the ariloiir of [lolilical opposiiioii, sliinu- 
] Ued perhaps hy ilomesiic wants of many 
Kinds, linding himself so long excluded 
Irom office, and conscious that he was 
become personally obnoxious to ihe so- 
vereign, not so much from iiis irregulari- 
ties, as by embracing the cause and the 
defence of the king's revolted subjects 
beyond the Atlantic ; Fox did not al- 
ways confine himself within a constitu- 
tional and temperate resistance to the 
measures of ihe crown. IVlingling the 
spirit of faction with the principles of 
parly ; wlule he appeared only to attack 
the minister, he levelled many of his 
severest insinuations or accusations -at 
the king. He consequently obstructed 
the attainment of the object, which lay 
within his grasp. As the American war 
drew towards its termination, he ob- 
served scarcely any measure in the con- 
demnation which he expressed for the 
authors of the contest. 

When the new parliament met on the 
first day of November, 1780, and it was 
proposed in the address to the throne, 
that the House of Commons should ac- 
knowledge, " the sole objects of the 
king's royal care and concern, were to 
promote the happiness of his people ;" 
words merely complimentary ; Fox 
rising in his place, exclaimed, — "We 
are called on to recognize the blessings 
of his majesty's reign. I cannot concur 
in such a vote, for I am not acquainted 
with those blessings. The present reign 
.offers one uninterrupted series of dis- 
grace, misfortune, and calamity !" Only 
a few weeks afterwards, in January, 
1781, when the debate on the* Dutch 
war took place, — " The reign of 
Charles the Second," observed Mr. Fox, 
who twice engaged in hostilities with 
Holland, has been denominated an infa- 
mous reign : but the evils inflicted on 
this couniry by the Stuarts, were hap- 
pily retrieved by a revolution : while the 
ills of the present reign admit of no re- 
dress." He even proceeded to draw a 
sort of parallel, or rather contrast, of the 
most invidious description, between 
Catherine the Second, and George the 
Third; two sovereigns who, having as- 
cended the thrones of Russia and of 
Great Britain, nearly about the same 



time, had exhibited an opposite line of 
conduct: the former e(ii[)ire risini^ under 
Catherine, into eminence ; while Enor- 
land, governed by George, sunk into 
contempt. I recollect that towards the 
close of the same session of parliament, 
in June, 1781, during the progress of a 
debate which arose relative to the pay- 
ment into the exchequer, of the balances 
in the hands of public accountants ; Fox, 
who was well aware of the obloquy 
under which his father, Lord Holland's 
memory lay, as " the defaulter of unac- 
counted millions," entered larijely and 
warmly into his defence. 'J'he evil, 
he said, resulted from that most unfor- 
tunate circumstance of his father's life, 
his ever having been connected with ad- 
ministration in the commencenient of the 
present reign. " Such," continued Fox, 
*' has uniformly been the impenetrable 
mystery, atul the intricacy of govern- 
ment, throughout this unfortunate reign ; 
such has been the dark, perplexed, and 
ambiguous system pursued by ministers, 
that no person who conletnplates it, can 
pervade the obscurity, or pierce the 
clouds that invest their measures. It is 
become impossible to distinguish the 
real, from the ostensible minister. Hence 
the guilty author of nefarious or ruinous 
measures, escapes without censure, 
while the detestation and the disgrace 
fall upon the innocent." 'J'he house 
was at no loss to guess at whom these 
reflections were pointed. 

In November, 1779, he far exceeded 
in severity of language even the foregoing 
remarks, when he did not hesitate to 
compare Henry the Sixth with his pre- 
sent majesty; and to assimilate their 
characters, qualities, and the disgraces 
of their respective reigns, as affording 
themostcompleie resemblance. " Both," 
he observed, "owed the crown to revolu- 
tions : both were pious princes, and both 
lost the acquisitions of their predeces- 
sor." The speeches of Fox, it must 
be owned, breathed a very revolutionary 
spirit, throughout the whole progress of 
the American war. Smarting under such 
reflections, the king began to consider 
the principles and the doctrines of Fox, 
as inseparably implicated with rebellion. 
From that instant, the splendour of his 
talents only enhanced the magnitude of 
his offence. His uncle, the Duke of 



200 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Richmond, who seemed to emulate the 
same disliiiciion, and who iiuhilged him- 
self in remarks equally severe, on the 
supposed interference of the crown in 
perpetuating the struggle, might find 
pardon in the mediocrity of his abilities. 
But, Fox's fault necessarily inspired 
deeper feelings of resentment, and may 
be said to have eminently contributed to 
the misfortunes of his political life. 

Amidst the wildest excesses of youth, 
even while he was the perpetual victim 
of his passion for play, his elegant mind 
eagerly cultivated at intervals, a taste for 
letters. His education had made him 
early acq\iainted with the writers of 
Greece and Rome, historical, as well as 
philosophical and poetical. The beau- 
tiful passages of Virgil, Horace, Tacitus, 
Juvenal, and Cicero, which were fami- 
liar to him, seemed always to present 
themselves to his memory without an 
effort. When speaking in parliament, 
he knew how to avail himself of their 
assistance, or to convert them to his pur- 
pose, with a promptitude and facility 
that it is difficult to imagine. Burke 
himself was not his superior on this 
point. So well had he been grounded 
in classic knowledge, that he could read 
the Greek, no less than the Roman his- 
torians, as well as poets, in the original ; 
and however extraordinary the fact may 
appear, he found resources in the perusal 
of their works, under the most severe 
depressions occasioned by ill success at 
the gaming-table. Topham Beauclerk, 
whom I have already had occasion to 
mention, and who always maintained 
habits of great intimacy with Fox ; quil- 
ted him one morning, at six o'clock, 
after having passed the whole preceding 
night together at faro. Fortune had 
been most unfavourable to Fox, whom 
his friend left in a frame of mind ap- 
proaching to desperation. Beauclerk's 
anxiety respecting the consequences 
which might ensue from such a state of 
agitation, impelled him to be early at 
Fox's lodgings; and on arriving, he en- 
quired, not without apprehension, whe- 
ther he was risen. The servant reply- 
ing that Mr. Fox was in the drawing- 
room, he walked up stairs ; and cautious- 
ly opening the door, where he expected 
to behold a frantic gamester, stretched 
on the floor, bewailing his misfortunes, 



or plunged in silent despair ; to his equal 
astonishment and satisfaction, Beauclerk 
discovered him intently engaged in 
reading a Greek Herodotus. " What 
would you have me do," said he, " I 
have lost my last shilling! Such was 
the elasticity, suavity, and equality of 
disposition tliat characterized him ; and 
with so little effort did he pass from pro- 
fligate dissipation, to researches of taste 
or literature. After staking and losing 
all that he could raise, at faro; instead 
of exclaiming against fortune, or mani- 
festing the agitation natural under such 
circumstances, he has been known to 
lay his head on the table ; and retaining 
his place, but, extenuated by fatigue of 
mind and body, almost immediately to 
fall into a profound sleep. 

Mr. Fox was not only conversant 
with the works of antiquity : modern 
history, polite letters, and poetry, were 
equally familiar to him. Few indivi- 
duals were better instructed in the annals 
of their own country. Having travelled 
when young, over France and Italy, he 
had studied the finest productions of 
those countries, so fertile in works of 
genius, at the fountain-head. Davila 
and Guicciardini, he read in the original. 
Dante, Ariosto, and Tasso, constituted 
the frequent companions of his leisure 
hours, whom he perused with de- 
light; and the striking parts of which 
authors, as he proceeded, he constantly 
marked with his own hand. For the 
'' Orlando Furioso," one of the most 
eccentric, but, wonderful proeluctions of 
human genius, 1 know that he expressed^ 
great partiality ; preferring it to the 
" Gierusalemme Liberata." Nor was he 
devoid,* himself, of some portion of 
poetic talents, as many compositions of 
his pen which remain, sufficiently at- 
test; though for ease, delicacy, and 
playful satire, he could not stand a com- 
petition in that branch of accomplish- 
ment, with his friend and companion 
Colonel Fitzpatrick. The verses, or 
Epigram, written on Gibbon's accepting 
the employment of a lord of trade, in 
1779, beginning, 

" Kin? George in a flight, 
Lest Gibbon should write 

Tlie History of England's disgrace ; 
Tliought no way so sure 
His pen to secure. 

As to give the historian a place ;" 



1 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



201 



I have always understood to be from 
Fox's pen, thougli it is disowned by 
Lord Holland, as "certainly not his un- 
cle's composition. " 1 know, however, 
that some years afterwards, when his 
eflecls in St. James's street were seized 
for debt, and his books were sold ; a set 
of Gibbon's " Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Enipire," in the first leaf of 
which work, Fox had with his own 
hand inserted the stanzas in qneslion ; 
produced a very considerable sum, under 
ihe belief or conviction that he was their 
author. 

Fox conversed in French, nearly with 
the same purity and facility, as he did 
in English; writing in that language 
not less correctly, nor with less elegance. 
A man of his high birth and connexions, 
possessing qualifications so rare, inde- 
pendent of his parliamentary abilities, 
seemed to be pointed out by nature, for 
the superintendence of the foreign de- 
partment of state. Those persons who 
anticipated the fall of Lord North's ad- 
ministration, ah'eady imagined that they 
beheld Mr. Fox in that situation, for 
which talents and education had evidently 
designed him. Yet, after contempla- 
ting the portrait which I have here sketch- 
ed, and which, I imagine, even his 
greatest admirers, if they are candid, 
will admit to do him no iiijusti(-e; it is 
for impartial posterity to determine, 
whether on full examination of his merits 
and defects, George the Third may be 
considered as most deserving of appro- 
bation or of blame, in never liaving at 
any period of his reign voluntarily called 
Mr. Fox to his counsels. If enertry of 
mind, enlargement of views, firmness 
of character, amenity of manners, ac- 
quaintance with foreign courts and lan- 
guages, facility in conducting business, 
and prodigious intellectual powers, com- 
bining eloquence, application, as well 
as discernment ; — if these endowments 
are considered as forming an incontest- 
able claim to public employ ment, unsus- 
tained by correct moral deportment, or 
by property ; we must condemn the 
sentence of exclusion passed upon him. 
Those persons on the other hand, who 
consider all talent, however eminent, as 
radically defective, unless sustained by 
decorum, and a regard for opinion ; — as 
well as all who prefer sobriety of con- 



duct, regularity of manners, and tlie vir- 
tues of private life, above any ability, 
which nature can bestow oii man ; — 
lastly, all who regard judgment, under 
the controul of strict principle, as the 
most indispensable requisite of a minis- 
ter, to whom the public honour and feli- 
city are in some measure necessarily 
entrusted; — such persons will probably 
hesitate before tliey decide too hastily, 
on the degree of censure or of com- 
mendation, which the king's conduct 
towards Fox, ought to excite in our 
minds. 

If Fox occupied the first place in the 
ranks of opposition, Burke might be 
j)ronounced without contest, the second 
person in that powerful body. His ex- 
traordinary endowments of mind, su- 
perseded every defect of birth, lortune, 
connexions or country ; and placed him 
on an eminence, to which no subject in 
my time, unassisted by those advantages, 
with the single exception of Mr. Sheri- 
dan, has ever attained in the public esti- 
mation. For, it may perhaps be justly 
questioned, whether the splendid talents 
of the first Mr. Pitt, would have I'orced 
his way into the cabinet, unaided and 
unsastained by his alliance with the 
family of tirenville, though his own pa- 
ternal descent was most honourable. 
Of years much more advanced than 
Fox, Burke had already attained to the 
acme of his fame as an orator, and 
could not well augment the reputation 
which he had acquired in that capacity. 
Perhaps, if we were to point out the 
period of his life, when he stood on the 
iiighest ground as a public man, in the 
estimation of all parties, we should 
name the year 1781. His recent exer- 
tions in bringing forward the bill for 
the reform of the civil list, which had 
engaged such general attention in the 
last session of the preceding parliament, 
continued still fresh in recollection. 
Whatever opinion might be entertained 
respecting the necessity, or the eligi- 
bility, oi' those proposed regulations in 
the royal household ; only one senti- 
ment pervaded the house and the nation, 
on the unexampled combination of elo- 
quence, lab lur, and perseverance, which 
had been displayed by their enlightened 
author. They covered with astonish- 
ment and admiration, even those who 



202 ^ HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

from principle or from party, appeared on the Marqnis of Rockingham ; together 
most strenuous in opposing tlie progress with his long exclusion from office, and 
of the bill itself, through every stage- | his uiiimpeachetl moral character, con- 
The very rejection whicli had attended trasled with the irregularity of Fox's 
many clauses of it, and the address with conduct; we shall not wonder at the high 
which others were finally evaded or place which he occupied, within, no less 
eluded, had conduced to raise him in the than without, the walls of the House of 
national opinion. ! Commons. 

While, however, I do this justice to i All those persons to whom his me- 
his talents and intentions, it is impossi- mory is dear, may like to contemplate him 
ble not to consider with very different at this point of time, when he appears 
feelings, the splendid euloyium which he most resplendent, as well as free from 
made on that occasion, of which Necke.r many of the weaknesses, inconsistencies, 
formed the subject. Burke, in sublime and infirmities, to which our nature is 
and animated language, described the , subject, and from which he was by no 
system of public credit adopted by Louis means exempt. His admirers will ra- 
the Sixteenth, under the guidance of his collect with concern, the querulous la- 
Genevese financial minister; which he mentations, and unseemly reluctance, 
depictured as the consummation of human with which, in 1782 and I78.'3, he each 
ability, economy, and judicious calcula- time quitted the pay office, on the change 
tioa. Neither Sully, nor Colbert, he ; of administration. They will remember 
said, could compete with Necker : while the acts of imprudence and indiscretion, 
the sovereign of France, unlike his pre- 1 not to call them by any harsher name, 
decessors on the throne, who had re- i which characterized his tenure of office, 
course when in distress, to the bold during the existence of the coalition 
frauds or plunges of bankrupt despotism, ' ministry ; to defend, or to palliate which, 
for raising pecuniary supplies ; built all ; demanded the utmost efff)rts of Fox's 
his plans on the firm basis of national i parliamentary abilities. They will pro- 
confidence, sustained by pecuniary re- ; bably admit and lament, his too ardent 
gulations, calculated to pay the interest prosecution of Hastings, for asserted 
of the debt thus incurred. Such were i political errors or trespasses, which, 
the arts and assertions, by which George I even though they had existed in their 
the Third, Lord Norih, and the Ameri- utmost extent, ought to have found their 
can war, became objects of reprobation I apnlogv in the difficulties of his situa- 
If Burke really believed the facts that he tion ; beset, as he was, with domestic 
laid down, what are we to think of his and foreign enemies, in charge of a vast 
judgment! But there is a holy mis- empire, and necessitated to find resources 
taken zeal in politics, as in religion, of on the spot, against internal commo- 
which delusive cup he had drank deep, tions, no less than against external ho^- 
The intoxication insensibly dispersed ; tility. They will reprobate with seve- 
after 1789 ; and before 1792, he beheld rity his intemperate and indecorous 
Louis the Sixteenth, Necker, and their j conduct, as a member of parliament, in 
insensate, or pernicious measures, | 1788, on an occasion when the country 
through a just medium. He then en- at large felt the deepest sympatliy and 
deavoured to counteract the efl^ecl of his I distress for the intellectual illness of the 
own oratif)ns. In 1781, the delusion I sovereign. And finally, though they 
subsisted in all its force. The nnquali-; will exult in the nierilorious line of ac- 
fied condemnation which he had alwavs tion which he embraced on the com- 
bestowtd on the American war, from the rnencement of the French revolution, as 
period of its commencement, seemed to: equally honourable to himself and bene- 
be at least justified by ihe result of the | fieial to the cause of order and govern- 
contesl ; and in that sentiment he was i meiit throughout the civilized world ; yet 
then supported by a majority of the i they cannot forget that he received from 
British people. When to the operation \ Mr. Pilt soon afterwards, two |iensions 
of these combined causes, we add the i for three lives, of eii^hteen hundred 
acknowledged mediocrity of his fortune, pounds a year, each, as his rewaid : and 
which left him in a sort of dependance ] they will perhaps incline to admit, that 



HISTORieAL MEMOIRS. 



203 



on an impartial survey, Mr. Riirke ap- 
pears greater and more elevated in 1781, 
than at any subsequent period of his 
political life. 

He was liien more tlian fifty years of 
age, of which he had passed fifteen in 
the House of Commons. I believe he 
owed liis first seat in that assembly, not 
to the Marquis of Rockingham, but to 
the laie Earl Verney, with whom he had 
formed some connections of a pecuniary 
nature; during ihe continuance of which, 
both that nobleman and Mr. Burke be- 
came purchasers, to a considerable , 
amount, of East India slock. The 
latter, as it was asserted, sold out in 
time, afier clearing so large a sum by 
the transaction, as with it to have pur- 
chased the estate or house at Gregories, 
near Beconsfield in Bucks, where he 
always resided when not in London. 
Lord Verney, less fortunate, or less 
prudent, though possessed of a vast 
landed property, was almost ruined b_v 
his East India purchases ; and Richard 
Burke, Edmund's brother, who was j 
then a practitioner at the bar, being 
likewise involved in the same losing 
concern, was said to be unable to fulfil 
his stock engagements ; or, in the lan- 
guage of Change Alley, to have wad- 
dled. Hence, in allusion to this circum- 
stance, his enemies, instead of Dick 
Burke, commoidy called him Duck 
Burke. Edmund, in 1781, rented a 
house in the broad sanctuary, West- 
minster, conveniently situated for his 
attendance in parliament ; but, enter- 
tained very little company; and his 
pecuniary obligations to the Marquis of 
Rockingham, which were known to be 
great, sufficiently indicated the limited 
nature of his private fortune. 

Nature had bestowed on him a bound- 
less imagination, aided by a memory of 
equal strength and tenacity. His fancy 
was so vivid, that it seemed to light up 
by its own powers, and to burn without 
consuming the aliment on which it fed : 
sometime^ be-aring him away into ideal 
scenes created by his own exuberant 
mind, but from which he, sooner or 
later, returned to the subject of debate ; 
descending from his most aerial flights 
by a gentle anil imperceptible gradation, 
till he again touched the ground. 
Learning wailed on him like a hand- 



maid, presenting to his choice, all that 
antiquity has culled or invented, most 
elucitlatory of the topic untler disi-ussion. 
He always seemed to be oppressed 
under the load and variety of his intel- 
lectual treasures ; of which he frequently 
scattered portions with a lavish hand, to 
inattentive, impatient, ignorant, hungry, 
and sleepy hearers, undeserving of such 
presents. Nor did he resist, though 
warned by the clamorous vociferation 
of the house, to restrain or to abbreviate 
his speeches. Every powerof oratory was 
wielded by him in turn : for, he could 
be during the same evening, often within 
the space of a few minutes, pathetic and 
humorous ; acrimonious and concilia- 
ling ; now giving a loose to his indigna- 
tion or severity ; and then, almost in the 
same breath, calling to his assistance, 
wit and ridicule. It would be endless 
to cite instances of this versatility of dis- 
position, and of the rapidity of his tran- 
sitions, 

' ' From grave to gay, from lively to severe," 

that I have, myself, witnessed. I will 
only rneniion one, as a proof of his wit, 
which occurred in the session of 1781, 
not many months after 1 first came into 
parliament. The secretary at war (Jen- 
kinson), having laid on the table of the 
house, an account of the extraordinaries 
of the army, where the sums remitted to 
America during ihe preceding year ex- 
ceeded two millions seven hundred 
thousand pounds ; Mr. Harley, through 
whose hands the greater part of the 
money had passed, rose in order to give 
some account of its application. For 
that purpose, the alderman, who was no 
orator, and who very rarely obtruded 
himself on the speaker's aiieniion ; read 
from a paper wiiich he held in his hand, 
a few gross sums or items, whi(;h con- 
stituted the greater part of the enormous 
expenditure under examination. His 
recital scarcely took up five minutes. 
Burke instantly rising, exclaimed, " This 
account is, I believe, the most laconic 
that ever was given of so great a sum of 
money, expended in the public service. 
Considering the magnitude of the sum? 
tliat the right honorable gentleman has 
swullowed, he really merits admiration 
for the prompiilude with which he has 



204 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



either digested, or disgorged them. His 
charge and liis discharge are equally 
expeditious. He is a species of canal, 
through which the prolusion of the 
government [)asses. I imagine, however, 
it does not tlow off altogether without 
contribulino- something to his nourish- 
ment. No doubt such remittances, like 
the mud of ihe Nile, have in them a 
fattening quality; or, to use a vulgar 
phrase, they stick to the ribs. Oh ! how 
I long for an inspection of this Harleian 
Miscellany V^ Ahlerman Harley, the 
subject of these metaphors, listened to 
them with great composure, and did not 
attempt to make any reply : but no or- 
dinar}' muscles could resist their effect. 
I remember on another occasion, where 
Burke had covered Lord North with 
ridicule (I think it was upon the report 
made by the commissioners of accounts 
in 1781), that nobleman answered all 
his arguments at considerable length. 
" And now, Mr. Speaker," said he, " I 
believe I have replied to every thing 
which has fallen from the honourable 
gentleman, except his wit. Tlial. I 
readily acknowledge, is unanswerable, 
he being greatly my superior in that 
respect." Notwithstanding indeed the 
acrimonious personal virulence with 
which Burke frequently treated Lord 
North, no man in the House of Commons 
appeared to enjoy his sallies ol wit. 
more than the first minister. He laughed 
immoderately, when Burke compared 
the sympathy or mutual dependence of 
administration and the American war, to 
the Porter's breech and Taliacolius's 
nose in "• Hudibras." "They will 
both," said he, "expire together: 

" When life of parent nock is out, 
OH' drops the syiiipaihetic snout." 

*' So, with the termination of the present 
war, will their places be extinguished." 
Yet, with such an assemblage of endow- 
ments, which would have sufficed to 
form many orators ; though Burke in- 
structed, delighted, and astonished, he 
frequently fatiguctd, because his faculties 
were not controlled by a severe judg- 
ment. 

In his dress and exterior, he was not 
less negligent than Fox : but, the spirit 
of party did not blend with the colour of 



his apparel ; and he rarely or never 
came to the house in blue and buff, 
though I heard him eulogise Laurens, 
the American ex-president when a pri- 
soner in the tower, in terms such as 
Pope, uses when speaking oi Jitter bury, 
under the same circumstances. On that 
occasion he did not scruple to produce, 
and to read as part of his speech, a letter 
addressed to him by Dr. Franklin, from 
Paris, in answer to his own application 
on the subject of effecting or facilitating 
General Burgoyne's release, by his ex- 
change agansi Laurens. I have always 
considered Buike's conduct, in thus 
opening a correspondence with the repre- 
sentative of a revolted body of men, who 
was then residing at the court of France, 
with which nation we were at open war ; 
as one of the greatest insults on the 
government, on parliament, on tlie laws, 
and on the majesty of the sovereign, 
which has been committed in our time, 
by any subject, with impunity. It was 
only exceeded by Fox's sending a dele- 
gate from himself, as head of the opposi- 
tion, to Petersburgh, in 1791 ; an act for 
wliich, it seemed to me, he might justly 
have been impeached. But, Hastings 
and Lord Melville were both sent to take 
their trial at the bar of the peers, under 
the present reign, while Fox and Burke 
escaped all prosecution. When the 
latter ventured to boast in the House of 
Commons, of his intercourse with Frank- 
lin, he relied on the passive endurance 
of an unpopular cabinet, divided among 
themselves, and sinking under the con- 
test with a combination of European 
powers leagued against us for the eman- 
cipation of America. There were not 
wanting, however, individuals, even at 
that moment of British humiliation and 
embarrassment, who rose and expressed 
their indignation of Burke's temerity. 
" Good God !" exclaimed Lord New- 
haven, " do not my senses deceive me ! 
can a member of this assembly, not only 
avow his correspondence with a rebel, 
but dare to read it to us!" — George 
Onslow, member for Guildford, seemed 
disposed to adopt measures of censure 
against Burke ; but, the speaker inter- 
posing, stopt him as disortlerly, there 
being no motion before the house. Nei- 
ther Lord North, nor Lord George Ger- 
main, wlio were both present, and spoke 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



205 



on the question, alluded to Burke's cor- 
respondence; and he treated Lord New- 
haven's animadversions wilh conienip- 
titous levity. Burke constantly wore 
spectacles. His enunciation was vehe- 
ment, rapid, and never checked by any 
embarrassment : for his ideas outran his 
powers of utterance, and he drew from 
an exhausiless source. But, his Irish 
accent, which was as strong as if he had 
never quitted the banks of the Shannon, 



sometimes held him down in his seat, 
by the skirts of his coal, in order to pre- 
vent the ebullitions of his violence or in- 
dignation. Gentle, mild, and amenable 
to argument in private society, of which 
he formed the delight and the ornament, 
he was often intemperate and reprehen- 
sibly personal in parliament. Fox, how- 
ever irritated, never forgot that he was 
a chiei'. Burke, in his most sublime 
flights, was only a pariizan. 'i'he 



diminished to the ear, the enchanting countenance of the latter, lull of inielleci, 
effect of his eloquence on the mind. | but destitute of softness, and which 
Dundas, who laboured under a similar rarely relaxed into a smile, did not in- 
impediment, yet turned it to account, if vite approach or conciliation. His en- 



I may so express myself; some of his 
expressions or allusions, by the variation 
in pronouncing a single letter, or press- 
ing too hard upon a vowel, frequently 
producing such an equivocal sound, con- 
veying at the same time so strange an 
impression on the ears of his audience, 
as put to flight all gravity, and convulsed 
the house with laughter. In brilliancy 
of wit, Lnrd North alone could compete 
wilh Burke ; for Sheridan had not then 
appeared, Burke extracted all his images 
from classic authorities : a fact, of which 
among a hundred others, he displayed 
a beautiful exemplification, when he 
said of Wilkes, borne along in triumph 
by the mob, that he resembled Pindar, 
elevated on the wings of poetical inspi- 
ration, 

"Numerisque ferlur 

Lege solulis :" 

a pun of admirable delicacy, and the 
closest application, 



inilies and prejudices, ihouijh iliey origi- 
nated in principle, as well as in convic- 
tion, yet became tinged with the viru- 
lent spirit of parly ; and were eventu- 
ally in many instances, inveterate, un- 
just, and insurmountable. Infinitelv 
more respectable than Fox, lie was, ne- 
vertheless, far less amiable. Exempt 
fVom his defects and irregularities, Burke 
wanted the suavity of Fox's manner, 
his amenity, and his placability. The 
one procured more admirers. 'I'lie 
other possessed more friends. Though 
acting together lo a common point, as 
members of the House of Conimf)ns, 
and embarked in the same cause, tfieir 
intimacy seemed always to commence, 
and lo cease, at the entrance of the 
lobby. Burke retired from the discharge 
of his parliamentary functions, exhausted, 
chagrined, and often irritated ; to repair 
immediaiely to his family, or to the 
duties and avocations of domestic lil'e. 
Fox, always fresh, and never more alert 
than after a long debate, only quilted the 



His personal qualities of temper and house, inorderlodrivetoBrookes's. Even 
disposition (such is the infirmity of our 
nature), by no means corresponded with 
his intellectual endowments. Throuirh- 



out his general manner and deportment 
ill parliament, there was a mixture of 
petulanny, impatience, and at times of 
iiitractabiliiy, wiiitrh greatly obscured 
the lustre of his talents. His very fea- 
tures, and the undulating motions o! his 
head, while under the influence of anger 
or passion, were eloquently expressive 
of this irritability, which on some occa- 
sions seemed lo approach towards alien- 
ation of mind. Even his friends could 
noi always induce him lo listen to rea- 
son and remonstrance, thoui^h they 
18 



in their nearest approximations, there 
were always essential and striking distinc- 
tions between the two ()p[)osition leaders. 
In aeiiius, in learning, in eloquence, in 
politics, they were assimilated. But in 
their occupations, ainusemenls, society, 
companions, and modes of life, never 
were two men more discordant. They 
coniinued, nevertheless, to act together 
throui^h suc'ceeding parliaments, in good 
and in adverse fortune, nnlil the French 
revolution finally dissevered them. The 
obvious defeclof Burke was want of tem- 
per ami self-command. Fox's laierit 
blemish lay in his dissolute habits and 
ruined fortune, which enabled his ene- 



206 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRiS. 



mies to compare him with Catiline. 
Biith watueti jiaJgment to perceive, that 
even under the free constitutiun ol' Great 
Briiain, the cabinet, though it may be 
taken by storm, cannot be long held ex- 
cept by favour. Mr. Fox, in 1806, 
when luirorlunalely at the end of his 
career, appears to have itiorougiily come 
up wuh this great triilli, of wiiicli, in 
I '7 81, he was either regardless or igno- 
rant. 

In surveying the opposition s'ule of the 
House of (Joumionis at this period, t!ie 
idea of Barre iiaiurally and unavoidably 
sugger^ls Itself afier that of Burke. Both 
were natives of the same country, Ire- 
land ; and both had attained to vast 
eelebriiy in their adopted country, Eng- 
land. But no sort of comparison could 
be made between their talents, aL'quire- 
ment:*, or claim to general admiration ; 
in all of which Burke possessed an in- 
finite superiority. Of an athletic frame 
and mould, endowed with extraordinary 
powers of voice, Barre, as a speaker, 
roughly enforced, rather than solicited 
or atiracied attention. Severe, and 
someiimes coarse in his censures or ac- 
cusations, he nevertheless always sus- 
tained his charges against ministers, 
however strong, with considerable force 
of argument and language. He, too, as 
well as Burke, lavished his encomiums 
on the banker of Copet, the financier of 
France ; whose example for enligluened 
economy, and impartial pecuniary retri- 
bution, Barre recommended to Lord 
North's imilaiion. But he was more 
measured in his panegyrics than Burke, 
and did not elevate Necker above Sully 
and Colbert. Slow, measured, and dic- 
tatorial in his manner of enunciation, he 
was not carried away by those beautiful 
digressions of genius or fancy, with 
whicli Burke captivated and entertained 
his audieirce. Master, nevertheless, of 
his subject, and more attentive than 
Burke, not to fatigue the patience of the 
house when he saw them eaijer to rise, 
he frequently obtained a more indtiigeni 
hearing. Deprived already of one eye, 
and menaced with a priva'tifjii of both ; 
advanced in years, grey-headed, and of 
a savacje aspect, he reminded the behold- 
ers when he rose, of Belisarius, raiiier 
than of Tully, Yet possessing a culti- 
vated understanding, conversant with the 



works of antiquity, and able on occasion t| 
to press them into his service, he some- 
limes displayed a great diversity of in- 
formation. 

JNear him, on the same bench, in the 
front ranks of the minority, usually sat 
his friend and colleague. Dunning. 
Never perhaps did nature enclose a i 
more illuminated mind, in a body of l 
meaner and more abject appearance. 
It is difficult to do justice to the pecu- 
liar species of ugliness which character- | 
isedhis person and figure, although he did ' 
not labour under any absolute deformity 
of shape or limb. A degree of infirmity, 
and almost of debility or decay in his 
organs, augmented the effect of his other 
bodily misfortunes. Even his voice was 
so husky and choked with phlegm, that 
It relused utterance lo the sentiments 
which were dictated by his superior 
intelligence. In consequence of this 
physical impediment, he lay always 
under a necessity of involuntary an- 
nouncing his intention to address the 
liouse, some time before he actually 
rose, by the repeated attempts which 
he made to clear his throat. But all 
these imperfections and defects of con- 
figuration, were obliterated by the ability 
which he displayed. In spite of the 
monotony of his tones, and his total 
want of animation, as well as grace ; yet 
so powerful was reason when flowing 
Iroin his lips, that every murmur became 
hushed, and every ear attentive. It 
seemed, nevertheless, the acute sophistry 
of a lawyer, rather than the speech of a 
man of the world, or the eloquence of a 
man of letters and education. Every 
sentence, though admirable in itself, yet 
resembled more the pleading of the bur, 
than the t)ratory of the senate. So diffi- 
cult is it for the most expanded or en- 
lightened iiiielleci, to throw off the 
Irabiis of a [)rofession. Dunning rather 
subdued his hearers, by his povv'ers of 
argumeiilalive ratiocination, which have 
rarely been exceeded, than he could be 
said lo delight his audience. His legal 
talents soon afterwards raised him to the 
peerage; just in time to attain that ele- 
vation, as his constitution speelily 
sunk under accumulated disorders, 
which hurried him prematurely to the 
grave. This extraordinary man, who 
was not exempt from great infirmity of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



207 



mind, felt, or perceived so little his cor- 
poreal delicieiicies, as to consider his 
person witii extraordinary predilection. 
Fond of viewing his face in the glass, 
he passed no time more to his satisfac- 
tion, ifian in decorating himself for his 
appearance in the world. He and 
Barre, who were fellow-labourers in the 
same vineyard, represented likewise the 
same borough, Calne ; and belonged, or 
at least looked up to the same political 
chief, Lord Shelburne. They conse- 
quenilv were animated b)' no common 
principle of union, or of action, with 
Fox and Burke, except one ; that of 
overturning the administration. On all 
other points, a secret jealousy and 
rivality subsisted between the adherents 
of the Shelburne and the Rockingham 
parties 



which, in consequence of an accident 
that befel him in the course of his pro- 
fessional life, had been almost laid Ihit- 
gave him an equally vulgar and unplea, 
sant air. His abilities were indeed of a 
very limited description, altogether unfit 
for such a theatre as |)arliamenl: but, 
the minority having already destined 
him to succeed, and to supplant. Lord 
Sandwich, as soon as they could gain 
possession of power, it became indispen- 
sable to sustain him on every occasion, 
with all their efforts. 

Another distinguished naval comman- 
der, Lord Howe, who then filled a seat 
in the house, might likewise be num- 
bered among the determined opponents 
of government. Since his return from 
America, he had not enjoyed the smiles 
of the court; but his professional cha- 



Admiral Keppel might likewise be j meter supported him with the publif. 



accounted among the principal members 
of opposition in the House of Commons 
at this period ; though his oratorical 
talents seemed to be no more conspicu- 
ously exerted in debate, than his nauti- 
cal skill as a commander, had been dis- 
played on the quarter-deck, during the 
memorable action of the 27th of July, 
1778. But, the persecution, which, as 
it was pretended, he had undergone, for 
his conduct on that day ; the accusation 
brought against him by Palliser, and the 
ministerial, as well as royal enmity, 
which he had incurred ; — these political 
merits, when added to his connection 
with the Duke of Bedford, whom the 
opposition had already marked as their 
own, though he was not quite sixteen 
years of age at this time: elevated him 
to a consideration, which he could other- 
wise never have attained. Excluded 
from representing the borough of Wind- 
sor, at the recent general election in 
1780 ; the popular efli'ervescence of the 
moment, inflamed at his rejection, 
where it was supposed that the inlhi 



His steady, cool, and phlegmatic cour- 
age, sustained by great nautical experi- 
ence and skill ; when added to the 
wholesome severity of his discipline 
while on service, deservedly placed him 
high in the estimation of all parties. 
Among the sailors he was known, from 
his dark complexion, by the epithet of 
" Black Dick." If no genius could 
be discovered in the lines of his face, 
there was in them an expression of 
serene and passive tortimde which 
could not be mistaken. His profile 
bore, indeed, a very strong resemblance 
to the portraits of George the First, 
from whom, by his mother, he descend- 
ed. She was the natural daughter of 
that prince, by his mistress, Madame de 
Platen, whom he created Countess of 
Darlington, some years after his acces- 
sion to the crown of Great Britain. In 
parliament, as an orator. Lord Howe 
made, if possible, a worse figure tliaii 
Keppel ; who, when he addressed the 
house, was at least intelligible, though 
he might not greatly illuminate the sub- 



ence and personal exertions of the sove- ject. Lord Howe's ideas were com- 



reign among the tradesmen of the town, 
had considerably operated to his preju- 
dice, brought him in for Surreys : a 
county in which he possessed no pro- 
perly, uor any hereditary interest. 
There appeared neither dignity in his 
person, nor intelligence in his counte- 
nance, the features of which were of 
the most ordinary cast : and his nose, 



monly either so ill conceived by himself, 
or so darkly and ambiguously expressed, 
that it was by no means easy to com- 
prehend his precise meaning. 'I'his 
oracular and confused mode of delivery, 
rendered still more obscure by the part 
of the house where he usually sat, which 
was on a back row, at a distance from 
the speaker's chair, increased, however, 



208 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the effect of his oratory ; and seemed 
to exemplif}- Burke's assertion, that 
"Obscurity is a source of the sublime." 

Sir George Savile, who represented 
the county of York, attracted, from his 
descent and alliances, great considera- 
tion. His known integrity and disinter- 
estedness, joined to his extensive landed 
property, elevated him in the public 
opinion, more than any endowments of 
intellect, or parliamentary ability. He 
possessed, nevertheless, plain manly 
sense, and a facility of utterance, which, 
even independent of his high character 
and ample fortune, always secured him 
attention. 

Lord John Cavendish was listened 
to, whenever he rose, with similar de- 
ference or predilection ; nor was he al- 
together destitute of some pretension to 
eloquence. His near alliance to the 
Duke of Devonshire, the head of the 
whig Interest, his very name, connect- 
ed with the revolution of 1668, which 
secured the liberties of Great Britain ; 
his umblemished reputation, and his ta- 
lents, though in themselves very moder- 
ate ; — all these qualities combined to 
impress with esteem, even those who 
differed most from him in political opi- 
nion. Homely in his figure, of num- 
ners, simple, unassuming, and desiiniip 
of all elegance or dignity ; he presented 
the appearance of a yeoman or a me- 
chanic, rather than of a man of high 
quality. Nature had in the most legible 
characters, stamped honesty on the fea- 
tures of his countenance ; but she had not 
accompanied it with any ornamental pre- 
sent. The opposition already considered 
him as chancellor of the exchequer in 
embryo. 

General Conway, brother to the Earl 
of Hertford, though by no means a man 
of eminent capacity, or a superior 
speaker, yet surpassed in these respects 
either of the two last-mentioned indivi- 
duals. His military experience, acquired 
in Germany during the " Seven Years 
War ;" his birth and illustrious descent, 
together with the recollection of his 
having already occupied one of the most 
eminent employments of state under a 
former administration ; as he filled the 
post of secretary for the home depart- 
ment, during the short period of ten 
months when Lord Rockingham presided 



at the treasury in 1765 and the follow- 
ing year; — so many pretensions, au- 
thorized him to expect a situation no 
less conspicuous, in any future ministe- 
rial arrangement. Though he had al- 
ready passed his sixtieth year, yet his 
figure and deportment were exceedingly 
distinguished, nor did he want abilities ; 
but his enunciation, embarrassed, and 
often involved, generally did injustice to 
his conceptions. 

Mr. Thomas Townsend, commonly 
denominated " Tommy Townsend," and 
commemorated under that name, in Gold- 
smith's celebrated poem of" Retaliation," 
where he describes Burke, 

" Tho' fraught with all learning, yet straining 
his throat, 
To induce Tommy Townsend to lend him a 
vote ;" 

look confidently forward, no less than 
General Conway, to a high place in. 
some future ministry, when Lord North 
sfiould be driven from power. Nor were 
his expectations eventually disappointed. 
Having held the lucrative post of joint 
paymaster of the forces, at an earl)' pe- 
riod of his majesty's reign, during about 
six months, he was already a member 
of the privy council. He possessed 
likewise a very independent fi>ruine, and 
considerable parliamentary interest, pre- 
sent, as well as prospective ; two cir- 
cumstances which greatly contributed 
to his personal, no less than to his politi- 
cal elevation : — for, his abilities, though 
respectable, scarcely rose above medio- 
crity. Yet, as he always spoke with 
facility, sometimes with energy, and was 
never embarrassed by any degree of 
timidity, he maintained a conspicuous 
place in the front ranks of opposition. 

General Burgoyne would not deserve 
any mention in this list, if respect were 
had only to his parliamentary talents : 
but, his sufferings in the cause of opposi- 
tion, which elevated him to the rank of a 
martyr, like Keppel ; Fox's attachment 
towards him, and his connexion by mar- 
riage with Lord Derby, one of the mi- 
nority chiefs; — these merits supplied 
every deficiency. In his person he rose 
above the common height, and when 
young, must have possessed a distin- 
guished figure: but, years had enfeebled 
him, though he was cast in an athletic 



niSTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



209 



mouhl. His military services in the 
field had never been resplendent. He 
seemed more filled for the drawinij-room, 
than for the camp ; for pleasing,' in so- 
ciety, than for commandinir armies. No 
man possessed more polished manners. 
His manifestos were more admired for 
their composition, while he was at the 
head of the British forces in America, 
tlian his tactics or his manoeuvres. Ol 
his dramatic talents, the comedy of the 
'•Heiress" forms an eminent proof; 
atid I beliSve, he contributed his aid to 
the celebrated •' Probationary Odes." 

It was difficult to contemplate him, 
without recollecting the disgraceful co- 
lours under which " Junius" has desig- 
nated him, as taking his stand at a gam- 
ing-table, and waicliing with the sober- 
est attention, for a fair opportunity of 
engaging a drunken young nobleman at 
picquet;"as "drawing a regular and 
splendid subsistence from play ;" and 
as " sitting down for the remainder of 
his life, infamous and contented, with 
the money received from the Duke of 
Grafton, for the sale of a patent place in 
the customs." These aspersions, which 
never received any public answer, did 
not prevent his occui)ying a distinguish- 
ed place in Fox's regard ; who exhibited 
a strong proof of it, by becoming Bur- 
goyne's nominee on the committee ap- 
pointed to try the contested election for 
the borough of Preston, which he re- 
presented in the spring of 1781. Sup- 
ported by such ability, the general kept 
his seat. I have been assured that when 
he returned on his parole from America, 
in May, 1778 ; the o|)posilion, appre- 
hensive of his taking part with adminis- 
tration, and fearful that he might accuse 
the adherents of Congress in this cotin- 
try, with having contributed by their 
language in parliament, if not by other 
modes of encouragement, to the resist- 
ance that produced the disaster of Sara- 
toga ; determined if possible to gain him. 
For^that purpose Fox went down pri- 
vately toHounsliiW in a hired post chaise, 
where he met Bnrgoyne soon after he 
had landed, on his way from Plymouth 
to London. In the course of a long and 
confidential interview. Fox convinced 
him so thoroughly, that the ministers 
would not sup[)ort him ; that Lord 
George Germain must accuse him, in 
18* 



order to exculpate himself; that the king 
had imbibed very strong prejudices 
against him, and that the administration 
could not last a twelvemonth ; as to in- 
duce the general to transfer his charges 
of misconduct, from the opposition, to 
the treasury bench. Present protection, 
and future employment, whenever they 
should attain to power, followed of 
course. I have no doubt of the accu- 
racy of this fact, as I received it from 
high living authority. 

Burgoyne always aflected to consider 
the whole admiiiislralion, as leagued 
against him, in order to retard or to im- 
pede his exchange. Towards Lord George 
Germain, who presided over the Ameii- 
can department, he of course felt, and 
freqiienlly expressed, great personal 
alienation, or rather asperity. 1 remem- 
ber hearing liim declare in his place, as 
a member of parliament, towards the 
close of Lord North's ministry, in De- 
cember, 1781, that he would raiher sub- 
mit to be recalled to America by Con- 
gress, and be committed to a dungeon, 
there to perish, than condescend to soli- 
cit a favour from men who had oppressed 
him in a manner the most severe; who 
had refused him a court martial-; who 
had calumniated his private character, 
and had treated him with every sort of 
indignity. How far these charges were 
founded in trutii or justice, I cannot 
venture to say ; but it appeared, bolh on 
Lord George Germain's and on Lord 
North's testimony, that endeavours had 
been made by our government to obtain 
his exchange "from Congress, vvhicli were 
only frustrated by an evasion on the part 
of the American executive power, in not 
ratifying a capitulation, where a number 
of iheir troops had fallen inio our hands. 
Burgoyne himself admitted liie justice of 
our claim over those captured soldiers, 
who had been proffered to Congress a:^ 
an equivalent for him : but he main- 
tained, that wiien they were rejected, 
other prisoners should have been ten- 
ilered in their place. I^egulits was not, 
however, the character among the un- 
fortunate commanders of antiquity, whom 
he lr*l proposed for his own model. 

Wilkes could not properly be consi- 
dered as a member of the minority ; be- 
cause, though he always sate on that 
side of the house, and usually voted 



210 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



with them, yet he iieiiher depended on 
Lord Rockingham, nor on Lord Sliel- 
hurne : but his predilections leaned to- 
wards the latter nobleman. Represent- 
ing, as he did, the county of Middlesex, 
he spoke from a great parliamentary 
eminence. He was an incomparable 
comedian in all he said or did ; and he 
seemed to consider human life itself as a 
mere comedy. In the House of Com- 
mons he was not less an actor than at 
the Mansion House, or at Guildhall. 
His speeches were full of wit, pleasantry, 



occupied so distinguished a place in tlie 
public consideration. His name will 
live as long as the records of history 
transmit to future times the reign of 
George the Third. 

INotwiihslanding the personal collision 
which may be said to have taken place 
between the king and him, during the 
early portion of his majesty's reign, 
Wilkes, like Burke, nourished in his 
bosom a strong sentiment of constitu- 
tional loyalty. He gave indelible proofs 
of it during the riots of June, 1780, 



and point; yet nervous, spirited, and vvhen Bull, one of the members for 
not at all defective in argument. They London, with whom he had long been 
were all prepared, before they were I intimately connected, crouched under 



delivered ; and Wilkes made no secret 
of declaring, that in order to secure their 
accurate transmission to the public, he 



Lord George Gordon's mob. And 
though VVilkes's lent his aid to overturn 
Lord North's administration, yet he 



always sent a copy of them to William never yoked himself to Fox's car. On 
Woodfall, before he pronounced them, the contrary, no sooner had " the coa- 



In private society, particularly at table, 
he was pre-eminently agreeable ; abound- 
ing in anecdote ; ever gay and convi- 
vial ; converting his very delects of per- 
son, manner, or enunciation, to purposes 
of merriment or of entertainment. If 
any man ever was pleasing, who squint- 
ed, who had lost his teeth, and lisped, 
Wilkes might be so esteemed. His 
powers of conversation survived his 
other bodily faculties. I have dined in 
company with him, not long before his 
decease, when he was extenuated and 
enfeebled to a great degree ; but his 
tongue retained all its former activity, and 
seemed to have outlived his other organs. 
Even in corporeal ruin, and obviously 
approaching the termination of his ca- 
reer, he formed the charm of the assem- 
i>Iy. His celebrity, his courage, his 
imprisonment, his outlawry, his duels, 
his intrepid resistance to ministerial and 
royal persecution, his writings, his ad- 
ventures ; lastly, liis triumph and serene 
evening of life, passed in tranquillity, 
amidst all the enjoyments of which his 
decaying frame was susceptible; — for, 
to the last hour of his existence, he con- 
tinued a votary to pleasure; — these 
circumstances, combined in his person, 
rendered him the most interesting indi- 
vidual of the age in which he jived. 
Smce the death of Henry St. John, Lord 
IJoliiighroke, who died in 1751, and 
whose life bore some analogy to Wilkes's 
ill various of its features, no man had 



lition" unmasked their battery of " the 
East India Bill," than Wilkes, rallying 
to the crown, as the only protection 
against Fox's ambition, took the warm- 
est part against that measure : acting in 
1784, nearly the same part which Burke 
did eight years later, in 1792, after tb.e 
French revolution, when he sought 
shelter behind the throne, against the 
horrors of anarchy, regicide, and insur- 
rection : horrors which Fox never could, 
or never would perceive, and for which 
he even apologised in no small degree. 

Such was the general aspect which the 
House of Commons then presented. 
Pitt and Sheridan, who have since in 
different ways occupied so great a share 
of public attention, had not either of 
them as yet come forward to public no- 
tice and admiration. The latter had in- 
deed risen in his place, as early as the 
preceding month of JNoveinber, within 
three weeks after the meetintj of parlia- 
ment, in order to complain of the facility 
and impunity with which petitions were 
presented, complaining of bribery and 
corruption on the part of members re- 
turned to serve in parliament, which 
petitions often proved eventually frivo- 
lous or vexatious. He stood, himself, 
in that very situation ; Mr. Richard 
Whitworlh, one of the representatives 
for the town of Stafford in tlie preceding 
parliament, having just petitioned the 
liouse, against the return of Mr. Sheridan 
and his colleague, the honourable Ed- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



211 



ward Monckion, for llie same borough. 
Rigby, on the occasion to wliich I al- 
hitle, vviih the coarse, coiileniptiioiis, 
;ind insiiliing ridicule, familiar lo him 
when aiidressiiig the house, had irealed 
Sheridan's coinphiiiits as meriiing no 
attention. Fox instantly rose to justify 
and to protect his friend ; but the speaker 
interposing, terniinaled the conversation. 
Even while projiouncing the few sen- 
tences which he then uttered, the fame 
of the author of ilie " Duenna," the 
" School for Sfandal," and the " C'rilic," 
was a'rp:iily so well established, as to 
procure liim the greatest attention. 

Probably, at no period of George tlie 
Third's long reign, which already ex- 
ceeds that of Henry the Third in dura- 
tion, have the walls of the House ol 
Commons enclosed so great an asseni- 
bhige of first-rate talents on the opposi- 
tion benches, as were there concentered 
at the beginning of the year 1781. 
Their exertions were at once sharpened 
and propelled by the critical nature of 
the lime and of the contest, which ob- 
viously tended to some vast catastrophe, 
unless a speedy amelioration of our af- 
fairs beyond the Atlantic should take 
place. The treasury bench, though 
Lord North, Lord George Germain, and 
Mr. Dundas, still were seated on it, had 
sustained no ordinary diminution of its 
lustre, by the removal of 'I'hurlow and 
of Wedderburn to the upper house : but, 
on the opposite side, we beheld a con- 
stellatifin of men of genius. In the front 
stood Fox and Burke, sustained by Dun- 
ning and Barre ; whde Pitt and Sheridan, 
two of the most resplendent luminaries 
produced during tlie course of the eigh- 
teenth century, were preparing to unfold 
their powers. I have endeavoured lo 
present before the reader of 1818, an im- 
perfect picture of the assembly then sit- 
ting at Westminster, and to place him, if 
I may so express myself, under the gal- 
lery of the house, as a spectator. In 
order, however, to form a more com- 
plete estimate of the princi[)al individuals 
who at that time attracted general notice, 
either as supporters of administration, or 
as candidates for oiFice whenever the 
opposition should come into power ; it 
is still requisite to throw a glance over 
the House of Peers. 

The great Earl of Mansfield, tjiougii 



he had already advanced beyond that 
period of life, at which the faculties of 
the human mind usually begin to dimi- 
nish in vigour, did not appear to have 
lost any of the acuieness or strength of 
his intellect. In the court of King's 
Bench, no less than in parliament, where 
he constantly atteiuled in his place, his 
transcendent abilities still excited equal 
respect and admiration, 'i'he friend of 
Pope, of Bolinghroke,and of Sir VVdIiam 
Wyndham, during his youth; he united 
the finest accom[)lishments of science, to 
the most profound knowledge of the 
laws. In the recent riots of 1780, the 
populace, whether considering him as 
inclined to supfjort measures of an arbi- 
trary nature, or su[)posing him a friend 
to principles of religious toleration re- 
pugnant to their feajings ; selected him 
for the object of their violence. His 
house and his papers were consumed: 
but he had happily escaped any personal 
effects of their rage ; and thouoh not in- 
dividually a member of administration, 
might be considered as disposed on all 
occasions, to extend his assistance lo the 
government. Yet did the constitutional 
and characteristic timidity which dis- 
tinguished him in his political capacity, 
prevent his ever standing forward in 
moments of crisis or danger, like Thur- 
low and Wedderburn, as the avowed 
champion of ministerial measures. But, 
in his judicial character, he made ample 
amends, and manifested a devotion lo 
the wishes of the court, scarcely ex- 
ceeded by any example to be adduced 
even under the Stuart reigns. The ac- 
cusations brought against Lord Mans- 
field by Wilkes, in Ins Letter from Paris, 
of the "22d of October, 1764," address- 
ed to the electors of Aylesbury, are of 
so grave a description, that, if founded in 
truth, a Turkish cadi might blush to 
own then). He positively asserts, that 
on the evening preceding the two trials 
in the court of King's Bench, instituted 
against himself, as the author of the 
North Briton, No. 45, and of the 
'' Essay on JToman ;'''' Lord Mansfield 
sent for liis (Wilkes's) solicitor to his 
own house, and desired him lo consent 
III such alterations in the records, as 
would ensure the certainty of Wilkes's 
conviction. " The chief justice," con- 
tinues he, " sunk into the crafty allorney, 



212 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



1 



and made himself a party against the 
person accused before him as judge, 
when he ought to have presumed me 
innocent. My solicitor refused ; and 
against his consent, the records were 
there materially altered by his lordship'' s 
express orders; so that I was tried on 
two new charges, very different from 
those I had answered. This is, I be- 
lieve, the most daring violation of the 
rights of Englishmen, which has been 
committed by any judge since the time 
oi Jefferies. Yet this arbitrary Scottish 
chief justice still remains unimpeached, 
except in the hearts of the whole nation." 
When we read these facts ; for, such 
they must be esteemed, since they re- 
mained wholly uncontradicted ; we 
might fancy the transactions to have 
taken place at Saragossa or at Seville, 
rather than in Westminster Hall. Strarce- 
ly could a Spanish grand inquisitor have 
outdone the English chief justice. 
Wilkes continuing his narrative, says, 
" Several of the jury were bv counter 
notices, signed siimrnoning officer, pre- 
vented from attending on the day ap- 
pointed for the trial ; while others had 
not only private notice given them of the 
real day, but, likewise, instructions for 
their behaviour. To crown the whole. 
Lord Mansfield, in his charge, tortured 
both the law and the fact so grossly, 
that the audience were shocked no less 
at the inder'ency, than at the partiality 
of his conduct. I was during all this 
lime, very dangerously ill, with my 
daughter, at Paris ; absolutely incapable 
of making any personal defence, and 
indeed totally ignorant of the two new 
questions on which I was to be tried." 
It is not without some difficulty, that j 
we can conceive these violations of all 
justice or equity to have taken place in 
London, under the reign of George the 
Third. We might rather suppose them 
to have been performed under Charles, 
or James, the Second. 

Nor was Wilkes the only champion 
who stood forward as Lord Mansfield's 
accuser, at the bar of the English 
people. With the single exception of 
the Duke of Grafton, no man hijih in 
office, had been so severely treated by 
the pen of " Junius ;" and though time 
had skinned over the wound, the cica- 
trice siill remained. That able writer, 



after pursuing the lord chief justice with 
inconceivable pertinacity, through all the 
sinuosities of legal concealment or eva- 
sion, under which he attempted to shel- 
ter himself; — after comparing him to . 
the most prostitute judges of tlie most f 
arbitrary reigns ; to 1'rcssilliun, under 
Richard the Second ; and to Jefferies, 
under James the Second ; exclaims, — 
" Who attacks the liberty of the press ? 
Lord Mansfield. Who inva'les the con- 
stitutional power of juries? Lord Mans- 
field. What judge ever challenged a 
juryman, but Lord Mansfield? who was 
that judge, who, to save the king's bro- 
ther, affirmed that a man of the first rank 
and quality, who obtains a verdict in a 
suit for criminal conversation, is entitled 
to no greater damages than the meanest 
mechanic? Lord iMansfield." These, it 
must be owned, are charges of no C(jm- 
mon mao^nitude, and conveyed in no 
ordinary language. At him, " Junius" 
levelled his last blows, before he finally 
disappeared as apolitical writer. In his 
parting letter, addressed to Lord Cam- 
den, written towards the end of .lanuary, 
1772, exciting and invoking that noble- 
man to come forward as the accuser of 
the lord chief justice of the King's 
Bench, at the bar of the House of Peers ; 
" Considering," says he, " the situation i 
and abilities of Lord Mansfield, I do not 
scruple to aflirm, with the most solemn 
appeal to God lor my sincerity, that in 
mv judgment, he is the very worst and 
most dangerous man in the kingdom. 
Thus far I have done my duty, in en- 
deavouring to bring fiim to punishment. 
But mine is an inferior ministerial office 
in the temple of ju; tice. I have bound the 
victim, and dragged him to the altar." 
Severe, and perhaps unmerited as these 
accusations may appear, yet Lord Mans- 
field's warmest admirers never attempted 
to deny, that at every period of lime 
while he presided in the court of King's 
Bench, his opinions and his decrees, if 
not adverse to the liberty of the press, 
and to the freedom of the subject, uni- 
formly leaned towards the crown. His 
enemies, not without some reason, as- 
serted, that he was better calculated to 
fill the office of a Prxtor under Jus- 
tinian, than to preside as chief criminal 
jndsre of this kingdom, in the reiga of 
Geortje the Third. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



213 



Lord Loughborough, who owed lo 
Lord North his recent elevation to the 
j)eerage, constituted one of I) is ablest 
advocates, and most zealous supporters, 
in that house. Wedderburn liad risen 
through the gradations of the law, 
amidst the discussions of parliament, 
side by side with 'I'hurlow. More tem- 
perate, pliant, artful, and accommodating 
in his manners, than the chancellor, ho 
equalled that nobleman in eloquence, if 
he did not even surpass him. Churchill, 
in one of his satires, has thought proper 
to describe Wedderburn in colours of the 
deepest and most malignant dye, height- 
ened by the nvagic of verse. 1 believe, it 
appeared in 1762. 

" To mischief traiii'J, e'en from his mother's 

WOlTlh, 

Grown old in fraud, tho' yet in manhood's 

bloom, 
Adopting arts by which gay villains rise. 
And reach the heights which honest men 

despise ; 
Mute at the bar, and in the senate loud, 
Dull 'niongst the dullest, proudest of the 

proud, 
A pert prim prater of the northern race, 
Guilt in his heart, and famine in his face 
Slept forth." 

Nor was Fox much more favourable to 
Wedderburn, previous to the " Coali- 
tion" in 1783, which obliterated all pre- 
ceding errors on both sides. In Novem- 
ber, 1781, on the day when parliament 
met, Fox, while loading with execra- 
tions the American war, and its authors 
or abettors, selected Wedderburn as an 
object of his strongest reprobation. 
Alluding to the language which that emi- 
nent lawyer had formerly held, when 
he designated the contest with America, 
" to be the opposition of Hancock and 
bis crew, not a war with the people at 
large;" Fox observed, that "for these 
sentiments, and not for any other merit 
that he could discover, except the abus- 
ing our fellow subjects beyond the At- 
lantic, the learned genlleiT)an had been 
raised to the dignity of a peer." Not- 
withstanding these denunciations of 
party violence, poetic and political, no 
man in public life possessed more versa- 
tility of talents, or abilities better adapt- 
ed to every situation. He proved him- 
relf as refined a courtier at St. James's 
as he was an able lawyer at Westmin- 



ster. His defence of Lord Clive, when 
uniler accusation before the House of 
Commons, at an earlier period of his 
majesty's reign, augmented Wedder- 
bnrn's legal, as well as parliamentary 
reputation. If had been perpetually 
progressive since that time, and render- 
ed him, whetlier as a member nf the 
lower or of the upper house, one of the 
mosi distinguislied ornaments of the long 
robe. 

Nor did the opposition at this time 
want men of distinguished capacity, 
professional and [)olitical, in the House of 
Lords, though the Marquis of Rocking- 
ham was not to be accounted among the 
number. His rank, his integrity, and 
his vast patrimonial property, rather ikan 
any intellectual endowments, had placed 
him at the head of his party. During 
the short period of time when he for- 
merly filled the post of first lord of the 
treasury, he had displayed more recti- 
tude of intention, than either vigour or 
ability. Even his constitution and frame 
of body, appeared inadequate lo the 
fatigues of an official situation demand- 
ing energy and application. Lord Cam- 
den, on the contrary, thousih much more 
advanced in years, had retained all 
the powers of mind, combined with 
personal activity. In debate, he might 
be esteemed equal to Lord Mansfield 
himself ; and his exertions at every 
period of his life, in defence of tlie con- 
stitutional liberties of the subject, which 
gave him a sort of individual superiority 
to that nobleman, greatly endeared him 
to the nation. While chief justice lo the 
Court of Common Pleas, he had ap- 
proved himself a firm and intrepid guar- 
dian of the rights of the Eni^lisli people. 
On the thirtieth of April, 1703, when 
VVilk'es was illegally arrested imder a 
general warrant issued by the two secre- 
taries of state, the Earls of Egremont 
and Halifax ; Sir Charles Pratt, on ap- 
plication being made to him in his judi- 
cial capacity, instantly ordered the ha- 
beas corpus to issue ; though the mi- 
nisters thought proper lo evade and 
to violate it. His name, almost always 
united with the great Earl of Chatham 
ever since the accession of George the 
Third, seemed inseparable frcm the idea 
of freedom. 

If indefatigable and laborious perti- 



214 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



nacity could recoinrnend to office, or 
qualify for public employment, few 
members of the upper house possessed 
a better title to that praise, than the 
Duke of Richmond. However limited 
mi^hl be the ranj^e of his ideas, he sup- 
plied ill some measure by application 
the deficiency of original talent. His 



between 1766 and 1768. He might 
therefore justly look forward, on any 
change of ministers, to be again employed 
in a similar, or even in a higher place 
of trust and power. His acquaintance 
with the continent was minute and ac- 
curate, the result of ocular inspection 
on many points, corrected by reflection ; 



person, manners, and address, were all ' and improved by correspondence or 
full of dignity ; and the personal beauty \ communicaiions with foreigners of emi- 
which disliiiufuished Maclemoiselle de la | neiice, whom he assiduously cultivated 



Querouaille, mistress of Charles the 
Second, his great grandmother, was not 
become extinct in him. She is known 
to have retained her charms, down to a 
very late period of her life ; and the fa- 
bles related of Ninon de I'Enclos, which 
Voltaire has exposed, were in some 
measure verified in the Duchess of Ports- 



aiid protected. Mr. Fox himself was 
far inferior to Lord Shelburne in these 
branches of information. Nor was that 
nobleman less versed in all the princi- 
ples of finance and of revenue, than in 
the other objects of political study that 
form a statesman. His house, or more 
properly to speak, his palace in Berke- 



moutli. The late George Selvvyn, who j ley-square, which had formerly been 



had seen her at Richmond House in the 
year 1733; — -for, she survived Charles 
the Second near fifty years — assured 
me that she was even then possessed ol 
many attractions, though verging towards 
fourscore, like his ne()hew Mr. Fox, the 
duke did not spare the king, when ad- 
dressing the House of Lords : and he 
was considered as peculiarly obnoxious 
at St. James's. Accused by his ene- 
mies, of wanting personal courage, 
he manifested at least no defect of po- 
litical resolution. At the East India 
House, in his quality of a proprietor, 
no less than as a peer of parliament, at 
Westminster, he was ever active; vigi- 
lant in detecting and exposing abuses. 



erected by the Earl of Bute ; fdtmed at 
once the centre of a considerable party, 
as well as the asylum of literary taste 
and science. 

■ It is a fact, that during the latter 
years of Lord North's administration, he 
retained three or four clerks in constant 
pay and employment under his own roof, 
who were solely occupied in copying 
state papers or accounts. Every mea- 
sure of finance, adopted by the first 
minister, passed, if 1 may so express 
myself, through the political alembic 
of Shelburne House, where it was ex- 
aminetl and severely discussed. There, 
while Dunning and Barre met to 
settle their plan of action as meni' 



♦ 



real or imaginary ; perpetually harassing I hers of the opposition in the House 
every department with enquiries ; and 
attacking in turn, the army, the admi- 
ralty, and the treasury. 

But no individual in the upper house 
attracted so much national attention from 
his accomplishments, talents, and exten- 
sive information on all subjects of fo- 
reign or domestic policy, as the Earl of 
Shelburne. In the prime of life, and in 
the full vigour of his faculties, he dis- 
played, whenever he rose (o speak, an 
intimate knowledge of Europe ; together 
with such a variety of mailer, as proved 
him eminently qualified to fill the highest 
official situation. At an early period 
of his majesty's reign, he had occupied 
with great and general approbation, the 
post of secretary of stale for the home 
department, during more than two years, 



of Commons; Jackson, who likewise 
sat in the same assembly for New 
Romney, and the variety of whose in- 
formation had acquired him the name of 
" Omniscient Jackson," furnished every 
species of legal or general knowledge. 
Dr. Price and Mr. Baring produced 
financial plans, or made arithmetical 
calculations, meant to controvert and 
overturn, or to expose, those of the first 
lord of the treasury: vvhile Dr. Priest-. 
ley, who lived under the Earl of Shel- 
burne's personrd protection (just as the 
celebrated Hobbs had done at Chats- 
worth, under the immediate patronage of 
the Earls of Devonshire, in the prece- 
ding century) ; prosecuted in the midst of 
London his philosophical and chemical 
researches. Nor ought I to omit in this 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



215 



list of extraordinary men, the distin- 
guished names of Jervis, and of Jekyll ; 
one of wlioni has risen to such naval 
honours and diffiiities ; while the oilier 



west to east ; while his flotilla menaced 
us with monthly invasion ; — when the 
Southern coast was covered with Mar- 
lello Towers, from Beachy Head to 



has allained to an equal eminence at the | Romney Marsh ; and the Corsican era- 
bar, as he enjoys from the charms of his 1 peror having vanquished Europe, seemed 
conversaiion, in private society. only to reserve England, as Polyplieme 

In his person, manners, and address, does Ulysses, for liis last sacrifice ; — 
the earl of Shelburiie wanted no external I yet even then, ihougli we felt apprehen- 
qualily requisite to captivate or conciliate | sion, the spirit and the confidence of the 
mankind. All'able, poliie, communica- 1 country were fully commensurate to the 



tive, and courting popularity, he drew 
round him a number of followers or ad- 
herents. His personal courage was in- 
disputable. Splendid and hospitable at 
his table, he equally delighted his guests 
by the charms of his conversation and 
society. In his magnificent library, one 
of the finest of its kind in England, he 
could ai)pear as a philosopher and a man 
of letters. -> With such various endow- 
ments of mind, sustained by rank and 
loriuiie, he necessarily excited universal 
consideration, ami seemed to be {)i)inted 
out by nature for the first employments. 
But, the confidence which his moral 
character inspired, did not equal the re- 
putation of his abilities. His adversa- 
ries accused him of sy^siematic duplicity 
and insincerity. 'I'hey even asserted, 
that unless all the rules of physiognomy 
were set at defiance, his very counte- 
nance and features eloquently indicated 
falsehood. In order to fix upon him so 
injurious an imputation, they gave him 
the e\)\ihel of Alalagrida, from the name 
of a Pitringuese Jesuit, well known in 
the modern history of that kingdom. 
And these insinuations, though not per- 
haps ac,compa4iied with proofs, were 
nevertheless, either iVom the credulity, 
or from the malignity of mankind, wide- 
ly circulated, as well as very generally 
believed, throughout the nation. 

[23d — 31st January.] If any crisis 
ever demanded a first minister of energy, 
firmness, and resources of character, it 
was assuredly ihe portion of the present 
reign on which we are about to enter, 
including the last fourteen months of 
Lord North's long administraiion. 
There may since that lime have been 
moments of greater alarm, under Mr. 
Pitt, Mr. Addington, or Mr. Percival ; 
but, none of such ministerial and na- 
tional depression. Even when Bonaparte 
segmed to bestride the continent from 



impending or apparent danger. The 
sovereign was an object of afi'eclion and 
of universal respect. It was a combat 
of morals and of patriotism, against the 
principle of rapine, disorganization, and 
ferocious military despotism ; while the 
continental governments and people, 
however subjected they themselves 
might be, put up secret prayers for our 
escape and success. Bui in 1781, Lord 
North had neither internal, nor foreign 
auxiliaries. Which ever way he direct- 
ed his view, it was met by calamity, or 
defeat, or accumulating difficulties. Un- 
der such circumstances, it may rather 
excite surprise that he resisted so long, 
than that lie should uliimaieiy have sunk 
beneath the pressure. No sooner had 
pailiament re-assembled after ihe ad- 
journment, than the reclamations or com- 
plaints which had been repressed during 
ihe recess, burst out with a vehemence 
oroporlioned to their preceding delay. 
While General Smith called the allen- 
tion of the minister and the house, to the 
alarming condition of the provinces of 
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, where tlie 
newly insiiiuted court of judicature had 
commenced a sort of civil war against 
the supreme government ; the Island of 
B-irl)adoes, desolated by ihe hurricane of 
which I have already made mention; 
through ils agent, a member of the 
house, in terms calculated to awaken 
commiseration in every bosom, besought 
idaiiiiislraiion to extend some im- 
mediate relief to their almost indescriba- 
ble wants. 

Great as wore these misfortunes, and 
deeply afiecling the British empire at 
lis two extremities, a more serious sub- 
ject of conlem[)laiion, because it was one 
much nearer home, engrossed universal 
alieniion. I mean the manifesto pre- 
sented by Lord North, at the same time 
that he delivered a message from his 



216 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



majesty, announcing the commencement 
of hostilities against Holland. Never, 
probably, in the history oF modern na- 
tions, was any state paper drawn up 
with more temper, moderation, and even 
a spirit of conciliation ! Tiie king la- 
mented in every line, the painful neces- 
sity imposed on him, to resent the in- 
fractions of treaty committed by his 
ancient allies, the Dutch. But the 
source of the evil lay in the depression 
of Great Britain, already surrounded by 
enemies, and apparently unequal to pro- 
tracting the struggle. In tlie course of 
a long dttbate that ensued upon the ad- 
dress proposed to be presented to the 
sovereign, which was opposed on fac- 
tious, rather than on solid grounds of 
argument; Lord North, in reply to 
Burke observed, that " our national dif- 
ficulties were unquestionably great ; but, 
he trusted, by no means insuperable." 
*' I am neither disposed," added he, "to 
conceal their magnitude, nor afraid to 
encounter them ; because I am fully 
convinced that the means possessed by 
this country, when vigorou^iy exerted, 
constitute the only mode of obtaining a 
just and an honourable peace." These 
magnanimous sentimenis, which might 
have become the first Mr. Pitt in 1758, 
or his son in 1805; both which were 
periods of universal dejection, received 
from Fox, from Townsend, from Lord 
John Cavendish, and from Dunning, 
every injurious or contumelious epithet ; 
accompanied by reproaches for liavino;, 
■as they falsely asserted, driven Holland 
into liie arms of ihe House of Bourbon. 
'J'he minister did not, however, want 
defenders on that evening; among whom, 
though the most inconsiderable in every 
sense, I might name myself. Nor did 
the division deceive his hopes, as he 
carried the proposed address by a majo- 
rity of seventy-nine. I was among the 
number of those members who went up 
with it to St. James's, where it met 
from his majesty the most gracious re- 
ception. 

[1st of February.] I wish it v/ere in 
my power to convey an adequate idea to 
the reader, of 1818, and lo transport 
him to the debate that took place when 
Fox moved a censure on the administra- 
tion, for having advised his niiijesiy to 
confer on Palliser the government of 



Greenwich Hospital. All the first ora- 
tors who graced the opposition benches, 
came forward in succession. Palliser 
and Kepple faced each other ; the for- 
mer admiral seated near the minister ; 
the latter opposite to him ; sustained by 
his numerous, zealous, and eloquent par- 
tizans. The events of the 27th of July, 
1778, — a day marked by so many 
painful recollections, — were once more 
retracted, discussed, and agitated with 
all the violence of mutual animosity. 
Fox opened the subject in a masterly 
manner ; mingling in his mode of ma- 
naging it, not less art, than eloquence 
or argument. Nor did he spare, in cer- 
tain parts of his discourse, the king him- 
self; though in compliance with the 
forms of parliament, he abstained from 
expressly naming the sovereign. Kep- 
pel had been recently rejected as mem- 
ber for Windsor, which borough thought 
proper to return, as one of their repre- 
sentatives, Mr. Powney, a gentleman of 
inilependent I'ortune in the vicinity. To 
this circumstance, as having been produced 
by royal interference. Fox alluded. "And 
what," exclaimed he exultingfly, " is the 
consequence ! 'i'he county of Surrey, 
which portion of England beheld with in- 
dignation the oppression practised in his 
person ; who saw the enormous influence 
of the crown opposed to virtue, popu- 
larity, and reputation ; opened their arms 
to receive him, and invited him to be- 
come their representative. Thus, op- 
pression produced its opposite effect ; 
and my honourable relation, expelled 
from a place which he had represented 
in successive parliaments, by the influ- 
ence of the crown, is returned lo this 
assembly for a great and opulent 
county." 

Lord North, in his reply to Fox, did 
not omit to give the most pointed denial 
to the assertion that Keppel had been 
driven from Windsor, by ilie means to 
which allusion was made ; adding, that 
"the honourable gentleman well knew 
the fact not to be true, and only threw 
out the imputation, merely with a view 
to inflame the passions of his audience." 
Disdaining, on an occasion so grave and 
weighty, to avail himself of his custo- 
mary weapons, ridicule and pleasantry,' 
the first lord of the treasurv,in a speech 
replete with sound sense and strong 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



217 



reasoninsr, combated Fox's propositions ; 
remiiKied liiin of the frenzy wtiich hatl 
agitated London for three nights, when 
a lawless and unrestrained mob com- 
pelled the peaceful inhabitants to illu- 
minate for a victory which had never 
been gained ; and attributed, not to con- 
viction, but to intimidation, the vole of 
thanks to Keppel carried in the last 
House of Commons, under those cir- 
cumstances. On one point only Lord 
North indulged for a few moments, that 
vein of genuine humour and playful 
wit, which so eminently characterised 
liim. Fox having asserted roundly, 
that " Palliser's resignation of his places 
and eni|)loyments, formed a tacit admis- 
sion of liis criminality." Lord North 
classically exclaimed, 

" Quam tcmore nosraet legem sane imus ini- 
quani !" 

"Some men," continued he, "resign 
their places, for the sake of tlie public 
quiet. Oiliers resign from shrewd arith- 
jnetical calculations, that it may be more 
judicious to give up a place of small 
value now, in order to get a belter, some 
time hence. Others again act thus from 
political foresight. They discover an 
approaching storm ; they ' snuff it gath- 
ering in the sky ;' they perceive that an 
administration totters, and they quit the 
falling fabric, in expectation of coming 
into high office, by joining t!>e opposite 
party. For my part, I believe the vice 
admir*! resigned from a most laudable 
motive, in order to restore the public 
tranquillity, which had been overturned 
by the madness of the times." 

Captain George Johnstoms or as he 
was more commonly denoniinaled, Com- 
modore Johnstone, a man who has at- 
tained a considerable degree of celebrity 
during this portion of the reign of 
George the Third, rising for the first 
time since the meeting of the present 
parliament, took no ordinary part in the 
debate. Nature had cast him in a 
coarse, but a vigorous mould, and had 
endowed him with corresponding or 
analogous faculties of mind. Irascible, 
intemperate, violent, he was a warm and 
zealous friend ; but an im[)lacable ene- 
my. He possessed a species of ardent, 
impetuous, half savage eloquence, re- 
19 



strained by no delicacy of language ; 
yet capable of powerfully affecting his 
hearers by the display of information, 
by his energetic appeals to their pas- 
sions, and by his gesticulations which 
came in aid of his oratory. A.s a naval 
officer of rank and experience, when ad- 
dressing the house on a naval question, 
he might justly lay claim to attention. 
He had proved himself nevertheless more 
a sagacious politician, than an able com- 
mander ; and looked rather to parlia- 
mentary talents, than to maritime ser- 
vices, for elevating him in life, as well 
as for enabling him to acquire the 
honours or emoluments of his profes- 
sion. Johnstone, while he admitted 
that Keppel was individually a brave, a 
gallant, and a meritorious officer; in- 
veighed in terms the most severe against 
the general dispositions which be had 
made previous to engaging the fleet of 
France, on the memorable 27th of July. 
Of that action Johnstone sjjoke, as oi tiie 
most unfortunate which Great Britain 
had ever witnessed ; " in consequence 
of which, the French became convinced 
by their own experience, that on a sum- 
mer's day, they could engage an English 
fleet superior in every point of view, aiid 
yet get safe back to their own harbours." 
He treated with intlignant ridicule, tlie 
expression used by Keppel, when he al- 
lowed d'Orvilliers to retire unmolested, 
under a supposition that " he would 
fight it out fairly next morning," instead 
of renewing the engagement on the same 
evening : adding, that he entertained no 
doubt, the honorable admiral himself, if 
he were to fight the battle over again, 
would conduct it in a very differeni 
manner. Then adverting to tlie dis- 
graceful tumults, and still more disgrace- 
ful illuminations, on occasion of the 
prelfended advantage gained over France, 
" Oh ! God !" said he, raising his eyes, 
and covering with both hands his 
face, " London, illuminated durin-J 
three successive nights, on account of 
the national glory acquired on the 27th 
of July ! No man of common sense 
could credit it." 'J'owards the conclu- 
sion of his speech, Johnstone, in the 
most pointed language, after vindicatin<r 
Lord Sandwich in his oflicial character, 
as first lord of the admiralty, from the 
imputations of various kinds thrown om 



218 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



against his naval administration ; ex- 
pressed his concern and surprise at see- 
ing so respectable a name as that of 
Admiral Keppel, subscribed to a list of 
Idclious resolutions adopted by a Surrey 
rnmmittee, declaring the American war 
U) be an unjust enterprise. " What 
opinion," observed he, " must officers 
who are proceeding to that quarter ol' 
the globe, form of a naval commander, 
so long the object of their respect; 
who now joins in declaring that 
every man who serves against the 
insurgents beyond the Atlantic, is 
110 better than a pirate, and that the 
contest itself is a war of injustice and 
oppression I" 

Proceeding in this strain of accusation, 
and cprried away by the warmth of his 
irritable temper, which, like that of 
Burke, was by no means always under 
ihe control of reason, Johnstone arraign- 
ed the opinions delivered from the oppo- 
sition benclies, on the late debate rela- 
tive to the declaration of war against 
Holland, as dangerous, if not fatal in 
(heir consequences to the national wel- 
fare. He even charged, though not by 
name, yet by unavoidable implication. 
Fox, as well as his friends who sate 
near him, with the criminality of advo- 
cates employed by the enemies of Eng- 
land, to traduce, to degrade, and to over- 
turn her greatness. Apprehensive pro- 
l)ably of the eftect which such a denun- 
ciation might produce on the public 
mind, Mr. Thomas Townsend starling 
up, called the commodore to order ; 
and though Rigby interposed to justify 
the observations that he had made, as 
arising out of the subject under dis- 
cussion ; consequently as strictly con- 
formable to the acknowledged rules of 
debate ; yet Johnstone, whose under- 
standing had been allowed a few 'mo- 
ments to operate, aware of the delicate 
cround on which he was treading, de- 
clined to add another word. The house 
111 vain encouraged him to proceed, by 
cries of Go on ! Go on ! He sate down, 
and Keppel availed himself of the 
pause, to present to the house liis senti- 
ments on the question. In a speech of 
considerable length, he endeavoured to 



efforts to break the French line, made by 
that gallant officer. He owned that he 
no more liked the mention of tlie unfor- 
tunate day itself, than did the commo- 
dore ; while he affected at the same time 
to thank his honorable relation, for 
affording him the present occasion of 
justifying himself to the House of Com- 
mons and to his country. 

Sir Hugh Palliser now rose, and 
directed his discourse to Fox, rather than 
to the admiral who had just preceded 
him. The matter of his address made 
amends for any deficiencies in its de- 
livery, and enforced universal attention. 
After reproaching Fox with want of 
candour, if not of veracity, in the state- 
ment made by him of the motives that 
had produced the resignation of his own 
employments ; Sir Hugh, assured him 
that it did not proceed from any appre- 
hension of his threats, nor from any con- 
sciousness of misconduct in himself. 
" Fear," continued he, " is the tax 
which conscience pays to guilt. Let 
those experience it, who calumniate the 
characters of others, and afterwards ob- 
ject to hear the injured party in his ex- 
culpation ! I was indeed once afraid, I 
confess. I was afraid of a frantic, de- 
luded, furious populace, who forced 
their way into my house, destroyed my 
properly, and would have torn me in 
pieces, if the arrival of a detachment of 
the guards sent to my relief, had not 
critically rescued me from their ferocity. 
I was necessitated to abscond, and from 
the place of my concealment, I wrote my 
letter of resignation. In so acting, I 
imitated the precedent set me by one of 
the most celebrated naval commanders 
known in modern history. I mean, the 
famous Dutch Admiral, Van Tromp. 
He, under the operation of popular pre- 
judice and outrage, laid down his com- 
mission, in order to pacify the public: 
but he subsequently resumed it under 
more auspicious circumstances, and ren- 
dered the highest services to his native 
country." Having modestly, but dis- 
tinctly stated the share that he took in 
the engagement of the 27th of July ; 
where, by the universal confession of 
every officer present, he had manifested 



throw the blame of the failure of the uncommon intrepidity, and had received 
27th of July, on Palliser; though he i in his ship, the " Formidable," the ex- 
was necessitated to admit the personal [elusive fire of the whole French line; 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



219 



he concluded by pointinir some severe 
observations against Burke, as well as 
against Keppel : leaving on my mind, 
and I believe, on that of every unpreju- 
diced bearer, the strongest conviction of 
his merits, no less than of the persecution 
that he had endured. 

Burke may be said to have terminated 
this very interesting discussion, rising as 
soon as Palliser sat down; no doubt 
with the design of obliterating the im- 
pression made on the house, by the pre- 
ceding speaker. If eloquence, ingenuity, 
and a perfect acquaintance with every 
fact or minute detail connected with the 
subject, could efl'ace that impression, 
and substitute in its place an opposite 
seutiinenl, he must have succeeded : — 
for, never were more brilliant, various, 
and captivating powers of intellect ex- 
hibited, than by Burke on that evening. 
He left no feature of the subject un- 
touched, and all touched with a master 
hand. Against Palliser he directed the 
shafts of his argumentative severity ; 
ajjainsi Lord North, the keener arrows 
of ridicule and irony; nor did he by any 
means omit Johnstone, who attracted his 
full proportion of botli those weapons of 
attack. The finest specimen of ludicrous 
and metaphorical description ever per- 
haps given even by Burke himself, 
within the walls of the House of Com- 
tnons,he pointed against the (irst minister. 
That nobleman found himself obliged to 
call in the assistance of Mansfield, the 
solicitor general, in order to enable him 
to shape his proposed amendments to 
Fox's motion for declaring " the appoint- 
ment of Palliser to be governor of Green- 
wich Hospital, a measure totally sub- 
versive of the discipline, and derogatory 
to the honour of the navy." Some 
minutes having elapsed, while the pre- 
cise words proper to be adopted, were 
under consideration ; Burke observed, 
that " the noble lord had been employed 
in knofling and splicing the motion, and 
in /Is king '{is mast ;^^ at the same lime 
remarking (in allusion to his consulta- 
tion with the solicitor general), that " he 
need not have Jirf^d a gun to leeward, 
as a signal of distress, it being obvious 
that his mizen top masts were all shot 
away." These metaphors, drawn from 
the technical terms of the very service 
respecting which the house had been so 



long engaged in debate, operated with 
inconceivable effect on the muscles of 
the assembly; and on none more forci- 
bly than on those of the first minister, 
against whom they were specially di- 
rected. He found himself for once over- 
whelmed by the very artillery which he 
commonly employed against his oppo- 
nents, and in the use of which he so 
much excelled. ' The motion was at 
length negatived, though only by a ma- 
jority of sixty-Jive; the opposition di- 
viding 149 ; while administration had 
214 votes. Palliser continued to retain 
the government of Greenwich Hospital, 
down to the period of Ids decease in 
1796 ; but, no first lord of the admirahy 
ever ventured to employ him again in 
the line of his profession. 

[26th February.] Among the circum- 
stances which will always render the 
session of 1781 peculiarly interesting to 
posterity, must be accounted the ariive 
appearance of Pitt and of Sheridan, on 
the floor of the House of Commons. 
They both may be said to have com- 
menced their brilliant parliamentary 
career, nearly at the same time, within 
a few days of each other. Both spoke 
on the side of opposition, and both were 
received with marked approbation, by 
every part of their audience. I was pre- 
sent, when each of them rose for the 
first time. Pitt led the way, on the second 
reading of Burke's bill for " the Re- 
form of the King's Household;" which, 
though rejected in the last session of the 
preceding parliament, its author did not 
the less bring forward anew, towards 
the close of the month of February. He 
reiterated, on moving for leave to. bring 
in the bill, the same encomiums upon 
the salutary retrenchments made by 
Necker, with which he had entertained 
the house in 1780 ; extolled the dis(^ern- 
ment of Louis the Sixteenth, in making 
clioice of such a minister, for superin- 
tendanl of the finances ; and asserted, 
that the selection woidd produce more 
substantial benefit, as well as more solid 
glory to hjs reign, than had resulted from 
all the deeds of Henry the Fourth. 
" We want," said he, " some such great 
and enlightened statesman, who will 
strike out new and untried paths, adapt- 
ed to the pressure of the times. Here 
no measures are adopted, except on a 



220 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



narrow, fraudulent scale, producing tem- 
porary supplies by retails of misfortune. 
Tsedet harum formarinn ! These are 
only delusive phantoms. Give me sub- 
stance and reality ; — Corpus solidum, 
et sued plemwiJ When the financial 
resources of the French monarchy were 
believed to be exhausted, and when every 
ordinary channel of revenue was known 
to be dried up, Mr. Necker opened a 
mine of national wealth ; dug down into 
it; reached the fountain head of pro- 
ductive receipt; and by demolishing the 
dams that impeded the current of wealth, 
he immediately brought into the exche- 
quer, the value of near six hundred use-} 
less places." Such were the eulogiums 
pronounced upon the banker of Copet, 
whose ill combined and illusive plans, 
calculated onlyto acquire popuUirityat the 
expense of his unfortunate master, plunged 
France into irretrievable embarrassments, 
and led ultimately to the subversion of 
the monarchy ! The measures, more- 
over, adopted by an arbitrary prince for 
maintaining a war, in which, contrary to 
every maxim of wise policy, no less than 
by ihe subversion of all treaties subsist- 
ing between France and England, he 
fiad engaged with us ; did not appear, in 
the opinion of impartial men, to form a 
proper model for our imitation. After 
a debate of considerable length, the bill 
was rejected only by a majority of forty- 
three votes, in a very full house, where 
four hunlred and twenty-three members 
were present. Great expectations hav- 
ing been formed of Pitt, a sort of anxious 
impatience for his coming forward per- 
vaded the assembly ; which was strongly 
impressed, from common report, with a 
l-elief of his hereditary talents and elo- 
q\icnce. He unquestionably commenced 
under most auspicious circumstances ; 
his birth, and his very nam.e, by re- 
suscitating as it were the first Earl of 
Chatham, whose memory awakened 
such animating recollections, preparing 
every ear to be attentive ; and thus 
removing all the impediments that pre- 
sent themselves in the way of ordinary 
men, when attempting to address parlia- 
ment. But, sanguine as might be the 
opinions entertained of his ability, he far 
exceeded them ; seeming to attain at his 
outset, that object, which other candi- 
dates for public fame or favour, slowlyand 



laboriously effect, by length of lime and 
regular gradations. 

It was in reply to Lord Nugent that 
Pitt first broke silence, from under lli€ 
gallery, on the opposition side of the 
house, 'i'he same composure, self-pos- 
session, and imposing dignity of manner, 
which afterwards so eminently charac- 
terized him when seated on the treasury 
bench ; distinguislied him in this first 
essay of his powers, thougli he then 
wanted three months to have comple- 
ted his twenty-second year. 'J'lie same 
nervous, correct, and polished diction, 
free from any inaccuracy of language, or 
embarrassment of deportment, which, as 
first minister, he subsequently display- 
ed, were equally manifested on this oc- 
casion. Formed for a popular assem- 
bly, he seemed made to guide its deli- 
berations, from the first moment that he 
addressed the members composing it. 
The debate of that evening which first 
introduced so distinguished an individual 
to the knowledge of his countrymen as 
a candidate fur office stands so much 
apait from t!ie ordinary discussions of 
parliament ; and the particulars of it will 
unquestionably excite so warm a cu- 
riosity, that I shall endeavour to retrace 
some of its features. And I can do it 
with the greater facility, as well as ac- 
curacj^ having not only been in my 
place on that night as a member of the 
iiouse, but taken an active part in it. 
I spoke at considerable length cii^ainst 
the bill ; re{flied to Burke's encomiums 
on IS'ecker, and treated the plans of that 
Genevese financier, nearly in the same 
manner as I have since written respect- 
in<j- them. These observations I ven- 
ture to make, in order to show that in all 
I may stale. I am not comjiosing from 
books, but relating such facts as remain 
impressed on my memory, and have 
survived the lapse of six and thirty years. 
I shall therefore proceed, wiihoul heed- 
ing the malevolent comments that may 
be made on my vanity and egotism;- for 
the mention of myself as in any manner 
connected Vvilh Mr. Pitt's entrance on 
public life, 

Lord Nugent, while he professed him- 
self a friend to enonomy, strongly op- 
posed Burke's bill on various grounds; 
as destroying the independence of the 
sovereign, while it would injure the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



221 



frame of the British consliluiion, by sub- 
verting the nice equipoise on which de- 
pended its permanence and stability. 
He afterwards treated the projected re- 
form to be made in the royal lioiisehokl, 
as not less visionary or impracticable, 
than the "Commonwealth" of Plato in 
antiquity, or than Sir Thomas More's 
" Utopia." Adding, that however much 
he might desire to introduce all becom- 
ing reductions of expense about the 
king's court and person, he never would 
vote for setting him down to an ordinary, 
or render him a more dependent man than 
any of his subjects. Against these 
opinions or arguments, Mr. Pitt directed 
all the force of his eloquence. The 
ministers, he said, and they only, were 
culpable in not having come forward 
spontaneously, to pro[)ose a diminution 
of the civil list. If, however, insiead of 
performing their duty to a burilieiied 
and impoverished country, they inter- 
posed to prevent the benignity of the 
monarch, to check the free exercise of 
his natural bounty, to stop the tide of 
royal sympathy, and to close up his 
paternal emotions ; there could exist no 
good reason, why, because administra- 
tion neglected, or abused its trust, the 
representatives of the people shouUI imi- 
tate so pernicious and criminal an ex- 
ample. It might be asserted that the 
proposed measure would place the crown 
in a state of tutelage : but, the guardian- 
ship of a British House of Commons, 
could not surely be disgraceful to a con- 
stitutional prince. Were magnificence 
and retrenchment incompatible ? Or 
was 200,000/. a year, which the bill pro- 
posed to take from useless state, and to 
pour into the public purse, so inconsi- 
derable a saving as to be unworthy of 
parliamentary attention ? — Towards the 
conclusion of his speech, which, I 
think, did not exceed in duration six- 
teen or seventeen minutes, he enlarged 
on the nature of the civil list itself; 
which, he said, was originally granted, 
not for the personal pleasures or gratifi- 
cations of his majesty, but for public 
purposes. Those objects, embracinir 
the splendour of the throne, he detailed ; 
terminating by the expression of the ex- 
treme reluctance with which, in the aw- 
ful state of the empire, convulsed and 
bleeding on every side, his faithful com- 
19* 



mons, who had voted liim the revenue 
that he enjoyed, now applied to him to 
part with a portion of it, as a sacrifice to 
tlieir necessities. 

Such, as far as I am able to recall it, 
was the purport of Mr. Pitt's opening 
address to parliament. It impressed, 
more from the judgment, the diction, 
and the calm solemnity of manner, that 
pervaded and characterized it from its 
commencement to its close, than from 
the brilliancy or superiority of the matter. 
While he ardently supported tlie mea- 
sure, he rather soothed and flattered, 
than wounded the feelings of the king, 
against whom it was in a certain degree 
directed. He seemed to possess himself 
as much, as though he had pronounced 
the speech in his own closet : but there 
was no display of studied or classic 
images in any partof it; nothing gaudy, 
superliuous, or unnecessary. The stales- 
man, not the student, or the advocate, 
or the candidate for popular applause, 
characterized it. Lord John 'i'ovvnsend 
(then Mr. John Townsend), who spoke 
in an early stage of the debate, before 
Mr. Pitt rose; manifested more talents, 
and drew his allusions from more culti- 
vated sources of information, than were 
exhibited by Pitt ; but, he by no means 
made a similar impression on the audi- 
ence. As if the evening of the 26ih of 
February was destined for the opening 
display of parliamentary ability, by 
men who have since occupied so higli a 
place in the public consideration ; the 
present Earl of Lauderdale, then Vis- 
count Maitland, commenced his very 
useful and distinguished career, only 
about an hour laier tlian Pitt. Like 
him, Lord Maitland, then a very 
young man, brought his powerful re- 
sources of mind, to aid of opposition. 
In a speech, full of animation, indiirnant 
at the fallen state to which ministers, 
as he asserted, had reduced their so- 
vereign and their country ; he traced the 
whole calamity up to the prosecution of 
a war, that he stigmatized wi'.h the epi- 
thets of mad and ruinous. Nor did he 
spare the house, more than the adminis- 
tralion ; declaring his conviction that 
the majority supported measures, whicli 
only corruption could induce them to ap- 
prove. He tempered nevertheless these 
ebullitions of patriotic rage, bv profes- 



222 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



sians of the warmest attachment to the 
person, the virtues, and the glory of the 
reigning monarch ; and unqiieslionably 
give, in his first attempt to address par- 
hamenl, an earnest of those endow- 
ments, which during near forty years 
have been exerted in various ways for 
the public benefit, either in the House ol 
Commons, or in the House of Peers. 

To return to Pitt. — All men beheld in 
him at once a future minister; and the 
opposition, overjoyed at such an acces- 
sion of strength, vied with each other in 
their encomiums, as well as in their 
predictions of his certain elevation. 
Burke exclaimed, that " he was not 
merely a chip of the old block, but the 
old block itself." Nor did Fox do less 
justice to the talents of this new compe- 
titor for power, popularity, and employ- 
ment. Having carried hini to Brookes's 
Club, a few days afterwards, Pitt was 
elected a member of that society ; which 
then comprehended almost all the njen 
of rank' and great talents throughout the 
kingdom, who were engaged in parliamen- 
tary opposition to ministers; It is a 
fact, that Pitt remained during several 
years, a member of Brookes's ; but he 
rarely, if ever, appeared there, after he 
came into office. So nice was his tact, 
so deep his penetration, and in so dif- 
ferent a mould was he cast from Fox, 
that even on his first reception in St. 
James''s-street, though it was of the most 
flalterinir description, he was not daz- 
zled nor won by it. On the contrary, 
he held back, and never coalesced witli 
t'lat party, beyond external appearances. 
Fox himself soon perceived the coldness 
of his new ally, for whom play had no 
Mil Tactions, and who beheld a faro table 
without emotion : though neither he nor 
lUirke were probably aware of the pro- 
found and regulated, but soaring ambi- 
tion, which animated him to aspire, 
williout passing through any interme- 
diate stage, to occupy the first employ- 
ments of the state. Still less could ihey 
apprehend or foresee, that he would 
form during the ffrealer part of their 
future lives, the principal and insur- 
mountable bar to iheir own attainment, 
or permanent enjoyment, of office. 

Mr. Pitt, when he thus rose for the 
first lime, represented the borough of 
Appleby in Westmoreland, and vvas in- 



debted for his seat in the house, to Sir 
James Lowther ; whose property and , 
parliamentary influence, which, in the 
counties of Cumberland and Westmore- 
land were immense, enabled him to 
bring seven or eight members into that 
assembly. Sir James was rewarded by 
Mr. Pitt, for this, and for other services, .1 
with an English earldom, little more •] 
than three years afterwards. But he 
eagerly embraced the first occasion which 
presented itself, to obtain a more inde- 
pendent seat in parliament, and to eman- ^ 
cipate himself from any dependence on, I 
or personal connexion with, the Lowther '' 
family. The matrimonial alliance of 
Sir James with Lprd Bute, one of whose 
daughters he had married ; the name of 
Lowther, which had been rendered un- 
popular, if not odious, by the memorable 
contest with the Duke of Portland, in 
the beginning of the present reign ; and 
even the character of Sir James Lowther 
himself, tyrannical, overbearing, violent, 
and frequently under no restraint of 
temper, or of reason ; — all these com- 
bined motives impelled Mr. Pill to seek 
elsewhere, a more independent title to 
call himself one of the representatives of 
the people ; particularly alter his eleva- 
tion to the head of the treasury. He 
was nevertheless compelled to wait for 
such an occasion, till the dissolution of 
parliament in March, 1784 ; during all 
which period he sat for Appleby, even 
when chancellor of the exchequer, under 
Lord Shelburne's administration, and 
afterwards when first lord of the trea- 
sury. At length, in the spring of 1784, 
his ministerial weight, or, as Junius de- 
nominates it, " the spirit of distributing 
prebends and bishopricks," rather than 
his individual qualities and interest, 
enabled him to turn out Lord John Town- 
send (then Mr. John Towiisend), and 
to place himself at the head of the poll 
for the University of Camhritlge; an 
electirm, and a seat, in every sense gra- 
tify ing to his feelings. 

It was not, indeed, to the personal 
friendship of Sir James Lowther, that he 
originally owed his entrance into the 
House of Commons. He was indebted 
for that advantage, which conducted him 
with such rapidity, to the highest offices 
of state, principally, if not solely, to the 
late Duke of Rutland, a nobleman of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



223 



nearly the same asje as Mr. Pitt. Tlie 
early iiilimacy whicli siibsisietl between 
them at ihe University of Cariibriiige, 
was ceineuled by the political ties that 
had furinerly united their lathers, the 
Ptlarqnis of Granby, and the Earl of 
Chatliani, (hiring tlie reign of George the 
Second. As every circnnistance, con- 
nected with the public life and career of 
such a man as Mr. Piit, betfomes in- 
tt-resting ; I shall relate from my own 
personal knowledge, some facts not un- 
deserving of comineinoration, upon this 
subjpci. 

Among ihe persons who were admitted 
to the iamiliarity of the late Duke of 
Rutland, and who had access to him at 
almost all hours, about this lime, was a 
man of the name of Kirkpairick, then 
well known on tlie turf at Newmarket. 
Possessing a small properly at Penrith, 
in the county of Cumberland, within a 
few miles of Lowlher Hail, lie was much 
protected by Sir James Lowther, with 
whom he maintained a constant and 
habitual intercourse. The duke -and 
Sir James, both, treated him as a sort of 
buffoon, who diverted them by his ec- 
centricities ; and he was frequently em- 
ployed between them on private errands 
or messacres. During the autumn of the 
year 1780 the duke despntclied Kirkpa- 
trick from his house in Arlington-street, 
to Sir James Lowlher, who resided in 
Charles-sireet, Berkeley-square ; with a 
verbal request, that " Sir James would 
do him the favour, if possible, to reserve 
a seat among his boroughs, for a friend 
of the duke's, Mr. William Pitt, a 
younger son of the Earl of Chatham." 
Kirkpalrick has often related to me the 
particulars of his interview and conver- 
sation with Sir James Lowlher, whom 
he found in tlie act of shaving himself. 
" Well, Kirk," for so he was always 
denominated ; said Sir James, " what 
may be your business?" I am come 
from Arlington-street," answered he, 
" with a message to yon from the duke." 
"What are his commands?" replied 
Sir James. " He requests that you will 
oblige him, by reserving a seat for a 
friend of his, Mr. Pitt, Lord Chatham's 
brother, a young genileinan of vast 
abilities, whom the duke wishes to bring 
into parliament." " I wish lie had sent 
sooner to me ;" returned he : " Is he 



very anxious about it, Kirk ?" " Ex- 
ceedingly so, you may be assured." 
" Then go back to the duke," was his 
reply, " and tell him that 1 will see him 
in the course of this day, and we will 
talk the mailer over together." Kirk- 
pairick carried back the answer : .Sir 
James Lowlher and the Dnke of Rut- 
land having met, the eventual conse- 
quence of liieir interview was, that Mr. 
Pitt came in for Appleby. Not, how- * 
ever, at the general election which look 
place in September, 1780 ; Mr. William 
Lowlher, the present Earl of Lonsdale, 
having succeeded in making his election 
for Carlisle, as well as for Ap[)leby, 
vacated his seat for the latter place, after 
the. meeliiig of parliament, and Mr. Pitt 
was then returned for that borough. 
This event did not happen before the 
beginning of 1781, towards the close of 
January, when he took the oaths and his 
seat. He remained silent about four 
weeks, before he rose and pronounced 
his first speech. 

Having been brought up, as is univer- 
sally known, to the profession of the 
law, he went the Western Circuil, as a 
barrister, in the spring of the year 1780. 
But he unquestionably nieditaled very 
early in life a shorter, and more brilliant, 
though perhaps not a less laborious, 
mode of attaining to personal and politi- 
cal elevation. He could not be ignorant 
of the prodigious powers with \\'hich 
nature had endowed him ; which talents, 
his falher, who must equally have per- 
ceived them, had cultivated with the 
utmost care. A son of the great Earl 
of Chatham, so gifted by Providence, 
however narrow might be his fortune, 
yet could not experience much cnoicully 
in procuring entrance into the House of 
Commons; and never was any juiicture 
more propitious for his surmounting all 
the ordinary impediments in the way to 
high employment. In 1781, Lord 
North palpably and evidently verged 
towards his extinction as first minister. 
With him, it was obvious, all his col- 
leagues in the cabinet must pass away, 
and a new order of things would arise. 
America having nearly efl'ecied her 
emancipation from British supremacy, 
peace, it was probable, would follow 
that event, at no great distance of lime. 
The king was in a very high dejrree 



224 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



unpopular; while Fox had become an 
object of general attachment throughout 
the country, in defiance of his excesses, 
principally by tlie steady opposition 
which he had given to the American 
war. But, both those circumstances 
reijdered iiim odious to his majesty, 
who disliked his political principles, 
and reprobated his personal irregulari- 
ties. Lord Rockingham, and the Duke 
of Portland, though mild, virtuous, and 
respectable individuals, were only great 
names, and heads of a party. It was 
impossible for the sovereign, even if he 
had wished it, to call the Duke of Graf- 
ton back to office ; Lord Bute himself 
would have been less obnoxious to the 
country. No individual in either House 
of Parliament, except Lord Slielburne, 
remained therefore, who could ration- 
ally aspire to succeed Lord North, un- 
less by violence, and against the king's 
inclination. 

Mr. Pitt's youth might indeed seem 
at first sight, an insurmountable im- 
pediment to his being placed in a 
cabinet office, without first passing 
through the intermediate stages. But, 
common rules and precedents did not 
apply to him, whose hereditary claims 
to national regard, as the living repre- 
sentative of that great minister who had 
humbled the House of Bourbon, dis- 
posed all men to consider him with pre- 
dilection. Mr. Fox derived no such 
moral inheritance from his father ; 
whose memory, far from being embalm- 
ed in the veneration of the English 
people, laboured on the contrary, under 
imputations of peculation tlie most gene- 
rally diffused. There existed therefore, 
no solid obstacle to Mr. Pitt's speedy 
attainment, even of the greatest minis- 
terial situations, in the course of a very 
short time. And when we contemplate 
the range of his mind, the very limited 
fortune that he possessed, the coldness 
of his constitution, the dominion which 
he exercised over his passions, the ex- 
pansion of his intellect, the splendour of 
his eloquence, and the immeasurable 
ambition or thirst of power which im- 
pelled him ; we may give him credit 
for having, almost as soon as he came 
into parliament, foreseen, anticipated, 
and confidently calculated on, his soon 
reaching the object of his exertions. 



[March.] Sheridan,* on the other 
hand, notwithstanding the extent and 
variety of his endowments, which 
many persons may perhaps consider to 
have been even superior to those of Mr. 
Pitt himself; did not instantly take pos- 
session of the house in the same com- 
manding manner. The reason was ob- 
vious. Though Sheridan manifested, 
from the first lime that he presented 
himself to public notice as a speaker, 
the greatest talents for debate ; yet he 
found many impediments, prejudices, 
and obstaides, to surmount in his pro- 
gress. His theatrical connections, as 
manager of Drury Lane, exposed him to 
attacks, which a man of less wit, suavity 
of disposition, and ascertained spirit, 
could not have parried. Many persons 
thought, perhaps very illiberally, tliat a 
member of the legislature should not be 
the conductor of a public theatre. At 
this vulnerable part, malevolence or 
satire directed its blows, before Slieridan 
was scarcely seated in the house. I 
remember an instance of it which took 
place during the debate of the 26lli of 
February, when Pitt first • presented 
himself to public notice. Courtenay, 
one of the two members for Tamworih, 
who was then secretary to the master 
general of the ordnance (Lord Town- 
send), possessed a very uncommon and 
eccentric species of humour ; original, 
classic, even attic ; allied to and sustain- 
ed by learning ; inexhaustible, and often 
irresistible in its effect on the muscles : 
but, always coarse, frequently licentious, 
or at least, indecorous; and rarely under 
a becoming restraint. His wit seemed 
indeed more adapted to a tavern, or to a 
convivial board, than to the grave de- 
liberations of such an assembly as the 
House of Commons. Scarcely will 
the fact obtain belief, yet it is not the 
less true, that Courtenay ventured to 
cite in the course of one of his speeches, 
some of the most exceptionable lines in 
Prior's *' Paulo Pur g ant i" without 
being called to order. Ridicule consti- 
tuted his never failing arm, which ho 
wielded with inconceivable facility, 
though without grace or elegance. 
Having directed this engine against 
Burke's bill for the Reduction of the 
Civil List, and held up the measure to 
contempt or derision, under many iuge- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



225 



nious points of view, as being equally 
nugatory, fallaciousi, and unbecoming a 
great nation to adopt : Sheridan repre- 
hended him for thus introducing a siyle 
of debate altogether unbecoming the 
gravity of a legislative body, convened 
to deliber'ite on great national objects 
or interests. No sooner had he sat 
down, than Courtenay, who was not 
easily disconcerted, rising in his place, 
observed, lliat " the honourable gentle- 
man seemed to be inimical to mirth and 
to wit in any house except his own.^^ 
This allusion, which did not admit of 
being misunderstood, and which touched 
upon Sheridaa's histrionic or dramatic 
occupations ; would probably, in defi- 
ance of his characteristic equality of 
mind, have provoked some reply, per- 
haps a severe or acrimonious retort, it the 
speaker, apprehensive of the conse- 
quence, had not interposed his autho- 
rity, and ititerdi(;ted the further prosecu- 
tion of such personalities. Pitt after- 
wards attempted, with even worse suc- 
cess than Courtenay, to renew a similar 
mode of annoyance : — for, it could de- 
serve no other epithet. Sheridan, how- 
ever, not »)nly repelled, but repulsed his 
antagonist, though then sealed on the trea- 
sury bench, in the plenitude of ministe- 
rial power. 

While we are contem[)lating the outset 
in parliament of these two celebrated 
men, it would be unfair not to recollect 
that Mr. Pitt, when he rose for the first 
time, spoke in reply. Sheridan, who, 
though he had previously risen two or 
three times in the house, may be said to 
h;ive commenced his career, on the fifth 
of March, by introducing three motions, 
respecting " the interference of an armed 
force in suppressing the riots of June, 
1780 ;" must naturally have arranged his 
ideas with more or(ler and precision, 
than it was possible to do in answer to 
a preceding sjieech. In fact, he won 
his way by superior talent, good hu- 
mour, and argument, which enabled him 
to triumph over every difficulty. Mr. 
Pitt might be said to descend, as from 
an eminence, on the house. Sheridan 
laboured up hill, with slow, but uniform 
pace, sustained altogether by his own 
prodigious abilities, admirable wit, and 
insuperable command of temper, all 
which were powerfully seconded by 



Fox's steady friendship. His father, 
though a man of genius, could lend him 
no assistance. Old Sheridan was, on 
the contrary, in such contracted circum- 
stances, as to have been compelled, for 
his support, some years after the period 
of which 1 am now speaking, to give 
lectures^ at a very low price, on dramatic 
elocution or declamation, at a public 
room, in (icrrard-street, Soho. Hen- 
derson, the celebrated actor, was, I be- 
lieve, his coadjutor in this species of 
exhibition. 

No individual in my time, Burke him- 
self not excepted, owed less lo fortune, 
or was more indebted to nature, for his 
vast reputation and success, than Slieri- 
dan. He did not, however, succeed in 
the object of his speech, which evi- 
dently meant to throw a severe, though 
an indirect censure, on the sovereign, 
as well as on the administration, for is- 
suing those orders which had rescued 
London from the last efl"ects of violence 
and outrage. With great severity he 
inveighed against the miserable police 
of Westminster, as altogether inade(juate 
to the proieiuion of its inhabitants; and 
he attempted to criminate the ministers 
for not having come down to the house, 
and demanded a bill of indemnity for 
their conduct, in calling to their assist- 
ance the military force. Throughout 
his whole address to parliament on this 
occasion, he vvas temperate, measured, ar- 
gumentative, and impressive : but, un- 
like his general style of declamation, 
he neither had recourse to wit, to ridi- 
cule, or satire, as auxiliaries. Lord 
North did justice to the ability, as Fox 
did, in animated language, to the energy 
and elegance of Sheridan's speech. It 
was seconded by Colonel Fitzpatrick, 
who treated the mobs of June, 1780, as 
a contemptible assemblage of unarmed 
and undisciplined rai)ble, only rendered 
fiirmielable by the pusillanimous or crimi- 
nal inactivity of the civil magistrates. 
The riots themselves, which he liiul been 
personally called on to quell, he denomi- 
nated a " Guerre des pots de chambre," 
in which a soldier could only find sub- 
ject of mortification : ailding, that to 
suppose the military power capable of 
overturning the constitution, at the order 
of the sovereign, was a libel on the pro- 
fession. The first minister, in his re- 



226 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ply, observed, that while protecting the 
person, and securing the property of his 
majesty's subjects, attacked by a lawless, 
fanatical, or infuriated populace, he 
felt no dread of a prosecution. When- 
ever any such legal attack should be 
made on him, for having authorized the 
troops to act against the rioters, it would 
be time enough to apply to parliament 
on the business. Meanwhile he dis- 
dained either to demand, or to accept, 
indemnity for an act, which, he was 
conscious, merited the highest commen- 
dation. The house rejected, by a majo- 
rity of seventy-seven votes, the only one 
of Sheridan's three motions that he ven- 
tured to submit to a division. It may 
indeed justly excite some astonishment, 
that any body of men should attempt to 
call into question, the rectitude and pro- 
priety of a measure, only applied at the 
last extremity, in order to rescue the 
capital from inevitable conflagration, and 
public credit from total subversion. 
But, never were the powers of govern- 
ment fallen into such debility, as towards 
the close of the American war. Nor 
ever did opposition venture to treat Pitt, 
or Addington, or Perceval, with the 
contumelious personality, which Fox and 
Burke used towards Lord North, on a 
variety of occasions. 

That minister, though supported by a 
parliament newly elected, yet was by no 
means master of its deliberations. He 
retained, indeed, a majority, which 
might be esteemed considerable ; but, it 
was nevertheless fluctuating, precarious, 
and destitute of confidence in their 
leader. The minority, on the contrary, 
who augmented, every month, in num- 
bers and animation, considered the ter- 
mination of the American war, as the 
term of the existence of the administra- 
tion ; and they alrendy predicted, as well 
as anticipated with certainty, the ill suc- 
cess of Lord Cornwallis's expedition 
again the southern provinces. Notwith- 
standing, indeed, some faint gleams of 
hope and of success, which appeared in 
the spring of 1781 ; fe\y, except the 
most sanguine, continued to expect the 
reduction of America to obedience, by 
the British arms. Emboldened by the 
disastrous slate of foreign aff'airs, and 
availing themselves of the unpopularity 
of the ministry, the opposition attacked 



in the severest terms, Lord North's 
financial measures. The loan which he 
had recently negotiated, having risen 
suddenly to a prodigious premium, be- 
came a subject of bitter invective, as 
profuse, improvident, and constituting a 
systematic engine of parliamentary cor- 
ruption. And though it was maintained 
by a majority of more than fifty votes ; 
yet the impression ultimately produced 
by opposition, both in, and out of the 
house, announced an approaching crisis, 
however it might still be suspended 
or protracted by a variety of events. 

[7th-I3th March.] During more than 
sixteen months that I sate in parliament 
under Lord North's administration, I re- 
collect indeed no attack so personally 
painful and invidious made on him, as 
the enquiry instituted relative to the loan 
of twelve millions which he borrowed 
at this time. All the other charges or 
accusations brought forward, regarded 
the minister. The present discussion 
was levelled at the individual. Fox 
maintained, not only that the terms of 
the loan were in themselves culpably 
extravagant on the part of the first 
lord of the treasury ; but, he round- 
ly asserted, many times, while address- 
ing the house, that some hundred thou- 
sand pounds, arising from the profit on 
the sum borrowed, were distributed in 
that assembly. It was by such corrupt 
means, he added, that a majority was ob- 
tained upon every question ; and from 
such sources, that the recent expenses 
incurred by "gentlemen at the late general 
election, were to be defrayed. George 
Byiig, member for Middlesex, a man of 
very honorable character and upright in- 
tentions ; but, of an ardent temper, very 
limited talents, and devoted to the Rock- 
ingham party ; reiterated Fox's allega- 
tions in still more pointed language. 
" I believe, from my soul," exclaimed 
he, " that six hundred thousand pounds 
have been distributed among the mem- 
bers of this assembly; — I mean, to 
those who uniformly support all the mi- 
nisterial measures !" Another leading 
individual on the opposition bench, SiT 
Philip Jennings Gierke, a>-sured the 
house that he was credibly informed, 
Mr. Atkinson, a contractor well known 
beyond Temple Bar, partner in the com- 
mercial house of Muir, had received for 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



227 



his own share, no less than three mil- 
lions, lliree huHclred tiiousanci pounds 
of the loan. Hussey, member for Salis- 
bury, wlio, though a dull debater, desti- 
tute of all the graces of elocution, te- 
dious, imd labouring under iiii[)edimenls 
of enunciation, yet thoroughly under- 
stood all financial questions, and never 
attempted to speak, upon any other sub- 
jects ; — Hussey, by a long, laboured 
calculation, endeavoured arithmetically 
to demonstrate, that the principles on 
which the bargain had been concluded, 
were radically vicious, as well as ruin- 
ous to the public. Sir George Savile, 
whose high ciiaracter and large property 
secured him always a favourable hearing, 
called on the house not to sanction or to 
ratify so censurable a measure of finance. 
Burke, after repeating the vague asser- 
tions made by Fox and Byng, of the 
sums swallowed up among members of 
parliament, who, he said, were gorged 
with places, pensions, and pecuniary 
gratifications ; proceeded to draw an elo- 
quent comparison between Lord North 
and Necker. The former minister," con- 
tinued he, " has in fact augmented the 
capital debt of the country at this time, 
by twenty-one millions of stock ; while 
Mr. Necker has only added about five 
millions sterling, by his late loan to the 
public debt of France. The noble lord 
Hys on new taxes to pay the interest of 
his loan. Not so the French financier. 
He contrives by reductions and econo- 
my, to find the interest, without impos- 
ing new burthens on the people. 
Necker borrows on lives. Our minister, 
on pcTpetuities, Louis the Sixteenth's 
superint'ndant of the finances, has, 
moreover, ten millions sterling in reserve 
for the exiirencies of the ap[)roaching 
year. But, where are our resources for 
future years?"- Then abruptly in- 
terrupting the thread of his own com- 
parison, *' Oh! happy France," exclaim- 
ed he, " blest in her minister! Unfor- 
tunate England in her financier! The 
difference between the two coun- 
tries, arises solely from the corru[)tion 
of [)arliament." Mixing, nevertheless, 
as he usually did, raillery and humour 
with severity, he convulsed the house, 
and shook Lord North's sideswith laugh- 
ter, by comparing the thin, lean mem- 
ber of parliament, on his first coming 



into the house, to the Vidpercula, or 
weazel of yEsop, who afterwards be- 
comes so large and sleek, as to be unable 
to effect his retreat. Then stroking 
his own stomach, he contrasted it with 
Lord North's 

" Fair round belly, with good capon lined," 

to the inexpressible entertainment of his 
audience, though perhaps it may be 
thought, at the expense of their senato- 
rial character and dignity. Mr. Byng, 
who throughout this whole inquiry per- 
formed an active part, and by his inde- 
fatigable exertions to discover the real 
holders of the new loan, rendered him- 
self not only conspicuous, but important, 
concluded a very impassioned and crimi- 
nating speech, by making three motions. 
The first, that a list of all the subscribers 
to the new loan should be laid before the 
house. The second, for a correct list of 
all the individuals who had offered to 
subscribe, but were rejected. The last 
(of a nature probably without precedent 
in the journals of parliament), demanded 
copies of all the letters, notes, and other 
applications which had been addressed, 
not only to the first lord of the treasury, 
but to any of the lords commissioners of 
that board, to the secretaries, or to any 
other person by whom applications for 
part of the loan had been transmitted to 
Lord North. With these evidences 
before him, Mr. Byng undertook to prove 
the minister's guilt. In order to enforce 
compliance with so extraordinary a de- 
mand, he joined menaces that the peo- 
ple of England, worn out by oppression, 
would bear no more burthens ; and that 
the day of retribution which impended, 
would infallibly take place sooner than 
was expected. 

.The first minister, thus assailed from 
so many quarters, and by such power- 
ful opponents, did not on that account 
abandon himself. Calm, collected, con- 
scious of his own rectitude, though sur- 
rounded by difficulties that accumulated 
from day to day, he made a masterly de- 
fence of the loan that he had just nego- 
tiated. While he admitted, and re- 
gretted, that the terms might have been 
more advantageous to the public, leaving 
still a moderate profit to the contractors, 
he denied that the slightest partiality 



228 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



had been used in apportioning the sums 
respectively allotted to each bidder. He 
disproved ihe story of Atkinson's receiv- 
ing so monstrous a portion of the loan ; 
and jusutied the admission of members 
of parliament who were men of pro-' 
periy, to become, like other opulent in- 
dividuals, subscribers to it. In conclu- 



caialogue. Even two peers, one of 
whom was a lord of the bed-chamber 
and an earl, were down for 10,000/. each. 
But, no individual possessing a seat in 
the House of Commons, wliose name 
was there registered, ventured to justify 
it on his legs in a manly manner, except 
Mr. Cuurtenay, who stood for tlie sum 



sion he made no objection to producing of 10,000/. George Byng having as 



ihe list of subscribers demanded . by 
opposition; but to the second and third 
inolioiis he gave a decided negative. 
" The honorable member for Mitldle- 
sex, ' said he, "after accusing me of 
partiality, makes rather a singular requi* 
sition ; ' Deliver up to me tlie keys of 
your scrutuire. Allow me to empty all 
your drawers, to inspect your most: 
secret papers, and to peruse every letter 
that 1 can lintl. When this is done, and 
1 am become possessed of all the iiilor- 
inalibn that they furnish, then I will pro- 
ceed to examine whether or not I can 
produce any charge against you.' So 
extraordinary a proposition I cannot 
doubt, will ever receive the sanction of 
this assembly." These arguments, how- 
ever strung or convincing they may per- 
haps appear to us, after the lapse of 
near foriy years, produced no impression 
on the minority of that day. From a 
variety of quarters Lord North was over- 
whelmed with reproaches, threats, and 
reclamations. Byng denied his right to 
withhold the keys of his bureau, winch, 
as he asserted, belonged to the public — 
the hist lord of the treasury being a 
great national accomptant. Fox loaded 
him with charges of corrupting parlia- 
ment, while he withheld the only elFec- 
lual means of proving his culpability, 
and demonstrating his guilt. On the 
members who supported so criminal a 
minister, Charles was, if possible, even 
more severe. "They begin," said he, 
" by taking the money out ul the pockets 
of the people, in order to put it into their 
own ; and they tinish, by making bad 
loans lor the public, to the end that they 
may arrange good terms for themselves." 
When the list of subscribers to the 
loan was produced, tiiough the greater 
number of the names of members of the 
house who were holders of scrip, still 
remained in concealment, their respec- 
tive siiares being ostensibly vested in 
other hands ; yet many appeared in the 



serted in the course of his speech, that 
" those members of parliament who 
avowedly appeared on the list, were in- 
finitely more honest and upright than the 
men who skulked in the dark ;" Cour- 
tenay took notice of this observation. 
" As I have the honour, Mr. Speaker," 
said he, " to come from a country, where 
weak nerves and a false modesty are not 
characteristic maladies, my name stands 
conspicuous on the roll. And I can 
assure the honorable gentleman that the 
only concern I feel on the occasion, is on 
account of the small sum against which 
my name is placed." There were in- 
dividual members of the lower house, 
not bankers by profession, who stood 
separately on the list, forSO, 000/. ; seven, 
for 70,000/. each ; and one instance of 
100,000/. 

Mr. Thomas Townsend expended his 
patriotic rage on Atkinson, whom he 
termed a universal contractor, fit for 
every service ; and who would probably 
soon be seated by the noble lortl's side, 
on the treasury bench, among his firmest 
coadjutors. This circumstance did in 
fact take place to a certain degree, about 
three years afterwards, in 1784, when 
Pitt was become first minister, and Mr. 
Townsend (raised to the peerage, by 
the title of Lord Sydney), filled the post 
of secretary of state. Atkinson was then 
seen almost daily on the treasur}' bench. 
So little can pt)liticians foresee the 
changes produced by time, ambition, 
and the mutability of human affairs ! — 
After a stormy debate, protracted to a 
late hour, Byng's second motion was 
only negatived by a slender majority of 
thirty-one voles. On so precarious a 
basis did Lord North's power repose, 
even in the first session of a new par- 
liament ! The attendance was not, how- 
ever, very numerous upon either side ; 
opposition mustering only 106 on that 
night, while government found 137 sup- 
porters. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



229 



[14ih_26th March.] The list of 
subscribers to ihe new loan having been 
laid on llie table of the honse, opposition, 
emboldened by their last division, made 
another desperate attack on tl)e ministe- 
rial trenches ; hoping that even if they 
could not carry them by storm, they 
inii;iu succeed m vilifying and degrading 
the first minister himself personally, in 
the estimation of parliament and of the 
country. It pruved indeed one of the 
most luimiliaiing and painful days to 
Lord North, that took place during the 
course of his long administration. Sir 
George Savile, selected for the occa- 
sion, though labouring under evident in- 
disposition, and just risen from a sick 
bed, opened the discussion in the invidi- 
ous character of an accuser. His speech 
concluded by a motion " to appoint a 
select committee for enquiring into the 
facts connected vi'ilh the late loan, and 
to report on them to the house." But, 
though the distinction of thus commenc- 
ing the debate was delegated to Sir 
George, the task of proving his asser- 
tions, and embodying, as well as iden- 
tifying his accusations, rested with Mr. 
Byng, who performed on that occasion 
the part of an inquisitor of slate. Hold- 
ing the list of subscribers in his hand, he 
undertook to demonstrate that the paper 
itself was altogether a piece of ministe- 
rial deception, calculated, under fictitious 
names, to conceal the members of both 
houses, who did not dare to avow the 
share respectively allotted to them in 
this most iniquitous loan. With con- 
siderable ability, prodigious labour, and 
minute investigation, he endeavoured to 
lay open to general view, and to expose 
to general condemnation, the secret ma- 
chinery by which Robinson and Brum- 
mell moved the great state machine, de- 
nominated parliament; and the puppets, 
as he termed them, commonly called re- 
presentatives. He even ventured to ap- 
peal across the Imuse, to Mr. Henry 
Drummond, one of the most eminent 
bankers of that period, for the accuracy 
of the names of clerks employed in his 
service, who ostensibly held subscriptions 
to the amount of near four hurulred and 
forty thousand pounds, in the loan. 
Drummond, who sate behind the first 
lord of the treasury, nodded assent, as 
Byng severally recapitulated them ; 
20 



while Lord North, compelled to remain 
a passive witness and spectator of this 
disclosure before a crowded /House of 
Commons, did not exhibit the dignified 
aspect or attitude befitting his high sta- 
tion. I never saw him apparently less 
at his ease; not even in the session of 
1782, after the intelligence of Lord 
Cornwalljs's surrender at York Town, or 
during the last days that he remained in 
office. 

Not that he wanted defenders of con- 
summate ability, who undertook to jus- 
tify the transaction, at the head of whom 
must be placed the lord advocaie. Aware 
that the occasion demanded all his talents, 
and ever ready to throw himself into the 
front ranks when the emergency called 
for it, Dundas seemed to collect all his 
powers on that day. Divesied of those 
fastidious scruples to which men of more 
susceptible organization are liable, he 
boldly avowed or admitted the selection 
made by the first minister; which re- 
quired, he said, no apology whatever, 
either to the house, or to the country. 
After pointing out the integrity and in- 
corruptibility of his noble friend, as a 
fact universally conceded, he demanded, 
on what principle, members of either 
house of parliament were to be excluded 
from subscribing on the present occasion ; 
or why, cxteris paribus, friends should 
not be preferred to enemies ? The con- 
cealment of their names, he observed, 
proved only the weakness of their nerves, 
not the impropriety of the act itself. 
Referring to the established precedents 
of past periods of lime, he maintained 
that such had been the invariable usage 
under all administrations ; and concluded 
a bold, able, unembarrassed harangue, 
delivered in a tone and manner calculated 
to give it the fullest effect, by de[)recat- 
iiig all interference of the house, as 
equally unwise, and pernicious in its 
operation. Fox rising as Dundas sate 
down, displayed on that evening, the 
vast extent of his talents, while he dis- 
sected with admirable perspicuity, the 
loan under discussion ; which he en- 
deavoured to demonstrate, was at once 
profuse, corrupt, and ruinous to the na- 
tion. He denied the insinuation (as it 
might be termed, rather than the asrser- 
tioii), of the lord advocate, in maintaining 
that former ministers had manifested a 



230 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



similar partiality, or had negotiated loans 
on similar principles j making only one 
exception, namely, that of Lord Bute in 
1762, wliich iinanciai measure he loaded 
with the severest epithets. On Lord 
North he exhausted his invectives, as 
" a minister highly criminal for grossly 
deceiving, and fraudulently imposing on 
parliament ; whose baseness in conceal- 
ing the real terms on which he had just 
borrowed twelve millions could only be 
surpassi-d by his guilt in concluding 
them." } 

The first minister repelled these accii- > 
sations vvith ten^per; explained every j 
part of the proceedings which had 
attended his negotiation will) the con- 
traciors for the loan ; denied that either 
profusion or corruption could be attri- 
buted to him ; and finally threw him- 
self on tlie candour, good sense, and 
honour of the house, to maintain invio- 
late ihc bargain. Towards one o'clock 
in the morning, a division took place. 
The attendance was full, above 370 
members being pre-ent ; of which num- 
ber, opposition had 163, vvliile govern- 
ment was supported by 209. It was 
nevertheless a triumph dearly won, be- 
cause the minority carried with them 
public opinion, which was generally ad- 
verse to the terms of the loan. Yet we 
have witnessed under Mr. Pill's ad- 
ministration, during the course of the 
revolutionary war, in 1795, as well as 
in other years, loans, where the premium 
has risen to nine, and even to ten per 
cent., immediately after the conclusion of 
the bargain, without any imputations of 
improvidence or of corruption being 
thrown upon the first minister on that 
account. But, the misfortunes and the 
unpnpulariiy of the American war had 
reached such a point in 1781, as to in- 
capaciiale Lord North irom prosecuting 
it, without having recourse to expe- 
dients, from the necessity of adopting 
which Mr. Pitt was exempted. He 
carried the nation with him, when con- 
lending against Robespierre and Bona- 
parte. Lord North's only support lay 
in the crown. No prince indeed, of a 
less firm and tenacious character than 
George the Third, could have sustained 
him in office during the last four years 
that he occupied the post of first lord of 
the treasury, amidst accumulating difii- 



eulties, humiliations, and disastera, from 
1778 down to 1782. His predecessor 
yielded to far inferior symptoms of pub- I 
lie dissatisfaction, and to far inferior j 
national calamities, when, in 1757, he j 
reluctantly called to his councils, a man 
distasteful to him, but forced into power 
by the universal voice of the country. 
If Fox had stood as high in general esti- 
mation as the first Mr. Pitt, he would 
have been carried inlo the closet on the 
shoulders of the people; but, his per- 
sonal irregularities and excesses ba- 
lanced his parliamentary talents, and 
prolonged Lord North's administration. 

While the opposilion endeavoured to 
degrade, if they could not overturn the 
first minister, by criminating his finan- 
cial measures ; two simultaneous efforts 
were made with a view to weaken his 
strength, and to diminish his numbers 
witlun ihe walls of, the house. Sir 
Philip Jennings Gierke, a man of un- 
questionable integrity but not endowed 
with superior parts, introduced a bill 
for ihe exclusion of contractors from 
silling in parliament: while on the same 
day, Mr. Grewe, then representative for 
the county of Ghester (since raised to 
the peerage by Fox, in 1806), moved 
the second reading of a bill, to restrain 
revenue officers from voting at elections 
of members to serve in that house. 
Both motions were negatived ; but 
not by similar majorities. The first 
failed of success only by twenty votes, 
the numbers being 100, and 120, re- 
spectively, after a debate of considerable 
length: but, the attempt to deprive 
revenue officers of their elective fran- 
chise, was rejected by forty-seven^ 
without giving risk to any long or ani- 
mated discussion. Ministers divided 
133 on the question ; Mr. Grewe had 
only 86 votes. Sir Philip Gierke's 
blow was levelled at the elected. Mr. 
Grewe directed his aim at the electors. 
In the ensuing session, when the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham had attained to the 
head of the treasury, the two experi- 
ments were renewed with very difierent 
results. 

I cannot too often repeat, while 
dweliinjj on this period of our history, 
tlr^t no virtues of the sovereign, however 
eminent, and no ability of administra- 
tion, however recognised, could stem 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



231 



the unpopularity of the American war. 
With the two exneplions of Johnt«oii 
and of Gil)b()ii, the former of whom de- 
{t'lided in [)riiit, the measures of govern- 
nieiii, in the begiiinin<r of the contest; 
and the latler, after drawing up tlie 
manifesto issued against Spain in 1779, 
voted, as a member of the House of 
Commons, in support of Lord North, 
ihronohout the whole progress of hos- 
tilities ; all the eminent or shining 
talents of the country, led on by Burke, 
were marshalled in support of the colo- 
nies, 'i'lie aid of poetry alone seemed 
wanting to complete the delusion ; or 
at l(^ast, the impression. Let us see 
how the athiiired author of the " Heroic 
Epistle to tSir William Chambers," ex- 
presses himself on this subject. After 
describing, in verses of admirable 
beaiiiv, the pretended corruption of the 
House of Commons under Lord North's 
administration, he declares that it will 
augment in enormity and profligacy, 

" Till mock't! and jaded with the puppet play, 
Old England's genius turns with scorn away; 
Ascends his sacred liark, the sails unfurl'd, 
And steers his state to the wide western 

world. 
High on the helm majestic freedom stands, 
In act of cold contempt she waves her hands : 
Take, slaves, she cries, the realms that I dis- 
own, 
Renounce your birth right, and destroy my 
throne !" 

# 
Who, on reading these lines, would 

not think them composed for James the 
Secon<land his Lord Chancellor Jefferies, 
rather than for George the 'I'liird and 
Lord North ! Just at this time, the 
marriage of Lord Althorpe (the present 
Earl Spencer), with Miss Lavinia Bing- 
ham, took place ; an event which I oidy 
mention incidentally, as it gave birth to 
one of the most beautiful lyric produc- 
tions in the English language. Mr. 
Jones, better known afterwards as Sir 
William Jones, emulating at once the 
fame of Milton and of Gray, in " Tlie 
Muse Recalled," reminded us of some of 
the most touching passaaes of '' Lvci- 
das," and of " The Bard." He, too, lent 
his powerful assistance to the cause of 
rebellion. Like Goldsmilli, who, ten 
years earlier, erroneously assumed in liis 
"Deserted Village," as the basis of his 
poem, that population and rural happi- 



ness were abandoning England : Jones 
carried his assumption in our disfavour, 
to a still greater length. Juvenal, 
though he wrote under Domitian, only 
asserts that female modesty and justice 
withdrew from earth to heaven, after the 
extinction of Saturn's reign : 

" Paulatim deinde ad superos Astraja recessit, 
Mac coniiie, alque dute pariler fugere sorores." 

But Jones, after lameiuing that " free- 
dom and concord repudiate the sons of 
Albion," caries off all the virtues from 
this degenerate island : 

" Truth, justice, reason, valour, witli them fly, 
'l"o seek a purer isoij, a more congenial sky." 

And to what country did they direct 
their flight ? Impelled by the prejudice 
wiiich then prevailed, and borne on the 
winsfs of poetic fiction, as well as of 
party violence, he transports these vir- 
tues to the Chesapeake and the Dela- 
ware : 

" Beyond the vast Atlantic deep, 

A dome by viewless genii shall be rais'd, 
The walls of adamant, compact and steep, 
The portals with sky-tinctured gems em- 
blaz'd. 

There on a lofty throne shall virtue stand: 
To her the youth of Dclaivare shall kneel 

And when her smiles rain plenty o'er the land, 
Bow, tyrants, bow beneath th' avenging 
steel!" 

Here, in a fine frenzy of inspiration, 
he seems to behold as in a vision, the 
modern fVashington^ and the Congress 
met, after successfully throwing off all 
subjection to Great Britain. George 
the Third is pretty clearly designated 
in the last line, apostrophizing tyrants. 
It was not, however, civil liberty, but 
independence on the mother country; 
it was not freedom, but emancipation 
from the parent stock, that America 
emulated to attain by arms. She might 
have been admitted to participate in 
the blessings of our free Constitution ; 
but she must then have paid her pecu- 
niary debts to British subjects, all which 
became liquidated in the crucible of in- 
surrection. Burke, within ten years 
after the conclusion of the American 
war, found out his error, when he be- 
held the French revolution spring from 



232 HISTORICAL 

— ♦■ 

the ashes of Hancock and Adams. He 
then endeavoured, as he said, " to trim 
the hoat at the other end." Mr. Fox 
never couUi discover any thing wrong, 
either in the one, or the other revolu- 
tion. We have lived to behold the vir- 
tuous American government, within 
tliirty years from the period of their 
emancipation, voluntarily become the 
accomplices and allies of the most san- 
guinary, flagitious, and obilurate tyrant, 
who ever appeared among men. We 
have seen this virtuous people yoke 
themselves to his car, when he was set- 
ting out for Moscow in 1812, in oppo- 
sition to the united struggles of all Eu- 
rope for deliverance ; thus endeavouring, 
as far as their power extended, to ce- 
ment by our destruction, his detestable 
empire. Madison, unlike Tlirasybulus 
or Brutus, only aspired to uphold and 
perpetuate the dominion of his Corsican 
master. It will demand ages to wipe 
out the stain of such national turpitude, 
from the American annals. But, under 
Lord North's administration, the insur- 
gents beyond the Atlantic, were nene- 
rally seen through the most partial and 
favourable medium : while Philip the 
Second, in his attempt to extinguish all 
the rights of human nature amoii^ his 
subjects in the Netherlands, was hardly 
stififUjaiized with severer epithets, than 
the opposition applied to the king of 
Great Britain. 

The consideration of East India af- 
fairs, which formed one of the most im- 
portant objects cf the session, engrossed 
universal attention. As early as Fe- 
bruary, a select committee liaving been 
appointed, ostensibly for the exclusive 
purpose of reporting on the state and 
abuses of the supreme court of judica- 
ture in Bengal, General Richard Smith 
was placed at their head, as chairman. 
His local knowledge of India, seemed to 
qualify him in some measure for the 
situation. He had acquired a large for- 
tune, while in that part of the world ; 
but, which he was supposed to have 
squandered since his return. Though 
destitute of the advantages of education, 
he did not by any means want parts ; 
and he displayed some talent in address- 
ing the house. But, as the committee 
allowed themselves to become subser- 
vient to the purposes of party, and par- 



MEMOIRS. 



ticularly to be made the instrument of 
personal enmities or resontments, they 
soon degenerated into an engine of pri- 
vate attack, and of individual persecution. 
The opposition, as if exhausted by 
the ineffectual and reiterated efforts made 
in the lower house of parliament, during 
the nionth of March, with the hope of 
overturning the administration, allowed 
the first minister to enjoy a degree of 
comparative repose throughout the whole 
of April. But, intelligence of Hyder 
Ally's invasion of the Caruatic, followed 
by the defeat of the British forces under 
Fletcher and Baillie, which reached Lon- 
don precisely about that time, spread 
universal consternation. In order fully 
to appreciate the extent of the calamity, 
and its operation on the [)ublic mind, we 
must recollect the state of the British 
empire, at the period under our review. 
The fabric seemed to be everywhere 
collapsing by its own weight, or yield- 
ing to external attack. In the western 
hemisphere, America iniglit be considered 
as already lost. Many of the windward 
and leeward islands were reduced to the 
obedience of France ; and the remainder, 
it was thought, must speeddy fall. The 
possession of Jamaica itself appeared in- 
secure. At home, the public funds ex- 
perienced a progressive depression ; 
while Ireland taking up arms, demanded 
political and commercial freedom, sword 
in hand. Cadiz and Brest had been 
crowded with our captured merchantmen, 
to whom the English navy no longer af- 
forded its accustomed protection. Under 
these circumstances, the eyes and hopes 
of all men were turned towards the east, 
as the only quarter from which we might 
expect relief. But tlieie, a combination 
of European and Asiatic enemies, aided 
by internal rebellion, and fomented by 
discord among the members of the su- 
preme government, threatened the sub- 
version of our power on the Ganges, no 
less than on the coast of Coromandel. 
Hastings quilting Calcutta, had repaired 
to Benares, in order to arrest the pro- 
gress of Cheyt Sing's revolt. At Ma- 
dras, the government of Rumbold was 
become odious for rapacity, and despi- 
cable from its incapacity or pusillani- 
mity. Nor must it be forgotten, that 
we then neither possessed the Cape of 
Good Hope, nor Ceylon, nor Guzerat, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



933 



tior the island of Mauritius, nor Java, nor 
the Moluccas, Even the Carnatic be- 
lonired, not to us, but to our confederate, 
Mahomed Ally, tlie Nabob of Arcot. 
With the Miiaratta empire we were at 
war. The rich countries of Mysore and 
of Bidnoor, orcupvin^ a central portion 
of the peninsula of Hindostan; extend- 
ing/ throusjh several dei^rees of lati- 
tude alon^ the Malabar coast, and inter- 
seciin<r all communication by land, be- 
tween the two presidencies of Madras 
and of Bombay, — these territories, so 
calculated to annov us, were tiien sub- 
jected to a aiartial, enterprising, and 
active prince, animated by determined 
hostility to the English, assisted by 
Frcncti engineers, and himself habitu- 
ated to the European system of tactics. 
His cavalry, bursting in through the de- 
files of the mountains of the Ghauts, 
overran the fertile plains of the Carnatic 
and of Tanjore, bearing down all resist- 
ance. Madras itself, invested by the 
enemy, was scarcely preserved from fall- 
ing into Hyder's possession ; and it nuist 
be confessed t!iat the Brilish dominions 
in Hindostan shook to their foundaiion. 
[30th April. 3 Such was the impres- 
sion produced by this unexpected event, 
which seemed imperatively to call for 
measures of energy, that it gave rise tf) 
the appointment of a secret committee 
by ballot, in the House of Commons, 
moved for by the first minister himself. , 
The lord advocate of Scotland, Mr. : 
Dundas, being constituted their chair- 
nnn, they were specially charged to 
inquire into the causes of the war exist- 
ing in the Carnatic. Notwithstanding 
the severe animadversions levelled by 
the opposition, on the majority of the 
names chosen: several of the members 
were men of equal ability and integrity; 
whose Inminous, as well as laborious 
reports, distinctly pointed out the orisjin, 
and indicated the remedy for those 
abuses, or acts of maladministration, 
which had produced such complicated 
distress on the coast of Coromandel. 
Nor did even the committee of scruti- 
neers, appointed to examine the result of 
the ballot, escape some acrimonious re- 
marks on its composition. Lord North 
formed one of its members, and I was 
likewise among the number. .Mr. 
Thomas Townsend observed, when 
20* 



speaking of it, immediately after their 
report to the house, that " the noble 
lord in the blue ribband was uncom- 
monly vociferous in naming his own 
friends, and was, likewise, himself no- 
minated a scrutineer ; a circumstance 
very extraordinary, if not without paral- 
lel ; the commiltee of scrutiny being, he 
believed, the first in the annals of par- 
liament, that ever was honoured with a 
blue ribband upon it." Unquestionably, 
ministers felt great anxiety relative to 
the individuals who might be elected 
members of the secret committee, and 
were not without strong apprehensions 
that the opposition would succeed in 
forcing into it some of their most able 
or zealous adherents. Mr. Jenkinson, 
who stood forth on the list of persons 
chosen, was so impatient to learn the 
result of the scrutiny, that he wrote to 
t7)e, while we were engaged in the ex- 
amination, to request that I would trans- 
mit him the names, as soon as they were 
ascertained, and could be divulged. 
Dundas obtained as many votes as Jen- 
kinson had, namely, 160. But Gregory 
was placed out of all competition, at the 
head of the committee ; he uniting the 
suffrages of the ministerial, as well as of 
the opposition sides of the house, and 
being elected by 249 votes. Gregory 
deserved that mark of parliamentary 
preference, he being a very honorable, 
incorrupt, independent man ; simple, or 
rather shy and repulsive in his manners, 
unadorned by any accomplishments of 
mind ; but laborious, attentive to busi- 
ness, and possessing very extensive lf)cal 
information on East India concerns. 
He was one of the two representatives 
for the city of Rochester, and a member 
of the court of directors. Fox, in No- 
vember, 1783, named him a commis- 
sioner for the government of India, in 
his famous bill. I believe, after the 
dissolution that took place in March, 
1784, Gregory never again obtained a 
seat in the House of Commons. 

Though strongly attached to Fox and 
to the parly acting with him, Gregory 
disdained to be considered as a devoted 
|)artizan. I well remember, that about 
the very time now under discussicm, in 
April, 1781, Burke having somewhat 
rashly pledged, not only his own support 
lo a measure under contemplation, but 



234 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



that of Gregory (whom he denominated 
" his worihy friend") ; the latter rising 
with some warmth, desired the honor- 
able member to limit his pledges to 
himself. " I stand," added he, " con- 
nected with no set of men, but will lend 
niy snpport where I conceive it to be 
due, always delivering my opinion with 
freedom ; being us independent in my 
seat, and in my principles, "as any 
individual within these walls. Burke, 
indignant at a reproof so unexpected 
and so mortifying, made a sharp, though 
a short reply ; exclaiming that " if tlie 
honorable member thought proper to 
renounce any connexion with him, it 
gave him no concern." Mr. Orde, who 
has since filled many distinguished pub- 
.ic situations, and been elevated to the 
peerage, stood ninth upon the list. To 
him, as 1 have always understood, was 
attributed to the ffth report from the 
committee of secresy ; one of the most 
able, well digested, and important docu- 
ments ever laid upon the table of the 
House of Commons. With the reserve 
of Gregory, of Mr. Richard Jackson, 
who was a friend of the Earl of Shel- 
burne, and of Mr. York, then member 
for the county of Cambridge, now Earl 
of Hardwick, whom even the opposition 
admitted to be an unexceptional person ; 
all the remaining individuals composing 
the committee, were either men holding 
offices under government, or personally 
connected with the minister. Lord 
North, in the critical and perilous con- 
dition of the East India Company, un- 
able to obtain from the proprietors, or 
from the court of directors, such advan- 
tageous pecuniary terms for the renewal 
of iheir charter, as bethought the na- 
tion was authorized to demand ; had re- 
course to his ordinary palliative pro- 
crastination. He renewed the charier 
for a very limited period, only one year ; 
and by that measure eventually originated 
the memorable bill of Fox, towards the 
close of 1783, wbich produced such na- 
tional convulsions, terminated by the 
complete destruction of the " coalition 
ministry." 

rSih May.] The attempts to drive 
TiOrd North from office, which had been 
ill some measure relaxed or suspended 
throughout the month of April, were re- 
newed with augmented pertinacity in 



May. But, it was no longer against his 
measures of finance, that opposition 
pointed their blows. Sir George Sa- 
vile, recovered from his late indisposi- 
tion, re-appeared as the organ of the 
party, and endeavoured to induce the 
house to adopt anew the memorable re- 
solution of the 6ih of April, 1780, when 
it was declared that " the influence of 
the crown has increased, is increasing, 
and ought to be diminished." He no 
lorhger found however the same aptitude 
to receive those impressions of jealousy 
or apprehension, which had operated on 
the members of the late House of Com- 
mons ; and after a very long debate, the 
motion made by Sir George, to refer the 
petition to a committee, was rejected by 
a majority of seventy-seven votes. The 
attendance nearly amounted to 350; 
government dividing 212, while the mi- 
nority were 135. Neither Lord North, 
Lord George Germain, Dundas, nor Jen- 
kinson, spoke during that evening. On 
the other side, Burke remained silent; 
nor did either Mr. Pitt or Sheridan take 
any part in it. Yet, a more important 
or interesting discussion I scarcely ever 
witnessed during the whole time that I 
remained in parliament ; nor one, of 
which, if I were able, I should more 
anxiously wish to transmit some idea to 
future times. The dangerous doctrine 
of a right existing in the people, to 
form associations, to appoint commit- 
tees, and to nominate delegates, for the 
protection of civil liberty against the en- 
croachments or abuse of the royal power; 
a right, evidently independent of parlia- 
ment, as well as subversive of it ; — was 
fully discussed on that occasion. Lord 
Maitland, who then rose, I believe, for 
the second time, maintained that the 
right not only existed in the legal sense, 
and was strictly conformable to the Bri- 
tish Constitution ; but under certain cir- 
cumstances might be highly expedient: 
adding, that to associations of men com- 
bined for a beneficial purpose, we were 
\ndebied (oT Alaguu Charta, for the revo- 
lution that expelled James the Second, 
and for the introduction of the reigning 
House of Brunsvvic. General Burgoyne, 
after declaring that he had, himself, 
signed the petition presented on that day, 
in the capacity of a delegate ; and in- 
veighing in language of uncommon aspe- 



HISTORICAL MEiMOIRS. 



235 



rity, against the corruption, or rather, the 
prostitution of parliament at the feel of 
ministers ; reverted to his own intiividual 
sufferings in the line o( his profession. 
These, he detailed with great aiiini;ilion, 
asserting that " he was driven iiiijusdy 
iVom a service in which he had grown 
old, by the niai'hiniiiioiis of power." He 
then subjoined, '* I am now, from my 
lime of life, sufficiently disposed to in- 
activity. Yet, slioidd the exigencies of 
the people call me forth from my present 
obscuriiy, or if the necessities of (he 
s/a/e should demand the assistance of my 
arm, 1 a:n ready either to act or to suffer 
in the public cause." 

This declaration, which seemed more 
fitted to 1642 than to 1781 , and which 
Hampden or Py>n, when opposing them- 
selves to the levy of ship money by pre- 
rogative, might have more appropriately 
made ; was, if possible, outdone by Fox. 
In a speech of unreasonable length, but 
of great ability, he justified the right in- 
herent in himself, and in every subject, 
to act as delegates, no less than as mem- 
bers of that assembly. •' I avow my- 
self," said he, " a delegate ; and if I 
had not acted in a delegated capacity, I 
should not have applied to this house for 
redress. But, out of deference to the 
opinion of some persons with whom I 
act, and not from any doubt of its legality, 
I have not petitioned as a delegate." 
Then having panegyrized the constancy, 
incorruptibility, and perseverance of that 
patriotic band who stood forth in parlia- 
ment, the champions of the British peo- 
ple ; that impenetrable phalanx, who 
were neither to be terrified, misled, se- 
duced, nor corrupted by ministers ; he 
added, " I cannot better express myself 
on this point, than by adopting and re- 
peating the words of my honourable 
friend (Burgoyne), namely, that as he 
had devoted his life and talents to the 
people, so /, whenever they call on me, 
shall be ready to execute their commands, 
as far as my acquiescence is authorised 
by the laws. I mean, whenever any 
direct and palpable inroad is made on 
those invaluable blessings secured to us 
by our happy Constitution." However 
guarded and qualified these expressions 
may appear, it is impossible not to con- 
sider them as revolutionary ; and more 
suited to a tribune of the Roman republic, 



or to an agitator of the times of Crom- 
well, than to a member for Westminster, 
the subject of George the Third. Such, 
indeed, they seemed to many members 
of the House of Commons, on the even- 
ing when they were used. Such, I be- 
lieve, they were considered by Burke, 
who took no part in the debate, as he 
probably would have done, had he 
thoroughly approved the principles and 
object of the petition. Neither did Pitt 
rise to support Fox and Burgoyne ; a 
circumstance much remarked at the 
time. 

Ministers, though they did not, them- 
selves, undertake their own defence but 
trusted to the discernment, loyalty, and 
good sense of the house, for rejecting 
the specious propositions of reform sub- 
mitted to them ; yet by no means wanted 
advocates to point out the insidious and 
dangerous S[)iril of discontent and insub- 
ordination, concealed under the declara- 
tions of Fox and Burgoyne. Sir Horace 
Mann protested his detestation of all 
associations and committees, as illegal iu 
themselves, and calculated only for pur- 
poses of intimidation. While he pro- 
fessed himself an enemy to court influ- 
ence, and a I'riend to economy ; he re- 
probated the spirit of the petition, and 
exhorted the house to treat it with con- 
tempt. Courienay employing, as he 
always did, the arms of ridicule, paro- 
died the lines of Pope (when speaking 
of his Grotto), which he applied to the 
leaders of opposition, with admirable 
effect. 

" Their wise divan, the best companions grace. 
Chiefs out of war, and members out of place, 
Who fondly mingle in tlieir hope-IillM bowl, 
The feast of party, and the flow of soul, 
Ev'n he whose lightning pierc'd rebellion's 

lines, 
For reformation forms their great designs." 

The last couplet, which so pointedly 
alluded to Burgoyne's American carn- 
paijin, contrasted with his present occu- 
pations as a delegate ; was not less felt 
by the audience, than Courtenay's de- 
scription of the Roman provocatives to 
patriotism, " Domi, Inopia, loris, 
JEs alienum,^'' attracted all eyes to- 
wards Fox. In language of the 
utmost simplicity, unaccompanied with 
any ornamen s of style, but on that 



236 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



account more impressive ; Sir William 
Dolben, one of ihe representatives for 
the University of Oxford, a man of 
sound anil sober sense, expressed his 
disapprobation of, and his total dissent 
from, the petition before ihe house. 
Of the asserted increase of the influence 
of the crown, so as to endanger the 
future security of public freedom, he de- 
clared his disbelief. Above all, he re- 
probated the appoinlmenl of associa- 
tions and delegates for the purpose of 
overawing and controlling the legisla- 
ture. He finished by observing, that 
so lung as the Constitution existed, 
redress could only be obtained from 
parliament ; and protested that he would 
oppose every insliluiion, however plau- 
sible it might appear in theory, which 
tended to set up or to constitute any 
power, paramount to the laws and the 
British form of government. 

So animated a declaration, made from 
a quarter of such respectability, prov- 
ed of incalculable advantage to minis- 
ters, who thus beheld themselves de- 
fended by weapons far more solid than 
eloquence. It was indeed with a view 
to counterict the effect produced by Sir 
William Dolben's speech, that Fox in- 
stantly rose, and exerted his gigantic 
talents, in order to efface the impression. 
The solicitor general, Mansfield, replied 
to him ; and alluding to the profession 
jointly made by Fox and Burgoyne, of 
their readiness to obey the call of the 
people whenever made, " This lan- 
guage," observed he, " either iinports 
notliing, or it is strong indeed ! It can- 
not mean a mere perseverance in par- 
liamentary opposition. If therefore it 
has anv meaning, it must be that they 
ire ready, without previously deciding 
on the motives or the justice of the call, 
to seek redress in some undefined man- 
ner, not authorised by the Constitution. 
Both those honorable gentlemen are 
delegates, and both have signed the 
present petition as individuals. By such 
an anomalous mode of proceeding, 
while they affect to acknowledge the 
supremacy of this house, they in reality 
treat parliament as a subordinate power 
in the state, while they avow their 
readiness to obey the summons of the 
people without reservation." Neither 
Fox nor Burgoyne made any reply, nor 



offered any explanation relative to the 
import of their expressions ; but, Dun- 
ning rising when the solicitor general 
sat down, in a speeeh of considerable 
length, which displayed all the acute 
legal sophistry of a most able practi- 
tioner at the bar, endeavoured to cover 
his friends, and to justify their declara- 
tions. He assumed, as an incontrover- 
tible principle, that associations might 
not only be legal, but laudable ; the cul- 
pability or merit of such unions of indi- 
viduals depending not on the act itself, 
and being altogether regulated by the 
intention. He exemplified the position 
with uncommon ingenuity, and placed 
it in numerous, as well as striking 
points of view ; without nevertheless 
erasing the sentiment of comdemnation 
which generally pervaded the minds of 
moderate and impartial men on a full 
consideration of the subject. 'I'he 
division sufficiently proved how little 
Fox could hope to overturn the adminis- 
tration, by the same arouments which 
had produced the memorable vote of the 
6th of April, 1780 ; and he therefore di- 
rected his attack .on a more assailable 
quarter; — I mean, the capture and 
treatment of the island of St. Eustalius. 

[14lh May.] That defenceless pos- 
session of the Dutch Commonwealth in 
the West Indies, having fallen into our 
hands, as a natural consequence of the 
war between the two states ; Sir George 
Rodney and General Vaughan, the two 
commanders by sea and land, proceeded 
instantly to make a general and indis- 
criminate seizure of the properly, as well 
as of the stores, there accumulated. In 
the execution of this act, many indi- 
vidual cases of severe suffering neces-a- 
rily happened ; all which were present- 
ed to the house by Burke, under a 
splentlour of descri[)iion, and a blaze of 
eloquence, which I have scarcely ever 
known exceeded even by liim. He 
compared the conduct of our naval and 
military officers, in thus confiscating 
private property, to the most savage 
outrages of the ferocious leaders of the 
most barbarous ages ; and after laying 
before his audience a picture of op- 
pression on one hand, contrasted with 
misery on the other, well calculated to 
awaken sympathy, while it inspired in- 
digna'.ion ; he cuiiciudcd by a motion 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



237 



tending to institute an immediate inquiry 
into tile wliole transaction. LortI George 
Germain, in whose department llie re- 
sponsibility lay, and from whose office 
had issued the orders or instructions 
under which Rodney and Vauglian had 
acted , while he justified their line of 
conduct, as not only dictated by wisdom 
and policy, but as sanctioned by all the 
laws of modern war, and by the coele of 
naliuiKil jurisprudence universally adopt- 
ed throughout Europe ; yet strongly ob- 
jected to a parliamentary inquiry in the 
first instance. Dundas, who always 
threw himself into the breach, whenever 
the enemy attempted to storm, distin- 
guished himself on that night, by one of 
the most able speeches wliich ever fell 
from his lips. But the first lord of the 
treasury sat silent ; a circumstance 
which gave rise to surmises, that tho 
measure had not his cordial approbation, 
or that unanimity did not thoroughly 
pervade the cal)iiiet. 

Nevertheless, the division disappoint- 
ed all the hopes of opposition ; Burke's 
motion being negatived by nearly two 
to one ; only 86 supporting it, while 
government had 160 voles. I have, not- 
withstanding, always considered the pro- 
ceedings of Rodney and Vaughan at St. 
Eustaiius, however necessitated they 
may have been by the peculiar cireuni- 
slaiices accompanying the capture, as 
unfortunate, and to be lamented in a 
national point of view. Neither the 
vote of ap[)ro!)ation in which I con- 
curred on that nii:ht, nor my [lartiality for 
Lord George Germain, and for Lord 
Rodney, prevented me from owning that 
the measure has, on the fullest considera- 
tion, neither my moral, nor my political 
approval. It did not facilitate the sub- 
jection of America, as was hoped and 
predicted from the treasury bench. It 
covered our arms with some degree of 
obloquy, as if we had abused the rights 
of conquest, to purposes of rapine and 
private emolument. To the captors 
themselves, the plunder of St. Eustaiius 
produced no benefit; the vessels on 
which was shipped the produce of thai 
emporium, having been intercepted by 
a squadron of the enemy, under ihe com- 
mand of La Motte Piquet, on their pas- 
sage to England, and carried into French 
ports. Nor did the evil terminate there: 



— for, I know that the actions and suits 
at law, which were carried on in the ad* 
miraliy and other courts of this country, 
on the part of the individual who sought 
reparation for the injuries and losses in- 
flicted by Rodney's orders, embittered 
the evening of his life, and pressed 
heavily on his finances. Such were the 
results of that expedition, from which 
very different consequences were confi- 
dently anticipated. 

[31st May.] Notwithstanding the 
general admiration which Pill's first 
speech had excited, and the great expec- 
tations formed of his parliamentary ta- 
lents, yet he remained silent for more 
than tliree months, before he rose a se- 
cond lime : exhibiting by this act of re- 
straint and self-command, the patience, as 
well as the judgment, with which he 
knew how to wail for a favourable occa- 
sion of presenting himself anew to pub- 
lic notice. Colonel Barre having at- 
tempted to induce the house to nominate 
commissioners of accounts, from among 
their own members, instead of delegating 
so important a function to individuals 
chosen, as he asserted, by the first mi- 
nister ; Lord North opposed it with his 
usual ability, and assigned many strong 
reasons for adhering to the persons al- 
ready in employment. Pitt availed him- 
self of this opportunity to confirm the 
impiession that he had made, or rather 
to augment the reputation which he had 
previously acquired. With great anima- 
tion, but with still greater dignity and 
energy, he endeavoured to demonstrate 
that the house, in permitting persons 
not taken from among themselves, to 
perform the office of examining and re- 
porting on the national expenditure ; 
voluntarily surrendered their characteris- 
tic, most valuable right, that of watching 
over the public purse. The power of 
taking from the people, the odious 
power of taxing, they reserved, as an 
instrument for enabling the noble lord 
in the blue ribband, to prosecute his 
wild scliemes of conquest, or of corrup- 
tion : but, the beneficent power of re- 
lieving the distresses of the subject, 
they abandoned to others. He treated 
with derision, the idea of those com- 
missioners possessing more experience 
than the members of an assembly where 
every representative of the people should 



238 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



be capable of superintending, as well as 
of examining, how the treasure of the 
state was extended. 

Alter depicturing with warmth the 
embarrassed and degraded condition of 
the country, he advened to the qualities, 
the arithmetical talents, and personal 
qualifications of the commissioners. 
Sir Guy Carleton, he observed, lliough 
an able military officer, might be no ac- 
comptant ; and of Mr. Pigot he remarked, 
that though of a profession to which he 
himself could not be supposed inimical 
(for Pitt was then a barrister), yet the 
law did not necessarily qualify gentle- 
men for a commission of that nature. 
On Lord North he expressed himself with 
great asperity, as a minister who hyd 
repeatedly shifted his ground ; who had 
violated his pledges given to parlian)ent ; 
had purposely employed the commission- 
ers in objects of minor importance, in- 
stead of directing them to great national 
enquiries ; and who only sought syste- 
matically to procrastinate, to deceive, or 
to mislead, as might best suit his pur- 
poses. He concluded by emphatically 
invoking and adjuring the house not to 
reject the motion of (Jolonel Barre, un- 
less they were determined to bury their 
own freedom and independence in the 
same common grave with the power, the 
splendour, and the glory of the empire. 
Such was nearly, as I think, the purport 
of Pitt's second address to parliament; 
made in support of a member who re- 
presented, not the Marquis of Rocking- 
ham, but the Earl of Shelburne, in that 
assembly. It was pronounced before a 
thin attendance, scarcely above 140 : and 
exceeded in duration his first speech, by 
nearly double the time. Not a word 
was uttered from the treasury bench in 
answer to it, nor was it supported either 
by Fox or Burke. A division taking 
place immediately after Pitt sate down, 
government divided 98, while the mino- 
rity only amounted to 42. So firm a 
hold of power did Lord North still re- 
tain, towards the close of the sixth year 
sinr-e we had been engaged in hostilities 
with America I 

[12lh June.] Towards the middle of 
June, Fox, strenuously supported by 
Pitt, made an ineflfectual effort for com- 
pelling the administration to abandon the 
further prosecution of the American war, 



1 



and to conclude peace with the colonies. 
Neither the house, nor the nation, though 
both were weary of the contest, could 
however be induced to relinquish it, 
while Lord Coruwallis seemed to be ad- 
vancing with his army, through the cen- 
tral provinces, towards the Chesapeake. 
Fox's motion was rejected by a majority 
of seventy-three. On that evening ne- 
vertheless it began to be palpable, that 
the scaffolding on which rested Lord 
North's power, after more than six years 
of severe and almost unremitting attack, 
gave indications of an ap[)roaching fall. 
He in fact tacitly encouraged the assail- 
anis, by withdrawing from the lireach, 
if I may so express myself, at the mo- 
ment of the storm: — for, though the 
attempt to compel ministers to conclude 
peace with the American colonies, must, 
if it had been successful, probably over- 
turned his own administration, yet he 
never rose, nor opposed it by a single 
word. Lord George Germain, under those 
discouraging circumstances, made as able 
and as eloquent a defence, as the nature 
of the case admitted : but he had to strug- 
gle against insuperable and augmenting 
difficulties. The country gentlemen, 
wearied out by so many unsuccessful 
campaigns, exhibited symptoms of re- 
luctance to continue their support. One 
or two made their recantation. Rigby, 
and the lord advocate of Scotland, who 
both spoke in the course of the debate; 
though they resolutely opposed Fox's 
motion, yet avowed, not only that they 
were disgusted at so expensive and pro- 
tracted a contest, but implied their dis- 
belief of its termination on any terms 
short of coucedinor independence to 
America. One noble individual only, 
then an Irish Peer, was found sufficient- 
ly enthusiastic to avow that he consi- 
dered the struggle as a holy war ; a decla- 
r.ition which he made from the trea- 
sury bench. He was indeed, himself, a 
member of the board of treasury. The 
avowal attracted, as might have been 
foreseen, the severest animadversions 
from the opposite benches. Mr. Tho- 
mas Townsend, with very considerable 
ingenuity, drew a comparison between 
the actual war, and the crusades under- 
tdien in the ages of darkness ; which 
expeditions bore, he said, the slrono-est 
similitude. Both originated in folly, or 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



239 



madness or delusion ; and boih conduct- 
ed lo slai'.gliier, or lo ruin. Fox, iiold- 
ingin Ills hand tiie Gazelle recently pub- 
lished by government, cotilaining Lord 
Cornvvallis's account of his viciory ju^t 
gained over the Americans, in llie pro- 
vince ol' Norlli Carolina ; endeavoured 
lo deduce even irom the British general's 
letter, proofs of the impossibility of his 
subjugating the colonies. Burgoyne, in 
a speech prepared for the occasion, de- 
tailed his own disastrous campaign 
through its principal stages, down lo the 
surrender at Saratoga ; accused Lord 
George Germain of having deceived him 
with hopes or promises of aid on the [)art 
of the loyalists, which had never been 
realized ; and concluded by declaring 
that the loss of America might be regard- 
ed as inevitable. 

But the feature of the debate, which 
rendered it peculiarly prominent and iii- 
teresling in the annals of parliament, was 
liie third appearance of AJ r. Pill on the 
floor of the liouse, and the part taken by 
him in the discussion. . Il would seem 
that he had not intended lo rise, nor me- 
ditated to speak on the questiun under 
consideration, if the allusions made to his 
father had not in some measure com- 
pelled hitn to break silence. Mr. Rigby, 
in the course of his speech, having as- 
serted that the late Earl of Chatham, 
though be denied the right of Great Bri- 
tain to tax the colonies lor ilu; purpose 
of raising a revenue, yet maintained ilie 
right of the parent country to make 
Jinancial or cominercial regulations, 
and to establish /jo/'^ eludes or cuslo/)is, 
on every article sent to America ; Put 
attempted to justify and lo explain that 
line of opinion, attributed 'o ins noble 
relation. While he admitted that such 
sentiments liad been expressed by the 
deceased earl, he denied that his laiher 
had ever approved of the war commenced 
with America ; which, on the contrary, 
he had condemned, reprobated, and op- 
posed in every stage. Then, after thus 
throwing as it were a shield over the 
memory of his illustrious parent, and res- 
cuing him from the imputation of having 
countenanced or supported coercive mea- 
sures for the suhj ligation of ihe colonies 
beyond the Atlantic ; he diverged with 
equal vehemence and majesty of expres- 
sion, lo the topic immediately before the 



assembly. Referring lo the epithet of 
ho/ 1/, wiiich Lord VVestcote had given to 
the contest, he declared that he con- 
sidered it as unnatural, accursed, and 
unjust; Its traces marked with persecu- 
tion and devastation ; depravity and tur- 
pitude consiituling its essence, while its 
effects would be destructive in the ex- 
treme. 'I'lie English language seemed 
inadequate fully to express tiis feelings 
of indignation and abhorrence, while 
stigmatizing the authors of so ruinous a 
system. As a specimen of parliamentary 
eloquence, it unquestionably excelled hi.s 
two preceding speeches ; leaving on his 
audience a deep impression, or rather 
conviction, that he must eventually, and 
probably at no remote distance of lime, 
orcupy a liigh situation in the councils 
of the crown, as well as in the universal 
estimation of his countrymen. 

Dundas, who rose as soon as Pitt sate 
down, seemed lo be thoroughly pene- 
iraieil with that truth ; and by a sort of 
political second sight, appeared to anti- 
cipate the period, when this new candi- 
date for office would occupy the place 
on the treasury bench, then filled by his 
noble friend in the blue ribband. With 
consummate ability, but with equal 
address, in the progress of his reply lo 
Mr. Put, the lord advocate endeavoured 
to prove that the late Earl of Chatham 
had uniformly resisted every pretension 
of America to independence. " If, there- 
fore," said he, " the honorable genile- 
man supports the present motion for 
compelling his majesty's ministers to 
conclude peace with the insurgent co- 
lonies, he differs diametrically from his 
noble relation, whose last breath was ex- 
hausted in execrating those servants of 
the crown, that would presume to de- 
spoil parliament of its inalienable rights, 
and to rob the reigning laniily of their 
brightest patrimonial inheritance." I 
own that it has always a|)peared to me, 
such were in 1778 the sentiments of the 
great Earl of Ciialham ; nor was 1 ever 
convmced, either by the explanations of 
his son, or by llio.^e of Fox, thai lie con- 
templated the independence of America 
with other eyes than those of Lord North 
and Lord George Germain. He might, 
indeed, had he survived down lo 1781, 
have modified, chans^ed, or relracieil his 
opinions, in compliance with events : 



240 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



but that he did so, previous to liis dy- 
ing speech in the House of Peers, iiol- 
willisiaiiding the tesiimony of the late 
Mr. Pill, 1 never could comprehend. 
Posterity may perhaps be better able 
to decide the point, tlian we can do 
in the present age. 

'I'he hird advocate admirably qualified 
whatever of unpalatable or distasteful to 
Mr. Put, might be found in his asser- 
tions relative to the Earl of Chatham, 
by the flattering predictions of his 
own future and certain elevation, with 
which they were accompanied. " He 
(Dundas), was unwilling and reluctant 
to slate to the honorable gentleman's 
face, those truths, which, were he ab- 
sent, truth itself would compel him to 
utter; but he nevertheless i'elicitated his 
country and his fellow citizens, (m the 
auspicious union, and splendid exhibi- 
tion of abilities, witnessed by the house 
on that evening. With the first rate 
talents, were blended high integrity, a 
nnble and honest independence oi' mind, 
and the most persuasive eloquence." 
Such were the encomiums 1 ivished on 
Pitt by Dundas ; who, though he pro- 
fessed, and no doubt felt at that lime, 
the strongest attachment to Lord North, 
yet obviously foresaw his decline, and 
as certainly beheld in prospect his de- 
stined successor ; if not immediate, yet 
remote. In fact, the lord advocate of Scot- 
land found himself, within llie revolution 
of thirteen months from that day, seated, 
as treasurer of the naw, on the treasury 
bench, along side of i\lr. l-'itt, become 
chancellor of the exchequer, under the 
Earl of Slielburne's admiuisiralion. So 
solid were his political speculations, so 
sound his judgment, and so speedily 
realised were his calculations of ambi- 
tion ! — Fox concluded iliis eventful 
evening, of which I have most imper- 
fectly attempted to slate some salient 
j)oint:«, by replying to all the preceding 
speakers. Righy, who had asserted 
roundly that every administration since 
17(53, concurred in maintaining as a 
])rin -ipje, ihe um.-ondilioiial dominion of 
t'lis country over the American colo- 
niei ; was admonished by Fox, *' to ob- 
serve a more temperate lani^uage when 
he advanced such positive charges, fol- 
lowed by such .severe conclusions, 
against so many of the highest and most 



respectable characters in Great Britain." 
He accompanied the reproof, by a decla- 
ration that " he was not i^inorant how 
powerlully the paymaster of the forces 
was supported, in that house, and out of 
it.'^ Words pregnant with meaning, 
which alluded in a manner too intelligi- 
ble for admitting of mistake, to the 
secret snppoii thai Riifby was supposed 
to derive Irom the royal confidence and 
favour ! On the lord advocate, Fox was 
severe, yet liberal ; and without the 
slightest mixture of gall, from which no 
individual in parliament was more per- 
fectly exempt; not even Lord North or 
Sheridan. Fox jested on Dundas's pro- 
testations of independence on the first 
minister his friend; recognised the 
learned lord's abilities, nor disputed his 
integrity ; but denied the accuracy pf 
various statements that he had made in 
the course of his speech. 

When Fox had occasion to notice 
Dundas's eulogiums on the Earl of 
Chatham, he seemed to pause and to 
weigh his expressions: — for, he felt 
that the ground was delicate and full of 
danger. '' 'i'he learned lord," said he, 
" has eloquently panegyrised the exalted 
virtues and talents of a deceased con- 
summate statesman. My youth and 
other causes prevented me froin being 
much known personally to that great 
man. No individual in the house can, 
however, reverence his memory more 
than myself. Neverlheless I would lay 
in my claim for others, who, though 
they might not coincide in opinion on 
every point of pidicy with that illus- 
trious nobleman, have yet rendered dis- 
tinguished services lo their country." 
In these words, dictated by filial piety, 
and aff'ection for his father's memory, 
he indirectly alluded to the political and 
parly disputes which had existed be- 
tween Lord Holland and the Earl of 
Chatham, when both were commoners 
and members of that assembly. Dis- 
putes, which were ;lestined to be revived 
with augmented viiulence between their 
SODS ! — Reverting lastly lo Lord West- 
cote's assertion, thai he considered the 
contest with America as a holtj war, 
Fox remarked, " To others, the appli- 
cation of such an epithet to the actual 
contest may appear new ; but to me it 
has no novelty. I was in Paris, pre 



■J 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



241 



cisely at the time when the present war 
began, in 1776, and Dr. Franklin 
honoured me vvltli his inlimacy. I re- 
collect, that conversing with him on the 
subject of the impending lioslililies, 
he, while he predicted their ruinous 
consequences, compared their principle 
and their consequences, to those of 
the ancient Crusades. He foretold that 
we should expend our best blood and 
treasure in attempting an unattainable 
object ; and that like the holy war of the 
dark ages, while we carried desolation 
and slaughter over America, we should 
finally depopulate, enfeeble, and im- 
poverish Great Britain. 

Fox's conclusion might almost be con- 
sidered as prophetic. " The only ob- 
jection," observetl he, " made to my mo- 
tion, is that it must lead to American in- 
dependence. But I venture to assert, 
\\\&iwithin six months of thepresent day, 
ministers themselves will come forward 
to parliament, with some proposition of 
a sinular nature. I know that such is 
their intention. I announce it to the 
house." Notwithstanding so eloquent, 
and so powerful an appeal to the passions, 
as well as to the understanding of his 
audience, the inoment was not yet ar- 
rived, when the majority of the national 
representatives could consent to renounce 
all further ho[)e of reducing the revolted 
colonies to obedience. Even the attend- 
ance on that night fell far beneath the 
vast and awful importance of the subject 
agitated. Only ninety-nine persons di- 
vided with Fox. One hundred and 
seventy-two supported administration. 
Two hundred and eighty-seven members 
were therefore absent. It seemed, how- 
ever, to be more a question of the king, 
and of Lord George Germain, than of 
Lord North. There were not wanting 
individuals wiio thouirht that the fir.->t 
minister would have felt litile regret, if 
opposition had out-nuiribered him. His 
conduct miijht be thouijht to indicate 
great indifference to the result, and he 
probably participated Fox's a;)prehen- 
sions for the final issue of Lord (3orn- 
wallis's Virginian campaign. 

I have descended to more minute 
details respecting this debate, than I 
should have done, if it had not been the 
last which took place on American topics, 
previous to the catastroplie and surrender 
21 



of York Town. But the most interest- 
ing discussion of the whole session, and 
in many points of view, one of the most 
interesting which I ever witnessed in the 
House of Commons, took place three 
days later, on the motion for amending, 
or in fact virtually repealing, " the mar- 
riage act." It stood altogether uncon- 
nected with ministers, or with party poli- 
tics, though originated by Fox, at a 
very advanced period of the year. The 
question seemed in itself to be not less 
philosophical and moral, than a measure 
of state, or an object of legislative policy. 
Never did Fox appear to me in a more 
elevated light, tlian on that occasion, 
while pleading the cause of his fellow 
subjects at large, against the shackles 
and impediments opposed, as he asserted, 
by aristocracy, family pride, and wealth, 
to the matrimonial union of two persons 
of dissimilar rank and condition! Hi^ 
father. Lord Holland, for whom he nou- 
rished the warmest filial aifection, had 
manifested similar senlimeiiis. Fox as- 
sumed as a principle, while reasoning on 
t!ie subject, that " passion, not reason, is 
best capable of promoting our felicity in 
wedlock." However untenable and even 
revolting, such an assumption may ap- 
pear, he maintained it by arguments well 
calculated to persuade, if not to convince 
his hearers. I will candidly own that 
they made the deepest impression on my 
mind, and produced the fullest convic- 
tion when I heard them from his lips in 
1781 ; but, the lapse of six and thirty 
years have reconciled me to the marriage 
act. General Burgoyne, who supported 
the bill, and whose eloquence was usu- 
ally tame, as well as destitute of enter- 
tainment, seemed to rise above himseli', 
and to be inspired by the subject. Both 
he and Fox expressed themselves with 
the utmost acrimony against Sir Dudley 
Ryder, who had warmly supported " the 
marriage act" when it was first intro- 
duced into the House of Commons. 
They accused him of avowing a syste- 
matic intention to divide the higher classes 
of society from the vulgar, arid to pre- 
vent their intermixture by marriage ; 
thus effectually separating persons of 
high rank and fortune, from the mass of 
the population. Burgoyne, when allu- 
ding to Fox's splendid talems, observed 
that " if the spirit of the marriage act 



242 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



liad operated previous to liis birth, he 
would never have come into existence." 
('oiirtenay, in a speech abounding with 
humour and irony, though of the broadest 
descripiion, and wliich in many passages 
trampled on decorum, sustained Fox's 
arguments. So did Lord Nugent, in a 



much certainty did they calculate on com- 
plete success, whenever the ciinipaign 
beyond the Atlantic should be concluded. 
Intelligence arriving about this time, of 
the naval action fought in Praya Bay, 
between SutTrein and Commodore John- 
stone, Fox made some severe, but, as 



somewhat similar strain of eloquence, they liave always appeared to me, just 



On ihe o her hand, Burke, with no less 
ability than Fox, and with equal powers 
of genius, ajjpealed to many of the strong- 
est passions of the human mind, while 
he opposed the measure brought forward 
by his friend. They completely diverged 
on this question, in opposite directions ; 
each displaying uncommon capacity, 
enlhusia-m, and proi'ound reasoning, in 
their respective speeches. Sheridan 
likewise spoke against Fox's motion, 
with great ingenuity, though not at con- 
siderable length ; and it was one of the 
few occasions on which 1 have seen them 
take different sides, during the whole 
time that I remained a member of the 
House of Commons. Lord North, as 
might be expected, inclined to oppose 
every innovation on the marriage act ; 
and there could have been little doubt, 
as far as the temper of the house mani- 
fested itself, that Fox's bill would have 
been rejected by a great majority, if the 
sense of the members present had been 
taken upon it. Bui no division was de- 
manded ; and Fox, abandoning it for the 
[jresent, pledged himself, if ever he 
should come into power, to renew the 
motion iiom the treasury bench. 'J'his 
pledge he never, indeed, redeemed : but 
if we rtdect, lor how short a time he 
continued in office, when secretary of 
fetaie III 1782, as well as in 1783, toge- 
ther wiih ilie iiiuliiplicity of matter which 
then pressed upon him ; we cannot 
wonder, though it is possible we may 
regret, liis not having resumed the sub- 
ject. 

[16ili — 30:h June.] The session now 
drew towards a close, and Lord North 
prepared to withdraw his shattered par- 
liamentary forces from the scene of ac- 
tion. Not however before George Byng, 
the " muster master general" of opposi- 
tion; as he was denominated, had invok- 
ed the followers of that parly to attend 
betimes durin^r the ensuing winter, " in 
order to terminate the wicked and fruil- 
Itess contest with America." With so 



observations, on the conduct of the 
British commander. That he was sur- 
prized on the occasion, cannot admit of 
dispute ; and though he extricated him- 
self without susiaiuing any loss of ships, 
yet he acquired no more honour than 
Keppel had gained in his memorable 
battle with d'Orvilliers. I knew John- 
stone, and respected' him ; but I coin- 
cided fully with Fox in opinion, that the 
commodore was much more formidable 
in parliament, than on the ocean ; and 
more dreaded by the first minister of 
England, than by Maurepas or Vergen- 
nes. Lord North might have said of 
Johnstone, though in a different sense, 
what Sir Robert Walpole, his ministe- 
rial predecessor, observed in 1740, of the 
general officers of thai period, when the 
list was submitted to his inspection. "I 
know not what effect they may produce 
upon the enemy ; but, before God, they 
make me tremble." Johnstone's ora- 
tory, while opposing government, not 
his naval skill, called him forward, and 
placed him in command of a squadron, 
after he had come over to the side of ad- 
ministration. He acquired some wealth, 
but, gained little renown, by the expedi- 
tion, which proved more beneficial to 
himself, than advantageous to his coun- 
try. Lord North defended him never- 
theless with animation, against Fox's 
comments. 

iTIie lord advocate of Scotland, as 
chairman of the secret committee, hav- 
ing laid on the table of the house, the 
two first reports made on the state of 
the Carnalic ; strenuously recommended 
them to the diligent perusal of members 
during the approaching recess, " as they 
would constitute," he said, "the groun('- 
work of future parliamentary proceed- 
ings." A few days later, a short, but 
sharp, and most personal altercation took 
place, — for I cannot call it by any olher 
name ; — between Fox and some leading 
supporters of administration. It was 
provoked by Fox, who, in the course of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



243 



a speech pronounced in behalf of the 
Americans conliueJ in the Mill Prison 
at Plymouth, avoweil that "^n his opi- 
nion, their cause was the cause of free- 
dom, of wliis^ism, and of the Constitution, 
to which he ardently wished success :" 
adding, that " administration, in prose- 
cuting the contest with the colonies, 
only desired to satiate their revenge." 
Irritated at such imputations, Dundas 
answered, " that it afforded him no sur- 
prise to find the honorable member re- 
joicing at our enemy's success ; a suc- 
cess to which he had contributed not a 
litile, by his language and line of action 
within those walls." But, Mansfield, 
the solicitor general, with a manly iiulig- 
nalion, rising;, demanded of Fox, " Whe- 
ther he meant to limit himself to mere 
wishes and vows in favour of the Ame- 
ricans ? Or did he intend to draw his 
sword, to clothe himself in the rebel uni- 
form, to enlist under Washington's com- 
mand, to fight the battles of America, 
and to point his weapon against his coun- 
trymen's breasts ?" Fox answered, that 
he disdained to make any reply to ca- 
lumnies founded in gross misrepresenta- 
tion, and the conversation terminated. I 
have already remarked elsewhere, that 
he almost always wore blue and buff. 

[20ih — 30th July.] Many circum- 
stances contributed to sustain, and to 
prolong, the duration of Lord North's 
administration, notwithstanding the mis- 
fortunes and disgraces which continued 
annually to mark its progress. The mu- 
tiny in the Pennsylvania line, which for 
a moment seemed to menace the Ameri- 
can Congress with internal revolt, during 
the spring of 1781 ; Lord Cornwallis's 
victory over Greene, at Guilford ; fol- 
lowed by Lord Rawdon's advantage 
gained over the same general at Camden, 
two places situate in North and Soiiih 
Carolina ; lastly, the expectations form- 
ed from the advance of the British forces 
into ilie province of Virginia : — all these 
events held the minds of men in sus- 
pense, till the prorogation of parliament 
on the 18lh of July, allowed the minis- 
ter to retire for some time, from the 
scene of his political exertion. The 
province of West Florida had neverthe- 
less been conquered by Spain, while 
France reduced to its subjection the 
Island of Tobago. Our only acquisi- 



tion consisted in the seizure, rather than 
the capture, of the Dutch Island of St. 
Eustatius in the West Indies; an event 
which served to cover Rodney and 
Vaughan, the naval and military com- 
manders in chief, with obloquy, on ac- 
count of their severe treatment of the in- 
habitants. Even on the element of the 
sea, every encounter which we had with 
the enemy, from its indecisive nature, 
rather tended to augment their courage, 
as well as to stimulate their enterprize. 
[August.] The severest naval action 
which took place during the whole course 
of the American war, was the battle 
fought at this time between Parker and 
Zoutman, who commanded the English 
and Dutch squadrons in tlie North Sea, 
ofT the Dogger Bank. But, it bore no 
resemblance in its results, to the glo- 
rious victory obtained in our time, by 
Duncan, at Camperdown ; and might 
more aptly be compared with the san 
guinary, though indt-cisive conflirls for 
superiority, which distinguished Charles 
the Second's reign ; when the navies of 
Holland were led by Tromp and Ruyler, 
while those of England were conducted 
by James, Duke of York, by Prince 
Rupert, and by Montague, first Earl of 
Sandwich. On this occasion, the king, 
departing from the ordinary course of 
his life, embarked on the Thames, ac- 
companied by the Prince of Wales, wlio 
had just accomplished his nineteenth 
year ; and descended the river to the 
Nore, where he visited Admiral Parker, 
on board his ship, the " Fortitude." 
Prince Frederic, the present Duke of 
York, then commonly denominated 
Bishop of Osnaburgh, had been sent over 
to Hanover, near eight months earlier ; 
probably with a view not oidy to his ac- 
complishment by visiting Germany, but, 
perhaps, to re/nove him from scenes here 
at home, ill calculated to ameliorate his 
pf)litical, or his moral character. One 
of the defects attributed to his majesty's 
natural formation of mind, principally 
resulting from his secluded education 
during his ffrandl'ather's reign, and the 
retired habits which he then imbibed 
under Lord Bute's tuition ; was, his 
supposed reluctance to become person- 
ally acquainted with his people. His 
enemies described him as a prince averse 
to all communication with his subjects. 



244 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



except at a levee. Thus the " Heroic 
Epistle" exclaims, 

" Our sons some slave of greatness may behold, 
Cast in the genuine Asiatic mould. 
Who of three realms shall condescend to 
know , 

No more than he can spy from Windsor s 
brow." 

Yet, when the king, emancipating 
himself for the first time since his acces- 
sion to the throne, from the restraints 
which he imposed on his own conduct, 
went down to Portsmouth in June, 1773, 
to inspect his fleet; with what severe 
raillery did not the same poem endea- 
vour to expose him to derision ? 

" There shall he see, as other folks have seen, 
That ships have anchors, and that seas are 

green ; 
Shall count the tackling trim, the streamers 

fine, 
With Bradsha-iD prattle, and with Sandioich 

dine ; 
And then row back, amidst the cannon's roar, 
As safe, as sage, as when he left the shore." 

But, it would only argue folly to deny, 
that during the first twenty-three years 
of his reign, from 1761, as soon as Lord 
Bute came into power, down to the end 
of 1763, wlien Fox brought forward the 
"Ea^t India Bill," George the Third was 
most unpopular. His subjects, how- 
ever, made him ample amends for so long 
withholding from him the testimonies of 
their affection, by the general and un- 
bounded attachment which they have 
since manifested towards him, down to 
the moment when he ceased to sway the 
sceptre. 

[September.] Admiral Darby, who 
continued to command the Channel fleet, 
had successfully relieved Gibraltar, dur- 
ing the course of the spring, when re- 
duced to great extremity. But, in the 
autumn, our numerical inferiority com- 
pelled that commander to take refuge in 
Torbay ; while the combined French and 
Spanish fleets, for the third time since 
the beginning of the war, occupied the 
entrance of the British channel, and even 
meditated to attack us, as we lay at an- 
chor on our own coast. So low was the 
naval power of England reduced, towards 
the conclusion of Lord North's adminis- 
tration, amidst the exhausture and cala- 



mities occasioned by the American war l 
But, towards America itself, all eyes 
were anxifusly turned ; where, it became 
evident, aflTairs rapidly tended to some 
great and decisive crisis. Lord Cornwallis 
having advanced into the province of Vir- 
ginia in June, finally established himself at 
York Town in August. No position could 
have been more judiciously chosen ; and 
it might unquestionably have been main- 
tained under every disadvantage, against 
the united force of America and of France, 
if a chain of fortuitous accidents, rather 
than a series of able or well combined 
measures, had not led to llie unavoidable 
catastrophe wliich terminated the war. 
De Grasse, who commanded the French 
fleet, was not less favoured by fortune, 
in finding the mouth of the Chesapeake 
unoccupied, on his arrival there from 
the West Indies ; than he derived aid 
from the delays that prevented the En- 
glish squadron under Graves, anticipating 
his seizure of that important station. 
Graves and Clinton, boib, successively 
failed, only by the short interruption of 
a few days; the first, in occupying the 
Chesapeake with a naval force ; the last, 
in arriving with an army, before Lord 
Cornwallis's surrender, and thereby 
rescuing liim from the necessity of ca- 
pitulating to Washington. In so despe- 
rate a situation, precluded from all possi- 
bility of relief. Lord Cornwallis laid 
down his arms ; and the American re- 
bellion, after a contest of more than six 
years, finally became a revolution. 

[October.] It is at this point of time, 
that we must place the highest elevation 
to which Louis the Sixteenth attained 
during his reign : an elevation only to 
be paralleled in the French annals, by 
recurring to the brilliant seras of Louis 
the Fourteenth. For, his grandfather 
Louis the Fifteenth, never stood on such 
an eminence in the eyes of Europe ; not 
even in the year 1748, previous to the 
peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, thougli his 
troops, conducted by Marshal Saxe, after 
defeating the allies in various actions, 
had then overrun the Austrian low coun- 
tries, and nearly reduced Brabant. In 
October, 1781, the King of France beheld 
America finally dissevered from Great 
Britain, by the union of his armies with 
those of the insurgents ; while he re- 
ceived about the same period, Lord 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



245 



Cornwallis's sword, surrendered to La j only a few weeks before llie fatal revolu- 
Fayelie. His forces were occupied in ; lion which took place in July of thai 
pursuing their career of victory through- ! same year, swept away the uionarchy, to 
out the West Indies ; and in the east, ' place Robespierre and Bonaparte suc- 
Sufn-ein, in liis repealed naval engage- I cessively on the llirone of Henry the 
menis uiih Sir Edward Hughes, nol only : Fourth. The Dauphin was in his ninth 
mainlained the honour of his sovereign's 1 year, when he finished his short c;ireer. 
flag, but had nearly succeeded more | I have been assured by individuals who 
th;in once, in obtaining a decided supe-| ha<l access to know the fact, iliat al ihe 
riorily over our squadron on the coast of age of seven years, when the charge of 
Coromandel. The Spanish branch of j his person, according to the established 
the House of Bourbon, acting in subser- i usage of the old French court, was sur- 
vience to the views of the court of Ver- rendered up by the governess, and he 



sallies, after subjecting Minorca antl 
\\ es-t Florida, held Gibraltar besieged by 
Sea and land ; the reduction of which 
fortress, calculated to render for ever 
illustrious the reign of Charles the Third, 
was anticipated with sanguine impa- 
tience by the two crowns. Our com- 
merce had not sufl'ered less by French 
depredations, than our colonies had been 
diminished by the arms ol France. Hol- 
land, ranging her force under the same 
standard, made common cause with 
Louis, against her ancient ally. It only 
remained for them to crush the Channel 
fleet of England, in order to dictate the 
terms of peace ; and so nearly did Gui- 
chen and Cordova, who commanded the 
combined navies of France and Spain, 
appear to be to achieving that last ob- 
ject, as to impress us with the utmost 
apprehension of its completion. Who, 
when contemplating a scene of such na- 
tional prosperity ; could have imagined 
that this descendant of so many kin^s, 
that had reigned for eight hundred years 
over the French, would perish* on a scaf- 
fold, in hisown capital, scarcely more than 
eleven years afterwards ; the victim of 
his inert pusillanimity, or tame inaction, 
in not firmly resisting the first ebullitions 
of popular innovation ! 

As if to secure and perpetuate the 
Bourbon line, the Queen of France, who 
had been married more than ten years, 
without giving a male heir to the crown, 
at length brought into the world a son. 
Catherine of Medicis, like Maria An- 
tonietta of Austria, had remained child- 
less for nearly the same period of time, 
before she produced a successor. The 
young dauphin's baptism was performed 
in this very month, with extreme mag- 
nificence, at Versailles. Happily for 
himself, he expired early in June, 1789 ; 
31* 



was then put under the care of men ; 
the dauphin being stripped in the pre- 
sence of professional persons, and hav- 
ing undergone an examination, was 
pronounced to be without defect in his 
bodily formation. But, being made 
soon afterwards to sit vvilh his feet in a 
wooden machine calculated to turn them 
out, the spinal marrow became speedily 
aflected by it. Whether this assertion 
be accurate or not, it is certain that the 
vertebrae of the back-bone growing 
crooked, he fell into a state of languor, 
accompanied by debility. I have seen 
him more than once while in this con- 
dition, during the summer preceding his 
decease, taking the air in a carriage, ia 
the gardens of St. Cloud. His emaciated 
appearance awaker'ed concern ; but, he 
was said not to want intelligence, and 
the queen his mother, whose maternal 
feelings were acute, manifested the 
warmest affection for him while living, 
as well as deep sorrow for his loss. The 
Uuke of Normandy, his younger lirother, 
born under a still more inauspicious 
planet, succeeded to his title; and be- 
came, after his, father's execution, the 
unfortunate Louis the Seventeenth. 

[November.] During the whole month 
of November, the concurring accoiiuts 
which were transmitted to government 
enumerating Lord Cornwallis's embar- 
rassments, and the positions taken bv 
the enemy, augmented the anxiety of 
the cabinet. Lord George Germain iu 
particular, conscious that on the pros- 
perous or adverse termination of that 
expedilton, must hinge the fate of the 
American contest, his own stay in office, 
as well as probably the duration of the 
ministry itself; fell, and even expressed 
to his friends, the strongest uneasine?.<; 
un the- subject. The meeting of pac- 



246 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



liament meanwhile stood fixed for the 
27tli of November. On Sunday, the 
25lh, about noon, official intelligence of 
the surrender of the British forces at 
York Town, arrived from Falmouth, at 
Lord George Germain's house in Pall- 
mall. Lord Walsingliam, who previous 
to his father Sir William de Grey's ele- 
vation to the peerage, had been under 
secretary of slate in that department ; 
and who was? selected to second the ad- 
dress in tlie House of Peers, on the sub- 
sequent Tuesday ; happened to be there 
when the messenger brought the news. 
Without communicating it to any other 
person. Lord George, for the purpose of 
despatch, immediately got with him into 
a hackney-coach, and drove to Lord 
Stormonl's residence in Portland-place. 
Having imparted to him the disastrous 
information, and taken him into the car- 
riage, they instantly proceeded to the 
Chancellor's house in Great Russel- 
street, Bloomsbury, whom they found 
at home : when, after a short consulta- 
tion, they determined to lay it, them- 
selves in person, before Lord North. 
He had not received any intimation of 
the event, when they arrived at his door, 
in Dovvning-street, between one and two 
o'clock. The first minister's firmness, 
and even his presence of mind, which 
had withstood the riots of June, 1780, 
gave way for a short lime, under this 
awful disaster. I asked Lord George 
afterwards, how he took the communi- 
cation, when made to him? " As he 
would have taken a ball in his breast," 
replied Ijord George. For, he opened 
his arms, exclaimingly wildly, as he 
paced up and down the apartment dur- 
ing a few minutes, " Oh, God ! it is all 
over !" Words which he repeated many 
times, under emotions of the deepest 
consternation and distress. 

When the first agitation of their 
mimls had subsided, the four ministers 
discussed the question, whether or not 
it might be expedient to prorogue par- 
liament for a few days : but, as scarcely 
an interval of forty-eight hours remained 
before the appointed time of assembling; 
and as many members of both houses 
were already either arrived in London, 
or on the road ; that proposition was 
abandoned. It became, however, indis- 
pensable to alter, and almost to model 



anew the king's speech, which had been 
already drawn up, and completely pre- 
pared for delivery from the throne. 
This alteration was therefore made with- 
out delay : and at the same time. Lord 
George Germain, as secretary for the 
American department, sent off a de- 
spatch to his majesty, who was then at 
Kew, acquainting him with the melan- 
choly termination of Lord Cornwallis's 
expedition. Some hours having elapsed, 
before these different, but necessary 
acts of business, could take place, the 
ministers separated, and Lord George 
Germain repaired to his office in White- 
hall. There he found a confirmation o 
the intelligence, which arrived about 
two hours after the first communication ; 
having been transmitted from Dover, to 
which place it was forwarded from Ca- 
lais, with the French account of the same 
event. 

I dined on that day, at Lord George's ; 
and though the information, which had 
reached London in the course of the 
morning, from two different quarters, 
was of a nature not to admit of long con- 
cealment; yet it had not been communi- 
cated either to me, or to any individual 
of the company (as it might naturally 
have been, through the channel of com- 
mon report), when I got to Pall-mall, 
between five and six o'clock. Lord 
Walsingham, who likewise dined there, 
was. the only guest that had become ac- 
quainted with the fact. The party, nine 
in number, sat down to table. Lord 
George appeared serious, though he 
manifested no discomposure. Before 
the dinner was finished, one of his ser- 
vants delivered him a letter, brought back 
by the messenger who had been de- 
spatched to the king. Lord George 
opened and perused it: then looking at 
Lord Walsingham, to whom he exclu- 
sively directed his observation, " The 
king writes," said he, "just as he al- 
ways does, except that I observe he has | 
omitted to mark the hour and the minute * 
of his writing, with his usual precision." 
This remark, though calculated to , 
awaken some interest, excited no com- || 
ment ; and while the ladies. Lord ' 
George's three daughters, remained in 
tlie room, we repressed our curiosity. 
But, they had no sooner withdrawn, than 
Lord George having acquainted us, that 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



247 



from Paris, information had just arrived, 
of llie old Count de Maurepas, first 
minister, lying at the point of death ; 
•' II would grieve me," said I, " to finish 
my career, however far advanced in 
years, were I first minister of France, 
before I had witnessed the termination 
of this great contest between England 
and America." " He has survived to | 
see tJiat event," replied Lord George, I 
M-ith some agitation Utterly unsuspi- j 
cious of the fact which liad happened 
beyond the Atlantic, 1 conceived him to 
allude to tlie iniiecisive naral action, i 
fought at the mouth of the Chesapeake, ! 
early in the preceding month of Sep- 
tember, between Admiral Graves and 
Count de Grasse ; an engagement which 
in its results might prove most injurious 
to Lord Cornwallis, Under this impres- 
sion, '• My meaning," said I, " is, that 
if I were llie Count de Maurepas, I 
should wish to live long enough, to be- 
hold the final issue of the war in Vir- 
ginia. ' " He has survived to witness 
it completely," answered Lord George : 
" The army has surrendered, and you 
may peruse the particulars of the capitu- 
lation, in that paper; taking at the same 
time one from his pocket, which he de- 
livered into my hand, not without visible 
emotion. By his permission I read it 
aloud, while the company listened in 
profound silence. VVe then discussed 
its contents, as affecting the ministry, 
the country, and the war. It must be 
confessed that they were calculated to 
diffuse a gloom over the most convivial 
society, and that they opened a wide 
field for political speculation. 

After perusing the account of Lord 
Cornwallis's surrender at York Town, it 
was impossible for all present, not to 
feel a lively curiosity to know how the 
king had received the intelligence ; as 
well as how he had expressed himself in 
his note to Lord George Germain, on the 
first communication of so painful an 
event. He gratified our wish by reading 
it to us ; observing at the same time, 
that it did the highest honour to his ma- 
jesty's fortitude, firmness, and consist- 
ency of character. The words made an 
impression on my memory, which the 
lapse of more than thirty years has not 
erased ; and I shall here commemorate 
its tenor, as serving to show how that 



prince felt and wrote, under one of the 
most afilicting, as well as humiliating 
occurrences of his reign. The billet ran 
nearly to this eflect : " I have received 
with sentiments of the deepest concern, 
the communication wlii(rh Lord George 
Germain has made me, of the unfortu- 
nate result of the operations in Virginia. 
I particularly lament it, on account of 
the consequences connected with it, and 
the difficulties which it may produce in 
carrying on the public business, or in 
repairing such a misfortune. But, I 
trust that neither Lord George Germain, 
nor any member of the cabinet will sup- 
pose, that it makes the smallest alteration 
in those principles of my conduct, which 
have directed n)e in past time, and which 
will always continue to animate me 
under every event, in the prosecution of 
the present contest." Not a sentiment 
of despondency or of despair was to be 
found in the letter; the very hand- 
writing of which, indicated composure 
of mind. Whatever opinion we may 
entertain relative to the practicability of 
reducing America to obedience by force 
of arms, at the end of 1781 ; we must 
admit, that no sovereign could manifest 
more calmness, dignity, or self-command, 
than George the Third displayed in this 
reply. 

[27th and 28th November.] Severely 
as the general effect of the blow received 
in Virginia, was felt throughout the 
capital and the nation, yet no immediate 
symptonis of ministerial dissolution, or 
even of parliamentary defection, became 
visible in cither house. All the animated 
invectives of Fox, aided by the contume- 
lious irony of Burke, and' sustained by 
the dignified reproaches of Pitt, then en- 
listed on the same side, made little ap- 
parent impression on their hearers ; who, 
though they seemed stupified by the 
disastrous intelligence, yet manifested 
the firmest adherence to administration. 
Never, probably, at any period of our 
history, was more indignant language 
used by the opposition, not even in 
1741, previous to Sir Robert Walpole's 
resignation ! In the ardour of his feelings 
at the recent calamity which had taken 
place beyond the Atlantic, Fox not onlv 
accused ministers of being virtually in 
the pay of France ; but menaced them 
with the vengeance of an undone people, 



248 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



who wonld speedily compel them to ex- 
piate their crimes on the public scaffold. 
Duiidas, who sat on the treasury bench, 
not far from Lord North and Lord 
George Germain, having ventured to 
smile somevvliat contemptuously at the 
word scaffold ; Fox apostropliized him in 
angry terms, demanding if the learned 
lord did not think that the time was yet 
ripe for punishment ? Burke repeated 
the same denunciations. Speaking of 
the condition of the country, he declared 
it to be extinct. " The liritish nation," 
said he, " as an animal, is dead ; but the 
vermin that feed on the carcase, are still 
alive, A day of reckoning will however 
arrive. Whenever it comes, I shall be 
ready to impeach, and signally to punish 
the authors of these calamities." 

Tiiough Fox, in conformity with the 
wishes of his friends, movetl on that 
evening, an amendment to the proposed 
address to the throne ; yet he said, that 
his own opinion decidedly went to send 
up no address whatever to the sovereign, 
until the membersofthe lower house could 
consult their constituents, and receive 
their instructions. The idea was strongly 
enforced by Nlr. Thomas Piit, who not 
only recommended an immediate appeal 
to the constituent body of electors 
throughout the kingdom ; but, exhorted 
the assembly to withhold all supply, till 
that measure was carried into execution. 
Colonel Barre joined in the recommen- 
dations for calling loirelher their con- 
stituents, and demanding their advice, 
ill a moment of such danger and public 
distress. So did Mr. Duncombe, one of 
the two members for the county of 
York. But Burke, however violent 
and declamatory he might be on other 
points, never made the slightest allusion 
to revolutionary remedies, or proposed 
any such experiments. Fox's ap[)eal 
to the electors of Westminster, convoked 
in Westminster Hall, or in Palace Yard, 
might indeed have been made without 
incurring ridicule. But, how Mr. 
'J'homas Pitt, who elected himself for 
Old Sarum ; or Barre, whom Lord 
Shelburne returned for Calne ; were 
to take the sense of their constituents, 
it was not easy to explain. Such how- 
ever were the propositions gravely made 
in the legislative assembly of Great 
Britain, towards the close of the Ameri- 



can war, amidst the universal dejection 
or despondency of that calamitous 
period ! Rigby, and he only, of all the 
ministerial or royal supporters in parlia- 
ment, ventured to elevate his voice 
against the doctrines inculcated by Fox. 
"What! Mr. Speaker," demanded he, 
" is the general sense of the nation no 
longer to be collected within these 
walls ! Such unconstitutional and ille- 
gal appeals to the people, can lead only 
to disaster, tumult, and outrage. The 
representative body is alone competent 
to pronounce the public sentiment." 
Unintimidated by Sheridan, who attack- 
ed him for speaking with coniempt of 
the constituent part of the community, 
Rigby niaintained his position with great 
firmness. 

Burke with inconceivable warmth of 
colouring, depictured the folly and im- 
practicability of taxing America by force, 
or as he described it, " shearing the 
wolf." The metaphor was wonderfully 
appropriate, and scarcely admitted of 
denial. He was sustained, and I had 
almost said, outdone by Mr. Thomas 
Pitt; who, in terms of gloomy despond- 
ency, not unaccompanied with great 
eloquence, seemed to regard the situa- 
tion of the country, as scarcely admitting 
of a remedy, under such a parliament, 
such an administration, and such a sove- 
reign. " Tiie ministers," exclaimed 
Burke, " assert that we have a right to 
tax America. But have we the power 
to enforce the right? They cry with 
Shylock, America, give us our bond ! 
The pound of flesh is ours, and we will 
have It next your heart! Oh ! misera- 
ble and infatuated men ! Oli ! undone 
country !" — He then burst into that 
most striking and picturesque simile of 
the wolf. " Oh ! says a silly man, 
elated with his dominion over a few 
beasts of the forest, there is excellent 
wool to be found on a wolf's back, and I 
am resolved to shear him. What ! shear 
a wolf! Yes. But will he submit to the 
operation? Can you get at this wool? 
Oh ! I have neither considered, nor 
will I consider, whether it be practica- 
ble. It is my right. A wolf has wool. 
All animals having wool, may be shorn, 
and therefore I will shear the wolf?" I 
confess, I thought this apologue, if I may 
so term it, one of the most impressive 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



249 



and convincing that I ever heard pro- 
nounced, (luring the whole time that 
1 remained in the House of Commons. 
Such it was felt to be on that evening, 
throughout the ministerial ranks. Mr. 
Thoniajs Pitt, though a man of very 
superior attainments of mind, and pos- 
sessing no ordmary powers of oratory, 
rose seldom to address parliament. But 
whenever he spoke, his name, and his 
consanguinity to the great Earl of 
Chatham, who was his uncle, procured 
him a most favourable audience. De- 
spair animated, while it deeply tinged, 
his speech. Considering the country as 
already lost, he said, " It no longer was 
a matter of importance, what set of state 
puppets worked the dismal scene ! 
While the fatal system remained, and 
the deadly secret injiiience which had 
continued throughout the present reign, 
pervaded every measure and every de- 
partment, it signified little what osten- 
sible agents were placed at the head of 
affairs." 

Lord North, in this moment of gene- 
ral depression, found resources in him- 
self. He scornfully repelled the insinu- 
ations of Fox (who had called him the 
prime minister of France), as deserving 
only contempt; justified the principle of 
the war, wliich did not originate in a 
despotic wish to tyrannize America, 
but from the desire of maintaining the 
constitutional authority of parliament 
over the colonies; deplored in common 
with the opposition, the misfortunes 
which had marked the progress of the 
contest; defied the threats of punish- 
ment ; and finally adjured the house not 
to aggravate the present calamity by de- 
jection or despair, but by united exer- 
tion, to secure our national extrication. 
*' Tije war with America, I admit," said 
he, " has been unfortunate ; but not 
unjust. And should I hereafter, as I am 
menaced, mount the scaffold in con- 
sequence of the part that I have per- 
formed in its prosecution, I shall con- 
tinue to maintain that it was founded in 
right, and dictated by necessity." Lord 
George Germain was not silent on that 
night. He deplored the fate of Lord 
Cornwallis, avowed the active share that 
he had taken in endeavouring to subju- 
gate the colonies, declared his readiness 
to quit the office which he filled, 



whenever his resignation should be de- 
manded; but added, " I will neither 
be brow-beat, nor clamoured out of it. 
Whenever my sovereign calls fur my 
situation, I shall resign it into his 
hands " 

The debate which arose on the subse- 
quent evening, when the address to be 
presented to the throne was reported to 
the house, far exceeded in the import- 
ance of the matter elicited, the first dis- 
cussion. Pitt, who reserved himself 
for this second agitation of the American 
question, rose early ; and in a speech of 
extraordinary energy (throughout the 
course of which he contrived with great 
ability, to blend professions of devoted 
attachment to the person of the king, 
with the severest accusations of his 
ministers); he fully confirmed the high 
opinion of his judgment and parliamen- 
tary talents, already entertained through- 
out the country. But, though Pitt 
spared the reigning prince, whom he 
depictured as under a delusion, he did 
not the less bitterly inveigh against the 
" baleful influence of the crown," which, 
he said, had produced the contest with 
America. That ruinous war constitu- 
ted " the pillar, constructed on the 
ruins of our Constitution," by which, as 
he asserted, the first lord of the treasury 
held his situation. He concluded by 
calling on ministers to stale witliout cir- 
cumlocution or deception, what were 
their intentions as to the further prosecu- 
tion of the American war, and to give 
some general idea of the manner in 
which it was henceforward to be pur- 
sued. A sort of pause took place on his 
sitting down ; while the eyes of all pre- 
sent were directed towards the treasury 
bench, in the expectation that either the 
chancellor of tiie exchequer, or the secre- 
tary for the colonial department, would 
stand up, and make some reply to these 
most pointed, as well as interesting ques- 
tions. But both sate silent, though 
from different motives. In so critical a 
moment, when the house seemed to 
demand an explanation on the point, the 
lord advocate of ScoUand presented turn- 
self boldly to public notice. After deny- 
ing in the most precise and explicit 
terms, that the address proposed, either 
pledged the assembly to continue the 
war against the colonies, or could be so 



250 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



interpreted ; he proceeded to put 
hypolheiioally a case, which might be 
said to withdraw in some measure the 
curtain of state from before the cabinet, 
and to expose the disunion that existed 
among its members. " If," said Dun- 
das, "any minister, accused of mal-ad- 
ministration, should setup as his excuse 
or his defence, that he was over-ruled 



the address being carried by 89, in a 
full house where 347 members were 
present. Only 185 attended ihe report, 
of which number, 131 supported ad- 
ministration, while the minoriiy did not 
exceed 54. 

Nevertheless, the contest with Ameri- 
ca might be considered as virtually ar- 
rested, though not ostensibly terminated 



in the cabinet, and compelled by the 1 More than one member, known to be 
majority to act upon opinions contrary ardently attached to the crown, as well 
to his own private judgment, such an < as to the existing government, declared 
apoh)gy cannot be admitted in this I iiis disapprobation of any i'urther attempt 
house. A minister, who, in order to to carry on military operations beyond 
preserve his place, would submit to carry the Atlantic. Lord Nugent said, it woidd 



into execution, measures that he had 
condemned, must not only be unworthy 
of his situation ; but, would thereby 
betray his trust, and merit the execra- 
tion of his countrymen." 

This avowal, though qualified by as- 
suranc,es that it was altogether general, 
and hafl not the slightest allusion to, or 
the most indirect authority from, the 
first lord of the treasury; yet disclosed 
the secret already suspected or under- 
stood by the opposition. Fox felicita- 
ted Pitt, whom he denominated his 
honorafjle friend, on having, by the 
efTect of his powerful oratory, extracted 
from an individual so nearly connected 
with administration, the declaration that 
the address did not pledge parliament to 
continue the war against America, Bui 
IJurke, i'n the progress of a speech, less 
marked by those emanations of genius 
which generally illuminated all that he 
uttered, than distinguished by its intem- 
perate violence, endeavoured to prove 
that the proposed address did bind the 
house to prosecute olFensive hostilities 
with France and America. He declared 
the address itself to be a compound of 
hypocrisy, and of infamous, abandoned 
falsit3\ Nor did he fail to paint in the 
wannest colours of a distempered ima- 
gination, the punishments which, he as- 
serted, would be inflicted on the unhap- 
py loyalist-, deserted by us, and left 
under Lord Cornwallis's capitulation, to 
the mercy of the Congress. Their 
slaughtered remains, he said, would be 
exposed on all the headlands. Notwith- 
standing tliese combined eflTorts, which 
were sustained by Keppel and by Mr. 
Thomas Tovvnsend, the minister divided 
on both evenings, in a large majority ; 



now be politic to acknowledge the inde- 
pendence of the colonies. Courienay, 
though holding a place under the master 
general of the ordnance, not only avowed 
that lie never had considered the war 
against America, as expedient, politic, 
or wise ; but added, that he only voted 
for the address, on the assurances given 
by [)ersons in ofBce, that it did not pledge 
to the prosecution of hostilities for the 
purpose of subjugating America. Lord 
North himself, two days afterwards, ex- 
plicitly slated, when addressing the 
house, that they were not bound by their 
two recent votes, to carry on either the 
American, or any other war ; simply to 
provide for the necessary expenses of 
the government. But, though the con- 
tinuance of offensive hostilities in Ame- 
rica, was thus unequivocally renounced 
by the first minister, and virtually or 
silently acquiesced in by Lord George 
Germain ; yet, so far did they seem 
from professing a readiness to acknow- 
ledge the independence of the thirteen 
colonies, that they warmly maintained 
the wisdom and the necessity of still 
prosecuting a defensive war in that 
portion of the globe. In the House of 
Peers, a still greater proportionaie ma- 
jority supported aduiinistraiion. When 
Fox, presuming on the operalion of ilie 
recent misfortune in the Chesapeake, 
soon afterwards attempted to stop the 
progress of the supplies, in which effort 
lie was warmly supported by Mr. 
Thomas Pitt, the opposition experienced 
a second defeat; only seventy-seven 
persons voting with them, while Lord 
North had one hundred and sevouty-iwo. 
It seemed indeed by no means clear, dur- 
ing the first fortnight after parliament 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



251 



met, wlielher any official change what- 
ever would l;ike place ; or if an altera- 
tion should be made in the cabinet, to 
what extent it would be carried. Tlie 
national forces, exhausted by so long a 
contest, and now opposeil in every 
quarter by a vast confederacy, were in- 
deed evidently unequal to continue the 
efTorl for subjecting America ; and it 
llierefore became obvious, that new mea- 
sures must speedily supersede those 
which had been prosecuted during so 
many years. But, l\\e same first 'ininis- 
ter might remain in power, untler a total, 
or a partial change of system ; and in 
that case, all the labours of the minority 
would be frustrated, in tlie moment of 
their expected completion. 'I'lie king's 
firmness and tenacity were well under- 
stood by all parties. Lord North showed 
hitherto no disposition to resign, and 
parliamenf had given no indications of 
having withdrawn their confidence from 
the adiiiinislration. Such appeared to be 
the aspect of public afTairs, in the first 
week of December. 

[1st — lOlh December.] Though Fox 
and Pitt seemed at this time to act in 
perfect political union, yet no man who 
attentively considered the different spirit 
which animated their speeches, when- 
ever the sovereign became indirectly the 
subject of their animadversion, could 
fail to remark their widely dissimilar 
line of conduct. Fox, whether he was 
impelled by his consciousness that the 
king's moral repugnance to many part? 
of liis j)rivale character, and to the ir- 
regularities of his life, imposed insur- 
numnlable obstacles to his ever attaining 
the roy^l favour; or whether, having al- 
ready offended in his political capacity, 
beyond the hope of pardon, he relied 
solely on his own talents, aided by party 
to force his way into the cabinet, and to 
maintain himself in that situation ; — 
which ever of these motives principally 
actuated him, it is indisputable that in 
all his allusions to the king, aliliouffh 
he might afTecl to shelter himself under 
the forms of parliamentary language, 
yet Fox always chose to consider hiin 
as animated by passions and sentiments 
unbecoming his station, as well as incom- 
patible with the benignity which consti- 
tutes the most enviable attribute of roy- 
alty. Fox designated or characterized 



him in fact, as under the dominion of 
resentment ; unfeeling, implacable, and 
only satiated by the continuance of war 
against his former subjects. In a word, 
like James the Second, rather than 
William the Third : more as a tyrant 
and an oppressor, than as the head of a 
free country, the guardian of a limited 
constitution. 

On the first day of the session, when 
an address to the crown was proposed 
by the honorable Mr. Charles George 
Perceval, now Lord Arden ; " Those," 
said Fox, " who are ignorant of the cha- 
racter of the prince whose speechwe liave 
just heard, might be induced to consider 
him as an unfeeling despot, exulting in 
the horrid sacrifice of tlie liberty and the 
lives of his j)eople. The speech itself, 
divested of the disguise of royal forms, 
can only mean, ' Our losses in America 
have been most calamitous. 'I'he blood 
of my subjects has flowed in coi)ious 
streams, through every part of that con- 
tinent. The treasures of Great Britain 
have been wantonly lavished; while 
the load of taxes imposed on an oveibur- 
thened country, is become intolerable. 
Yet will I continue to tax \ ou to the last 
shilling. When, by Lord Cornwallis's 
surrender, all hopes of victory are for 
ever extinct, and a further continuance 
of hostilities can only accelerate the ruin 
of the British empire, I prohibit you 
from thinking of peace. My rage for 
conquest is unquenched, and my revenge 
unsated : nor can any thing except the 
total subjugation of my revolted Ameri- 
can subjects, allay my animosity.' " 
When we consider the severity and acri- 
mony of these personal imputations, 
we cannot wonder that they excited cor- 
responding sensation of resentment in 
the royal bosom. What accusations 
more wounding could we frame, what 
motives of action more atrocious could 
we suppose, and what language more 
abhorrent to our feelings, could we have 
attributed to tlvit numster, whose crimes 
so long desolated France and Europe, 
than are here supposed to animate 
George the Third ! It must be admitted 
even by his greatest admirers, that Fox, 
however eminent were his talents, yet 
by the want of moderation and judg- 
ment, sentenced himself during hiswliole 
life, to perpetual exclusion from office ; 



252 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



verifying in his own person, Juvenal's i among the members of administration. 



remark upon the injuries attendant on 
eloquence, when he says, 

"Toirens dicendi Copia multis, 
Et sua moitifera est Facundia." 

Pitt, on the contrary, even when he 
appeared to be most animated by senti- 
ments of indignation against the mea- 
sures, or the ministers; yet repressed 
any intemperate expressions, and person- 
ally spared the sovereign. He pro- 
nounced indeed in the most unqualilied 
terms, his abhorrence of ihe further pru- 
secuiion of the American war ; and on 



Lord Norili in fact might conimue, as 
many persons imagined, firsst minister, 
after the avowal of American inde- 
pendence. But, Lord George Ger- 
main could not by any possibility re- 
main in office a single day after such 
a recognition. At this breach the op- 
position poured in, and were aided by 
some of the adherents of government, 
who conceived that by separating the 
two ministers, and dismissing tlie latter. 
Lord North could yet be preserved 
at the head of his majesty's councils. 
Sir James Lowlher having introduced a 
motion on the 12th of December, tend- 



one occasion I recollect his solemnly in- ing to declare that " All further attempts 



voking the Divine vengeance on the heads 
of the administration, who had reduced 
the empire to such a stale of ruin and 
degradation. I5ut, with consummate 
ability, he separated the king from his 
weak or evil counsellors ; admitted the 
purity of intention by which he was ever 



to reduce the Americans to obedience 
by force, would be ineffectual ; and 
contrary to the true interests of the 
kingdom;" after a long and very ani- 
mated debate, the order oj the day 
could only be carried by a majority of 
forty-one, in a crowded house, where 



impelled; professed his ardent attach- j four hundred members were present, 
menl to the person, as well as to the ; Some of the circumstances attending 
family, of the reigning monarch ; and de- that discussion, were in themselves so 
clared that it would be best maiiilested, ' interesting, as to lay peculiar claim to 
by exposing the delusion that had been commemoration. Neither the personal 



practised on tiim. The lord advocate 
of Scotland, whose distinguishing politi- 
cal tact, and keen discernment in all 
matters where his own interest or ambi- 
tion were concerned, enabled him to de- 
scry a minister in embryo : appears 
early to have been impressed with a con- 
viction of this characteristic difference 
between the two opposition leaders. 
While he continued strenuously to sup- 
port an administration, the certain ap- 



eharacter, the talents, nor the eloquence 
of the member for Cumberland, who 
originated the question, could power- 
fally recommend it to attention. But, 
it was far otherwise with the individual 
who seconded it. Sir James Low- 
ther's prodigious property, and that 
only, gave weight to his exertions. 
Mr. Powis, who represented the county 
of Northampton, combined very con- 
siderable parliamentary ability, with a 



proaching fall of which, he nevertheless most independent and upright mind. 



Never can I forget the effect pro- 
duced by his citation from Gibbon's 
" Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- 
pire," as applicable to the c;ilamitous 
position of Great Britain ? VVilh con- 



probably anticipated ; he lavished the 
warmest encomiums from the treasury 
bench, on the hereditary talents, the 
brilliant oratory, and early indications of 
genius, in Pitt; under whose protection, 

aided by his own parliamentary powers, summate judgment he selected some 

he speedily contrived, after Lord North's passages of the celebrated historian in 

resignation, to reappear on the ministe- question, extracted from the reigns of 

rial theatre. Honorius and of Valentinian the Third, 

Notwithstanding the ostensible degree ^ which seemed almost prophetically to 

of harmony and concert which seemed depicture or to describe the events of 

to animate ministers in the House of the hour, under George the Third. 

Commons, during the first days of the j The incapacity of the government, the 

session ; yet before the miiidle of De- contempt into which it had fallen with 

cember it began to be apparent, that some foreign states, the rapid increase of 

essential disunion of sentiment prevailed taxation, tlie corruption of the senate, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



2^3 



the expenditure of treasure, the loss of 
provinces, and the pertinacity of the 
sovereign in continuing a hopeless con- 
test with his revolted subjects; — all 
these facts, so apposite in iheniselvesi 
were quoted, or rather were read by 
Pbwis iu his place, and constituted 
a part of his speech. Their operation 
was perfectly theatrical. A pin might 
liave been heard to drop, such was the 
silence, while he pronounced it ; and it 
seemed to spread a sort of dejection 
over the ministerial side of the assem- 
bly. Gibbon himself, who uncon- 
sciously furnislied these weapons against 
his friend the first minister, and who 
was at the very time a member of the 
board of tr;ule ; was personally present 
in the house. He had ceased at the 
last general election, to represent a Cor- 
nish borough, Leskeard, for which he 
was chosen in 1775, and now sate for 
Lymington. Lord North was so sensi- 
ble of the injury resulting from Powis's 
appeal to the passions of the house, 
sustained by the artillery which he had 
borrowed from Gibbon, that he rose 
immediately, in order to efface the im- 
pression. In the course of a laboured, 
able, and well considered address, he 
endeavoured to demonstrate that the 
motion, if carried, would incapacitate 
and cripple the administration ; which, 
if precluded, or prohibited from carry- 
ing on any military operation on the 
American continent, could not success- 
fully combat our foreign enemies in that 
quarter of the globe. But he at the 
same time declared his opinion, that no 
further hostilities ought to be persisted 
in, for the reduction of the colonies, by 
sending troops into the interior of the 
country. The weakness of govern- 
ment, and their apprehensions of the 
defection which might manifest itself 
among their adherents, were sufficient- 
ly displayed by Lord North, in only 
moving the order of the day, instead of 
giving a direct negative to Sir James 
Lowlher's proposition. 

Burgoyne was not merely animated, 
but personal, as well as pointed, in his 
animadversions on Lord George Ger- 
main; and even by unavoidable implica- 
tion on the sovereign himself, whom 
he clearly designated in terms too plain 
to admit of mistake. After examining, 
22 



as a soldier and a tactician, the plan 
proposed by ministers, for retaining 
posts in America, and prosecuting a 
species of defensive warfare, he sub- 
joined, " These observations may be 
called military remarks ; but let the 
house remember, that they are ad- 
dressed to a military secretary of state. 
The country has not forgotten that he 
icas a soldier, the country feels that he 
is a counsellor." Having expressed his 
apprehensions for the impending fate of 
Gibraltar, invested by the forces of 
France and Spain, he made a recanta- 
tion of his error in ever approving or 
aiding the attempt to subjugate the colo- 
nies, adding, " I am now convinced, on 
a full consideration of the measures pur- 
sued by ministers, as time has developed 
their system, that the American war 
constitutes only a part of a general plan 
levelled against the Constitution of 
Great Britain, and against the universal 
rights of mankind." Dundas having 
professed that Lord North's declaration 
relative to future hostilities beyond the 
Atlantic, had fully satisfied his mind ; 
protested, that had not the chancellor 
of the exchequer thus unequivocally re- 
nounced all further attempt to reduce 
the colonies by offensive operations, he 
must have voted on the side of opposition. 
Biit Burke, with great powers of wit, 
treated the lord advocate's assurances as 
a subject of derision. " An American 
war," exclaimed Burke, " you must 
still have ; but as parliament has at 
length become dissatisfied with the man- 
ner in which it was carried on, we will 
change the plan, say ministers. An 
American war you must still have. We 
will give you your diet differently 
dressed ; but it shall nevertheless be tlie 
American war. " Having squandered 
seventy millions in one way, we will 
now expend seventy millions more in 
another way." Fox, as well as Barre, 
exposed with equal force, the fallacious, 
or loose and unsatisfactory protestaiions 
of the first minister. Lord George 
Germain at length rose ; and the house, 
anxious to hear his sentiments, though 
the evening was then very far advanced, 
lent him an attentive ear. As this 
speech may be deemed the last that he 
pronounced in his own defence, while 
secretary for the colonies ; and as I lis* 



254 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



tened to it with more than ordinary ' 
interest, I shall comineinorate some pas- 
sages of it. 

He began by professing .his coinci- 
dence of opinion with Lord North, as to 
changing prospectively the mode of car- 
rying on the war ; a sentiment, in which, 
he addeil, all ihe king's confidential ser- 
vants were united : but he contended, 
that though circumstances justified and 
dictated such an alteration of system, he 
could not concur in evacuating New 
York, Charles Town, and the other in- 
valuable possessions on the American 
coast, still retained by Great Britain. 
*' If," continued he, " the house should 
adopt the motion proposed, I will in- 
stantly retire, as I consider it to include 
a resolution of altogether abandoning the 
American war ; and let the consequence 
be what it may, I never will put my 
hand to any instrument conceding inde- 
pendence to the colonies. My opinion 
is that the British empire must be ruined, 
and that we never can continue to exist 
as a great, or as a powerful nation, after 
we have lost or renounced the sovereignly 
over America. By this opinion I will 
abide, because I am resolved to leave 
the people their country." George 
Byng having, somewhat indecorously, 
and certainly in a manner unauthorized 
by the forms of debate, said across the 
house, " You will not leave us any 
country ;" Lord George, irritated, in- 
stantly with considerable emotion, ex- 
claimed, " if the honorable gentleman 
believes himself warranted in impeach- 
ing me, let him do ii ! But, let him do 
it in the way warranted by the Constitu- 
tion. Let him not convoke the people 
without doors, and address them to 
change the administration ! It is the 
province of this house, with the dignity 
becoming its character, to adopt a con- 
stitutional measure. Let the house ad- 
dress the throne, if they think proper. 
If ministers have merited it, let them be 
dismissed, impeached, and brought to 
punishment. But, do not, from party 
violence, injure tiie Constitution, and risk 
the subversion of the country." These 
were nearly his words, at the conclusion 
of which he sat down. Mr. Byng, far 
from excusing the interruption, justified 
it. " The noble secretary," said he, 
" calls on me to impeach him. Let him 



only turn his eyes on those persons who 
surround him, and he will perceive the 
reason that he is not impeached. He 
will see a phalanx of hired supporters, 
ready to protect him, or any other 
minister, against the eflects of the An»e- 
rican war. Give us only an honest par- 
liament, and we should then see if secu- 
rity and impunity would result from im* 
peachment." No notice was taken of 
these severe imputations tlirown upon 
the house, and the debate soon after- 
wards closed. But it became apparent 
how weak were the foundations on 
which Lord North's power rested, when 
the defection of so inconsiderable a num- 
ber of individuals as twenty, going over 
from the ministerial ranks, to the oppo- 
sition side, would have laid him at the 
mercy of his enemies. And under the 
deplorable circumstances of the war, of 
the finances, and of the country, there 
existed little hope of a counter desertion 
back to the party of government. Al- 
ready the minority anticipated with a 
sort of certainty, the approaching, if not 
the imminent fall of administration. 

[I4th December.] Nor was the pau- 
city of numbers, the only symptom that 
announced a ministerial crisis. Two 
days subsequent to the late division, 
when the secretary at war laid before 
the committee of supply, the estimates 
of the army ; another discussion of the 
American question took place, more de- 
cisive, if possible, than any which had 
yet arisen. Rigby and Dundas acting 
on this occasion in concert, called on 
Lord North to state in his place, the 
difi'erence of opinion which was pre- 
sumed to exist in the cabinet. Both of 
them at the same time avowed and ad- 
mitted, that no further hope could be 
entertained of subjecting America by 
arms. The first lord of the treasury, 
while he admitted the war with the 
colonies, to constitute the heaviest cala- 
mity of his life, and expressed his 
warmest wishes for the attainment of 
peace ; neither owned, nor denied the 
charge brought forward by the lord ad- 
vocate of Scotland and Rigby, though he 
attempted to evade it under some loose 
and general declarations. VVearcd at 
length, and attacked no less by his 
friends, than by his opponents, he adopt- 
ed the singular expedient of quitting the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



255 



treasury bench, atul wiilulrawing to one 
of the seals behind it; leaving Lord 
George Germain alone in that conspicu- 
ous situation, exposed to the attacks of 
the opposition. So extraordinary a 
scene, wliich spoke with mute eloquence, 
and from its peculiarity attracted all 
eyes ; left no room to doubt of the dis- 
similarity of opinion among ministers, 
on the oreat question respecting Ame- 
rica. 

I feel strongly impelled, if I were 
able, to attempt to lay before posterity, 
the leadixig features of that most interest- 
ing debate ; during the progress of which, 
the disunion between the two cabinet 
ministers in the lower house, became 
for the first time so apparent, as to neces- 
sitate Lord George Germain's speedy 
resiijnation. He rose at an early period 
of the evening ; compelled by the asser- 
tions and accusations of Mr. Thomas 
Townsend, who maintained that the 
chancellor of the exchequer and the 
secretary of state held different or coii- 
flicling opinions, relative to the system 
of warfare prospectively intended to be 
prosecuted beyond the Atlantic. Lord 
George having so recently stated, with 
his characteristic frankness of character, 
the ideas entertained by him on the 
point, and his determination never to 
recede from them, could add little to his 
preceding observations. He said, that 
" the king's servants were unanimous on 
one point, namely, that it was inexpe- 
dient, and would be injurious to the 
country, to withdraw the forces from 
America." But, Lord North, well 
aware that the only chance of protecting 
the king from being compelled to sur- 
render at discretion, was to slip himself 
out of the present ruinous contest; to 
allow the American secretary to retire, 
and then with the royal and parliamen- 
tary support that he possessed, to en- 
deavour to extricate the nation from its 
actual embarrassments; — Lord North, 
impelled by these motives, held a more 
equivocal, oracular, and inexplicit lan- 
guage. Fox, sustained by General Con- 
way, endeavoured to force from him a 
definite reply to their demands ; and he 
underwent, during some time, a species 
of cross examination. But such was 
his ability and address in eluding or 
evading the precise questions put to him, 



that little additional information could 
be extracted from his answers. The 
house remained, if I may so s-ij, at fault. 
Pitt, with great judgment, selected this 
moment of painful uncertainty, for his 
appearance on the scene. In terms of 
energy he pointed out the contradictions 
of the two ministers with each other, 
and of Lord North with himself. " Here 
then," continued he, " we behold the 
union and harmony between the members 
of administration. One asserts that the 
object of the contest is not to be aban- 
doned. The other gives a more qualified 
interpretation to those words. The first 
maintains that the conquest of the colo- 
nies is still to be attempted. No, says 
the second, not to be prosecuted by 
force. Is it possible that men, thus igno- 
rantof, or unacquainted with each other's 
intentions, can act in concert, or be una- 
nimous ?" 

It was on this occasion, and not (as 
I had erroneously apprehended), the first 
time of his ever speaking in parliament; 
that Pitt, observing VVelbore Ellis en- 
gaged in whispering Lord North and 
Lord George Germain ; apparently with 
a view of mediating between them, or 
reconciling their discordant declarations ; 
stopped short. Then looking round 
upon the house, which was hushed in 
mute attention, he said with a manner 
and in a tone still more impressive than 
the reproof, " I shall wait till the unani- 
mity is better settled ; and until the sa^e 
Nestor of the treasury bench, has brought 
to an agreement, the Jigamemnon and 
the Achilles of the American war." 
The observation, which, independent of 
its classic beauty and its severity, arose 
out of an accident, impossible to have 
been foreseen, could not therefore be 
premeditated. Its effect was electric, 
not only on the individuals to whom it 
was personally directed, but on the 
whole audience. The two ministers 
and the treasurer of the navy, in some 
confusion resumed their former attitudes. 
We cannot sufficiently appreciate or ad- 
mire the perfect self-possession, which, 
while addressing a crowded House of 
Commons, could dictate to a youth of 
little more than two and twenty, so 
masterly an allusion. The conclusion 
of his speech breathed not a little of the 
spirit of his deceased father, while he 



256 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



seemed to lance the vengeance or the 
indignation of a suffering and exhausted 
nation, on the heads of ministers ; in- 
voking in the same moment, the Divine 
protection on " a great and innocent 
family, who, though they have not par- 
ticipated in the culpability, may, and 
probably will, be doomed to undergo the 
consequences." 

Rigby now unmasked his battery, 
meant unquestionably to accelerate Lord 
George Germain's resignation ; and 
thereby to enable the first minister, re- 
leased from the double burthen of the 
American war and the American secre- 
tary, to ride out the storm. The plan 
was ingenious, if not solid, and seemed 
to promise success. No individual in 
office, had so great a stake to defend as 
Rigby. During thirteen years and a 
half, he had occupied the pay office 
without an associate ; and he could not 
contemplate without natural apprehen- 
sion, an event so injurious to his own 
interests, as would be the dissolution of 
Lord North's administration. Yet, if 
any opinion may be formed from the 
encomiums which he lavished on Pitt's 
resplendent, hereditary talents and vir- 
tues, at the o'pening of his speech ; the 
paymaster of the forces might be thouglu 
to anticipate, as not distant, a new order 
of things, where Pitt would probably 
occupy an elevated place. Rigby then 
animadverted with force, on the discord- 
ant sentiments expressed by leading 
members of the oj)position, relative to 
America; some of whom (Fox and 
Burke), loudly called for the concession 
of independence to the colonies ; while 
others (particularly Dunning), declared 
that the minister who should dare to 
propose such a measure, would be 
guilty of high treason. While how- 
ever he pointed out these contradictions 
of opinion among tlie minority, he coin- 
cided fully with Pitt, that an evident ob- 
scurity pervaded the conduct of the two 
noble lords in office, which appeared to 
indicate dissimilarity of ideas. And he 
said that the house, as well as the coun- 
try, had a right to demand explanation. 
Still he maintained, we were not ripe 
for withdrawing the troops from America. 
Nor could all Fox's blandishments in- 
duce him to suggest a motion, by which, 
both sides of the house concurring in it, 



as a parliamentary declaration, ministers 
might be bound down in their future 
conduct towards the colonies. But, the 
lord advocate of Scotland, who was 
seated on the treasury bench, between the 
chancellor of the exchequer and the 
American secretary ; and who could not, 
any more than Rigby, look forward un- 
moved, to his own fate, which must be I 
involved in the fall of the tirsl minister ; ' 
answered to Fox's invitation. Coming 
forward on this critical occasion, with 
that manly openness of character, which, 
if not natural to him, he knew so well 
how to assume when it suited his pur- 
pose, Dundas reiterated all the senti- 
ments already expressed by his friend. 
" If," said he, " there is any one of his 
majesty's cabinet base enough to re- 
main in office, and to conduct measures 
that he disapproves or condemns, be he 
who he will, he his unfit for society." 
A declaration, so pointed, though osten- 
sibly directed against both the ministers, 
was in fact intended only against one, 
Lord George Germain. If its intention 
could indeed have been doubtful. Lord 
North's act in removing from his accus- 
tomed place, to another seat, while his 
colleague remained at his post, would 
have sufficiently explained the mystery. 
This piece of dmnb shoiv, one of the 
most curious that I ever witnessed on 
that political stage, the House of Com- 
mons, lasted for more than three quarters 
of an hour, while the debate continued, 
or rather, languished. But, not one 
word was uttered in further explanation, 
by either of the two ministers. How 
far Rigby's and Dundas's conduct was 
concerted with, or in any manner pre- 
viously known to Lord North, I cannot 
presume to assert. Nor did Lord George 
Germain, as I believe, ever attain any 
certainty on the point. Probably it 
arose from their own view of affairs, and 
was undertaken without communicating 
the intention to the first minister, though 
designed to facilitate or effect his ex- 
trication. The division which took place 
on the army estimates, was carried by a 
very considerable majority in favour of 
government, the respective numbers be- 
ing 16G, and 84. 

From that evening, on which I ac- 
companied him to his residence in Pall- 
Mail, when he quitted the House of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



257 



Commons, Lord George with reason 
considered his official capacity as virtu- 
ally terminated, though he continued to 
exercise its indispensable functions, till 
a successor should be appointed to the 
department. The two houses having 
shortly afterwards adjourned for the 
Christmas recess, he came to a full ex- 
planation with Lord North. At that in- 
terview, after professing his readiness 
to remain in his situation, as long as it 
could be beneficial to his majesty's ser- 
vice, while the independence of America 



squadron of twelve sail of the line, in 
order to intercept or engage a naval 
force, intended by France for the West 
Indies, fell in with the enemy. As they 
had however been unexpectedly rein- 
forced, so as to increase their numbers to 
eighteen sail of the line, Kempenfeldt 
could only capture some of the trans- 
ports, full of troops, which he sent into 
our ports. No sooner had this intelli- 
gence reached London, than Fox indig- 
nantly protested in the House of Com- 
mons, that " nothing short of treachery 



was not formally recognized ; he at the could have produced an event so (lis 
same time earnestly besought Lord North graceful and ignominious. Incapacity 



to consider no object except the preser 
valion of the ministry, and the interests 
of their common master. For that pur- 
pose, he advised the first minister to 
strengthen himself by a negotiation with 
some of his political enemies ; and not 
to allow any personal considerations to- 
wards him (Lord George), to delay, or 
to impede, for an instant, the arrange- 
ments judged to be proper for the gene- 
ral security. Adding, that he had no 
personal stipulations to make, nor favours 
to ask ; and that he would go down imme- 
diately to his seat at Drayton in North- 
amptonshire, for two or three weeks, 
in order to allow time to select a succes- 
sor for his post; after which he would 
return, and deliver up the seal of his 
office, on the shortest notice, into his 
majesty's hands. As the best proof of 
his sincerity in these opinions, he left 
London a very few days subsequent to 
the above conversation. 

[20th December.] It must be con- 
fessed that something unpropiiious seem- 
ed to overhang the councils, and to j man and a seaman, could not be igno- 



or ignorance could not alone satisfac- 
torily explain it. An enquiry, if not an 
impeachment, must be instantly set on 
foot, against such a first lord of the ad- 
miralty. How could they look their 
constituents in the (ace, if they had the 
baseness not to address the throne for 
his removal?" Mr. Thomas Town- 
send asked, " how gentlemen could think 
of going out of town to partake of Christ- 
mas pastimes, at a moment when, in his 
opinion, the fate of the empire would be 
irrevocably sealed in twelve, or perhaps 
in six months ?" *' Adjourn to the 22d 
of next month !" exclaitned George 
Byng, on a motion to that effect being 
made from the treasury bench ; " Good 
God ! Mr. Speaker, at a crisis like 
the present, all the wisdom of the coun- 
try is required to extricate us. The 
first lord of the admiralty has ignorant y 
despatched only twelve or thirteen ships 
of the line, to meet an armament of 
nineteen. Is this a measure to be toler- 
ated ?" — Keppel, who, as a professional 



disconcert or overturn the best matured 
measures of administration, during the 
course of the American M'ar, so long as 
Lord North, Lord Sandwich, and Lord 
George Germain, presided at the head 
of affairs. Tliis remark or admission 
may perhaps be considered as synony- 
mous with pronouncing the condemna- 
tion of those ministers. But, it was in- 
disputably Lord Sandwich's fleet and 
admiral, which gained the glorious naval 
victory over De Grasse, only four months 
later, though Fox and his party received 
the benefit of the day. Just at the time 
of which 1 now speak, Admiral Kempen- 
feldt having been despatched with a 
22* 



rant that these accusations were exag- 
gerated, if not altogether unjust, held a 
much more temperate and measured lan- 
guage. He admitted that there did not 
appear to be any treachery ; but, he said, 
there was palpal)le neglect and want of 
naval skill in the board. 

Lord North, not at all disconcerted 
by such a load of imputations, with 
I great calmness and good humour assured 
the house, no less than Fox, that " the 
noble indiydual who presided over the 
admiralty, far from wishing to avoid an 
enquiry, was most desirous to meet it." 
In a speech of considerable length. Lord 
Mukrave vindicated the measure of send- 



258 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ing out Kern pen feldt, as in itself high- 
ly judicious, though unforeseen cir- 
cumstances had operated to prevent its 
complete success. But Bamber Gas- 
coyne, irritated at the harsh epitiiets 
which Fox had applied so generally to 
the board at which he held a place, and 
not restrained by any delicacies where 
his own character was in some measure 
compromised, handled the opposition 
leader more roughly. " The honora- 
ble member," said Gascoyne, " is pleas- 
ed to assert, that we have never yet sent 
out an equal naval force, since the com- 
mencement of the war, to meet the 
French. Has he forgotten the 27th of 
July? And when Admiral Darby was 
despatched to the relief of Gibraltar, if 
his ships were so inferior to the enemy 
in number as is pretended, the honorable 
gentleman would do well to enquire 
.among his friends in France, why they 
did not give us the meeting. Hard 
words are easily used ; and the admi- 
ralty may be stigmatized from the other 
side of the house, as negligent, igno- 
rant, corrupt, and treacherous. With 
more reason, and at least as much truth, 
may they be denominated the friends of 
Mr. Laurens, and the correspondents 
of Dr. Franklin.^'' After a protracted 
cenversaiion, rather than a debate, ac- 
companied on both sides with much acri- 
mony, the first minister was allowed 
to carry his proposed adjournment; but 
not till George Byng, without a division, 
had moved and carried, to call over the 
house on the 21st of January. Such 
were the humiliating circumstances that 
attended, and ushered in the last scene 
of Lord North's expiring administration ! 
[21st December — 21st Jan. 1782.] 
After the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, 
and the virtual resignation of Lord George 
Germain, it might naturally be supposed 
that the first lord of the treasury would 
lose no time in endeavouring to repair 
the breach, and to strengthen himself 
previous to the meeting of parliament 
after the Christmas holidays. Neces- 
sii\' dictated measures of energy, and the 
respite which the recess allowed for 
private negotiation, afforded him time 
ior making every requisite stipulation. 
Nevertheless, Lord North, though he 
did not either oppose, or refuse, by no 
means, however, positively accepted, 



even the resignation of the American 
secretary. And when Lord George re- 
turned to London from Northampton- 
shire, towards the middle of the ensuing 
month ; to his no small astonishment, 
he found his office still undisposed of, 
and his successor not more fixed than 
before he quilted the capital. He there- 
fore waited patiently, till the progress of 
events should propel the indecision, or 
hasten the procrastination, of the first 
lord of the treasury. 

Perhaps no part of Lorxl North's ad- 
ministration, and no feature of his con- 
duct as first minister, during the twelve 
years that he continued in office, seems 
more extraordinary ; it mii/ht be even 
said, inexplicable ; than this loss of 
time at so critical a juncture. He well 
knew the opposition to be principally 
composed of two parties, called after the 
names of their respective leaders. Lords 
Rockingham and Shelburne ; which 
bodies of men, though they agreed in 
endeavouring to dispossess him of power, 
agreed in no other speculative or prac- 
tical principle of policy. Scarcely 
could they even be withheld from mutual 
animosity, by the near prospect of the 
prize in view. If, therefore, the point 
of American independence was once 
conceded by ministers, there seemed to 
be no obvious impediment that could 
withhold Lord Shelburne from accepting 
a situation under government. It was 
even well known, that he entertained and 
avowed very strong doubts, on the pro- 
priety or wisdom of making such a con- 
cession to the colonies, under any pos- 
sible circumstances ; doubts which were 
re-echoed by his adherents in the House 
of Commons ; particularly by Dunning. 
He could not, therefore, it was presumed, 
be altogether unacceptable to the king. 
He was, besides, a man of great abilities, 
the professed disciple of the late Earl of 
Chatham, and possessed considerable 
parliamentary interest. Lord North 
held in his hand various means of con- 
ciliating and acquiring his support. Be- 
sides the post of secretary of state, and 
a higher rank in the English peerage, to 
both which he might aspire ;yb«r Gar- 
ters were then lying on the king's 
table, unbestowed ; one of which Lord 
Shelburne actually seized on, as his 
share of the plunder, when he came into 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



259 



ministry, within three months from the 
time of which I speak. All these cir- 
cumstances seemed therefore to point 
out that quarter, as the obvious point of 
application. 

I have had many opportunities of dis- 
cussing this question, with those who 
were well informed in the secret springs 
and history of Lord North's administra- 
tion. But they differed in their solution 
of the difficulty. It has been confidently 
asserted, that the kino- objected to dis- 
posing of one of the vacant Garters in 
favour of Loid Shelburne ; and abso- 
lutely rf fused to cocsent to it, when the 
proposition was made to his majesty, by 
the minister. We must likewise recol- 
lect that George the Third, who at this 
time had scarcely reigned more than 
twenty-two years, was encouraged by 
his past experience to imagine, that he 
might retain a minister to whom he was 
attached, in defiance of urjpopularity. In 
fact, Lord North, from his first entrance 
on office, early in 1770, down to his 
final resignation, never had been popular. 
Nor can we well doubt that if he had 
felt as strong a desire to retain his 
ministerial situation, and a mind as de- 
termined to abide the issue, as his royal 
master manifested, he might have held 
out until the victory of the 12lh of 
April, would have raised the siege. 
Sanguine hopes were likewise enter- 
tained at St. James's, that even though 
all further attempts to subjugate America 
should be abandoned, yet that the same 
administration might still continue to 
conduct the national affairs. Nor was it 
at all clear that such expectations were 
chimerical. The session of 1779 had 
sufficiently proved, that even after being 
left in a minority, on more than one 
great public question, a minister who 
wished to remain in office, possessed 
the means of doing it, almost in defiance 
of the House of Commons. If America 
was admitted to be independent, and 
that great impediment once removed, 
peace would probably follow at no long 
interval ; and however unfortunate he 
had been in carrying on the war across 
the Atlantic, Lord North might still con- 
clude an honorable pacification with 
our European enemies. In the House 
of Peers, he possessed a decided majo- 
rity ; and in the lower House of Parlia- 



ment, which had been recently elected, 
when once government became emanci- 
pated from the American war, it was 
with reason conceived that the opposition 
would again diminish in energy, as well 
as in numbers. These reasons, however 
destitute of solidity they proved, if we 
try them by the event, may perhaps 
satisfactorily account for Lord North's 
seeming supineness, in not endeavouring, 
at so critical a moment, to divide his 
opponents, or to augment his own 
strength. 

[21st — 31st January.] AVhen par- 
liament met again for the despatch of 
business, Lord George Germain there- 
fore attended in his place, in the House 
of Commons ; but the tide of opposition, 
which had been so long principally di- 
rected against him, as the Aenerican 
secretary, took at first another direction. 
Lord Sandwich was in turn attacked by 
Fox, for his asserted mismanagement of 
the admiralty department ; and the first 
minister, unable to shelter him from in- 
vestigation, consented to institute an 
inquiry. Fox said, that " as the naval 
administration throughout the year 1781, 
contained or exhibited an epitome of all 
the blunders committed during the 
course of the war, he would, for the sake 
of despatch, confine his accusations 
chiefly to that period. Lord North, 
while, with more of the spirit of conces- 
sion, than of ministerial firmness, he 
gave way upon every point; yet not 
only denied the culpability imputed to 
the Earl of Sandwich, but desired the 
house to observe that " his noble friend, 
as well as himself, was ready and pre- 
pared to meet an enquiry of a much 
more comprehensive description." Pitt 
joining on this occasion, the general 
outcry raised against an obnoxious mi- 
nister, accused Lord North of attempting 
to evade enquiry, by withholding evi- 
dence of his colleague's mal-administra- 
tion : but, the chief blame which could 
justly attach to the first lord of the trea- 
sury, was the too great facility ihat he 
manifested in furnishing documents ; 
many of which, when laid on the table 
of the house, though only in substance, 
were of a very delicate nature. The 
solicitor general, and he alone, of all the 
ministerial supporters, had the boldness 
to oppose the disclosure and production 



260 



HISTORICAL MExMOIRS. 



of such papers. Undismayed by the 
augmenting numbers of the opposition, 
or by the state of depression to which 
he behekl his friends reduced ; Mans- 
field, with an energy of mind that ex- 
torted admiration, entered his protest 
against an enquiry which demanded such 
preparatory sacrifices. He declared his 
astonishment at, and disapprobation of, 
the communications made in compliance 
with clamour. " By permitting such 
an investigation," said he, " and by pro- 
ducing such materials, we destroy the 
British Constitution, and deprive our- 
selves of the benefits arising from an 
executive, as distinct from a legislative 
government. As well might we permit 
all the operations of the campaign to be 
discussed in this house, as to produce 
upon the table, and thereby disclose to 
the enemy, the secret information pro- 
cured by ministers." But, this single 
reclamation, unsupported, proved wholly 
ineffectual to stem the torrent ; and after 
considerable discussion, the 7th of the 
ensuing month was finally fixed on for 
going into the enquiry. 

Anionor the most strenuous defenders 
of the first lord of the admiralty, on this 
occasion was Lord Mulgrave; a noble- 
man who occupied, himself, a place at 
that board. His early expedition of 
discovery towards the North Pole, had 
given him some naval celebrity ; and as 
he was formed on rather a heavy co- 
lossal scale, the opposition, to distin- 
guish him from his younger brother, the 
Honorable Charles Phipps, who enjoy- 
ed likewise a seat in the house, denomi- 
nated him " Ursa Major." They like- 
wise gave him the name of " Alphesi- 
baeus ;" I suppose, from some fancied 
analogy between him and tlie awkward 
imilal^or of the Dancing Satyrs, com- 
memorated by Virgil, in the fifth 
eclogue of his Bucolics. Lord Mul- 
grave was distinguished by a singidarity 
of physical conformation, possessing 
two distinct voices ; the one, strong and 
hoarse ; the other, shrill and querulous; 
of both which organs he occasionally 
availed himself. So extraordinary a 
circumstance, probably gave rise to a 
story of his having fallen into a ditch, 
in a dark night ; and calling for aid in 
his shrill voice, a countryman coming 
up, was about to have assisted him : but 



Lord Mulgrave addressing him in a 
hoarse tone, the peasant immediately 
exclaimed, " Oh, if there are two of you 
in the ditch, you may help each other 
out of it." In debate, if not animated, 
he was able, well informed, and pertina- 
cious. Like Dundas, he contrived, 
after Lord North's administration went 
to pieces, to attach himself to Pitt; who, 
in 1784, made him joint paymaster of 
the forces, and six years later, raised 
him to the British peerage. 

Towards the last days of January, 
after long fluctuation, Lord North at 
length communicated to Lord George, 
his majesty's determination to consent 
to his resignation, so repeatedly offered ; 
and the resolution taken to supply his 
loss bv Mr. Welbore Ellis. It seemed 
difficult to have made a selection, incon- 
sequence of which less strength would 
be acquired on the side of administra- 
tion ; Mr. Ellis's talents being already 
engaged in favour of government, by a 
very lucrative place, that of treasurer of 
the navy. His abilities, however emi- 
nent and solid, aided by his long expe- 
rience of parliamentary business, were, 
nevertheless, altogether unequal to con- 
tending in stormy times amidst univer- 
sal depression, with the vast energies 
then collected on the opposition benches. 
He was, besides, far advanced in years ; 
and though his faculties might have pre- 
served all their vigour or freshness, he 
wanted the requisite fire and animation. 
His appointment gave satisfaction only 
to the enemies of the minister, who 
exulted in a choice that proved the 
paucity, or rather nullity of the sources, 
from which he now attempted to derive 
support. 

[February.] Just at this period died 
Lord Falmouth, at an advanced stage of 
life : a nobleman, neither dislingtiished 
by his talents or his virtues ; but 
whose name, Boscaiven, is connected 
with naval recollections of the most 
gratifying kind. Lord Falmouth com- 
manded the yeomen of the guard, at the 
time of his death ; but my sole motive 
for mentioning his decease, is in order 
to commemorate an anecdote respecting 
him. I have been assured that towards 
the conclusion of George the Second's 
reign, when Mr. Pitt, afterwards created 
Earl of Chatham, occupied a principal 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



261 



place ill the cabinet ; Lord Falmouth 
having wailed on him, at his levee, 
stated his wish to be recommended to 
his majesty, for the hrst vacant Garter. 
The secretary of state expressing a de- 
gree of reluctance to lay the request be- 
fore the king, and manifesting some 
disapprobation of the demand itself; 
" You will be pleased, sir, to remem- 
ber," said Lord Falmouth, " that I 
bring in five votes, who go with mi- 
nistry in the House of Commons ; and 
if my application is disregarded, you 
must lake the consequence." " Your 
lordship threatens me," replied the mi- 
nister with warmth; "You may there- 
fore be assured, that so long as I hold a 
place in the councils of the crown, you 
shall never receive the order of the 
Garter.''^ Then turning round, he ex- 
cla+flsed, addressing himself to those near 
him', 

" Optat Ephippia Bos piger." 

Lord Falmouth comprehending no- 
thing of the meaning of these words, but 
conceiving that the monosyllable Bos, 
must allude to his name, requested to 
be informed what the minister meant by 
so calling him ? " The observation," 
rep/lied Mr. Pitt, " js not mine, but 
Horace's." As little familiar with the 
name of the Roman poet, as he was ac- 
quainted with his writings. Lord Fal- 
mouth, apprehending that Horace JFal- 
pole had said something severe or disre- 
spectful concerning him ; under that 
second mistake, " If Horace Walpole," 
said he, " has taken any liberties with 
my name, I shall know how to resent 
it. His brother. Sir Robert, when he 
was alive, and first minister, never pre- 
sumed so to treat me." Having thus 
expressed himself, he quitted Mr. Pitt, 
leaving the audience in astoni.-hment 
at the effect of liis double misapprehen- 
sion. 

Early in the month of February, Lord 
George Germain having resigned the 
seal of his office into the king's hand, 
received in recompense of his services, 
the honour of the peerage. The par- 
ticulars attending that elevation, which 
became immediately afterwards a sul)ject 
of discussion in the upper house, I re- 
ceived on the same day when they took 



place from Lord George's own mouth ; 
and they are too curious, as well as 
characteristic, to be omitted in these Me- 
moirs. The separation between the so- 
vereign and the secretary, was by no 
means unaccompanied with emotion on 
both sides ; which became probably 
augmented by the dark cloud overhang- 
ing the ihrone, together with the pain- 
ful circumstances that produced the ne- 
cessity for Lord George's resignation. 
The king, who could not shut his eyes 
to these facts, doubtless foresaw the pos- 
sibility, if not probabiliiy of greater 
changes in the administration, as im- 
minent; of which, the removal of the 
American , secretary was only the fore- 
runner and the presage. After regretting 
the unfortunate events that had dictated 
the measure, and thanking Lord George 
for his services ; his majesty added, 
" Is there any thing that I can do, to 
express my sense of them, which would 
be agreeable to you ?" " Sir," answer- 
ed he, " if your majesty is pleased to 
raise me to the dignity of the peerage, 
it will form at once the best reward to 
which I can aspire, and the best proof 
of your approbation of my past exer- 
tions in your affairs." " By all means," 
said the king, " 1 think it very proper, 
and shall do it with pleasure." " Then, 
sir," rejoined Lord George," if you 
agree to my first request, I hope you 
will not think it unbecoming, or unrea- 
sonable in me to ask another favour. 
It is to create me a viscount, as should 
I be only raised to the dignity of a baron, 
my own secretary, my lawyer, and my 
father's page will all three take rank of 
me." The king expressing a wish to 
know the names of the persons to whom 
he alluded ; " the first," replied Lord 
George, " is Lord VValsingham, who, as 
your majesty knows, was for some time, 
under-secretary of state in my office, 
when Mr. De Grey. The second is 
Lord Loughborough, who has been al- 
ways my legal adviser. Lord Amherst 
is the third, wlio when page to my fa- 
ther, the late Duke of Dorset, has often 
sat on the braces of the state coach that 
conveyed him, as lord lieutenant of 
Ireland, to the Parliament House at Dub- 
lin." The king smiled, adding, what 
you say is very reasonable, it shall be 
so ; and now let me know the title that 



262 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



you choose." "I have already, sir," 
answered Lord George, " in the possible 
anticipation of your majesty's gracious 
dispositions towards me, spoken to the 
Duke of Dorset, and obtained his per- 
mission, as the head of my family, to 
take the title of Sackville ; having been 
compelled to renounce my own name, 
in order to avail myself of the bequest 
of the estate of Drayton in Northamp- 
tonshire, made me by Lady Betty Ger- 
main, in her will. I shall therefore in 
some degree recover it by this means.". 
" I quite approve of that idea," replied 
his majesty, " and if you will state to me 
your title, I will write it down, myself, 
before we part, and send it directly to 
the chancellor." The king immediately 
placed himself at a table, took the pen 
and ink lying upon it, and having com- 
mitted the viscounty to paper, asked him 
what barony he chose ? Lord George 
anawered, "that of Bolebrook in Sussex, 
being one of the most ancient estates 
belonging to his family ; and contiguous 
to Buckhurst, the original peerage con- 
ferred by Queen Elizabeth, on his ances- 
tor, the first Earl of Dorset." When the 
king had copied it, he rose up, and with 
the most condescending expressions of 
concern, as well as of satisfaction, al- 
lowed Lord George to withdraw from 
the closet. As this is one of the few 
peerages, which, in the course of half a 
century, George the Third has been al- 
lowed to confer, wholly independent of 
ministerial intervention or recommenda- 
tion, from the impulse of his own in- 
clinations, its origin and creation attain 
an additional interest. Lord North had 
not the smallest share in the business. 

No sooner had the intention of calling 
up Lord George Germain to the House 
of Peers, become publicly known, than 
the Marquis of Carmarthen immediately 
brought forward the subject before that 
assembly. He endeavoured to show 
that it would be derogatory to their ho- 
nour, as a body, to admit among tliem a 
person still labouring under the sentence 
of conrt-marlial : and though his motion 
was rejected by a great majorit5S on the 
7th of February, yet he renewed the at- 
tack as soon as Lord George had taken 
his seat, on the 18th of the same month. 
Conceiving that Lord North must, as 
first minister, have advised the measure, 



the marquis attempted to involve him in 
the responsibility or culpability of giving 
such advice to the crown. But, Lord 
Sackville having exculpated the first 
lord of the treasury from any participa- 
tion whatever in the transaction, gave 
the house clearly to understand, that it 
flowed solely from the volition of the 
sovereign. His enemies themselves con- 
fessed, that never was a more able, digni- 
fied, or manly appeal made within the 
walls of the House of Peers, than Lord 
Sackville pronounced on that occasion. 
He observed, that even admitting in all 
its force, the justice of the sentence passed 
by the court martial, yet that tribunal 
had only declared him " guilty of dis- 
obeying Prince Ferdinand of Brunswic's 
orders ; and therefore had adjudged him 
unfit to serve his majesty in any military 
capacity whatever." But, they neither 
had imposed, nor could they inflict upon 
him, any civil disability or incapacity. 
And the attempt of the king, or of the 
minister of that time, to aggravate the 
nature or the expressions of the sentence, 
by any harsh additions and personal com- 
ments, could not add to its force, if, 
after considering the sentence published 
in the case of the general officer, who 
commanded on the expedition sent in 
1806 against Buenos Ayres, we contem- 
plate the tenor of the orders that ac- 
companied it ; and then compare them 
with those used in the instance of Lord 
George Sackville ; we shall perceive the 
contrast presented by the conduct of the 
two sovereigns, in the strongest point of 
view. Though General Whitelock was 
adjudged to be "cashiered, and declared 
totally unfit and unworthy to serve his 
majesty in any military capacity what- 
ever ;" — consequently, though the sen- 
tence implies a much deeper degree of 
error or culpability, than was attributed 
to Lord George Sackville at Minden, 
as well as a fault far more clearly esta- 
blished and recognized ; yet George the 
Third, unlike his predecessor, subjoins 
no injurious reflections, but simply en- 
joins the publication of it, as a memorial 
and warning to other oflicers. 

The Duke of Richmond, who took a 
very active part in the second debate 
upon Lord Sackville's elevation to the 
peerage ; endeavoured to prove, from the 
length of time which elapsed after his 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



263 



reception of Prince Ferdinand's orders 
to advance, that disinclination only on 
his part lo obey them, could have pro- 
duced such a delay. As the duke had 
been personally present at Minden, and 
as he declared that he held his watch 
within his hand, during the whole time 
lost in obeying the prince's orders, 
which, he asserted, amounted to an hour 
and a half; his speech miglit have been 
expected to make an impression on tlie 
house. But, only twenty-eight peers 
could be f(juiid on either debate, to sup- 
port Lord Carmarthen's motion ; though 
the number voting against it, rose from 
seventy-five to ninety-three, between the 
two divisions, on the 7th and the 18th 
of February. It happened likewise, 
most unfortunately for the Duke of Rich- 
mond, that while he thus attempted to 
attack Lord Sackviile's personal cour- 
age, his own lay under very general sus- 
picion. He had brought forward, only 
a few days before, in the House of Peers, 
the case of anAmerican Colonel Haynes, 
executed at Charlestown, under Lord 
Rawdon's authority, in the preceding 
year. The expressions or assertions 
which'his Grace used, when relating this 
transaction, gave such offence to the 
nobleman against wiiom they were le- 
velled, that he soon afterwards called the 
duke to severe account. But as he 
declined giving any individual satisfac- 
tion for an act done in his parliamentary 
capacity, Lord Rawdon compelled him to 
declare in his place, that by his accusa- 
tion he had not intended any attack on 
Lord Rawdon's justice or humanity :" a 
declaration, apparently at variance with 
his preceding charge. Lord George 
Lenox, as I know, entertained a very 
difTerent opinion of Lord Sackviile's beha- 
viour at Minden, as well as of the sen- 
tence pronounced on his conduct, from 
the ideas expressed by the duke, his 
brother. Not two years after the 
facts just related had taken place, 
I dined in a select company with 
Lord Sackville and Lord George Le- 
nox, at the house of a general officer 
in London. When we went up to the 
drawing room after dinner, no entrea- 
ties could prevail on Lord George to 
walk first out of the apartment. " As 
the son of a duke of earlier creation, 
I would do it," said he to Lord Sackville ; 



but as a general officer, nothing can in- 
duce me to precede your lordship." 
Lord Sackville was restrained by the 
exhortations and advice of Lord Am- 
herst, from calling on the Marquis of 
Carmarthen to answer to him person- 
ally, for his double attack. 1 had the 
honour to know him, before, as well as 
after, he became Duke of Leeds. He 
was a nobleman highly accomplislied, of 
the most pleasing manners, of very ele- 
gant deportment, of a lofty mind, and of 
considerable talents. But the part 
which he look on this occasion, did not 
constitute the most commendable act of 
his political life. Posterity will form 
their opinion on it, divested of preju- 
dice. His contemporaries saw it merely 
through the optics of party, the most 
deceptive of all mediums. While only 
twenty-eight peers supported the motion 
on both occasions, nearly a hundred voted 
against it on the final debate. These 
aggregate numbers appear indeed small 
to us ; but, we must recollect the limit- 
ed extent of the peerage, compared with 
the present times. It was neither Lord 
Bute, nor Lord North, but Mr. Pitt, who 
augmented the members of that house, 
if not with a profuse, yet unquestionably 
with an unsparing hand. In 1782 there 
existed only one hundred and eiglity- 
seven English peers. We have now 
above three hundred. Perhaps, how- 
ever, that augmentation, great as it is, 
bears only a relative proportion to the 
increase of national revenue, popula- 
tion, and territory, within the last thirty 
years. 

[6lh — 20th Feb.] While Lord Sack- 
ville was personally attacked in one 
house of parliament, the Earl of Sand- 
wich underwent no less severe an en- 
quiry into his official conduct, as first 
lord of the admiralty, in the House of 
Commons. Fox, acting as his accuser, 
united the keenest sarcasms, with the 
most able and laborious investigation of 
the naval administration. He was sus- 
tained in all his charges, by Mr. Pitt, 
by Admiral Keppel, and by Lord Howe. 
Under this accumulation of talent and of 
eloquence, the minister laboured hard to 
protect his colleague : but the house be- 
gan to manifest some indications of re- 
luctance to extend further support. Ani- 
mated by such obvious symptoms of the 



964 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



decline of Lord North's influence in that 
assembly, the opposition renewed their 
efforts. And if they did not overthrow, 
they at least shook to its base the mi- 
nistry. After two debates, protracted to 
a late hour, in the first of wiiich the 
members present fell little short of four 
hundred, a majority of only twenty-two 
appeared on the side of administration. 
In the second debate, on the 20th of 
February, where more than four hun- 
dred and fifty persons actually voted, a 
still smaller majority, consisting only of 
nineteen, negatived Fox's proposition, at- 
tributing " gross mismanagement" to the 
nobleman at the head of the admiralty. 
Two such divisions, followingcloseupon 
Lord Sackville's resignation, afforded 
ample triumph to the minority, while 
they difiused proportionate apprehension 
among the adherents of government. 

I was present at both those debates, 
and voted on both evenings with mi- 
nisters. Not that I either tlien thought, 
or am even now of opinion, that no 
degree of error, perhaps of blame, might 
justly be attributed to the Earl of Sand- 
wich. Fox assumed indeed, as a prin- 
ciple, that " it was not necessary to 
criminate a minister, in order to address 
the throne for the removal from office. 
If he was incapable, or unfortunate, or 
disliked; — any one of those causes 
consiiiuied sufficient reason for his dis- 
mission. That liOrd Sandwich was 
eminently unfortunate in the selection 
of naval commanders, with almost the 
single exceptions of Barrington and 
Rodney, cannot be denied. Nor was 
he more fortunate in saving oilr home- 
ward and outward bound mercantile 
fleets, many of which fell into the 
enemy's hands. Neither did our squa- 
drons intercept, combat, and vanquish 
the fleets of the House of Bourbon, as 
they had done during the preceding 
■war. All these facts must be conceded. 
It is equally true that he had incurred a 
great portion of national ill will, and 
had made inveterate enemies, particu- 
larly in the navy. He was become 
very generally unpopular in 1782. If 
tlieref ;re, those two reasons are esteem- 
ed sufl'icient to call for his dismission, 
no doubt Fox had reasons on his side. 
But on the article of inability, his attack 
was altogether untenable. Few men 



of high rank possessed and manifested 
more energy, industry, enlargement of 
mind, and variety of talent, than that 
nobleman. He found, on coming into 
employment, as head of the admiralty, 
the magazines and store-houses of all 
the dock-yards, exhausted, or empty. 
He replenished them. He had, by the 
vigour of his exertions, overcome the 
dangerous combinations formed by the 
workmen in the royal yards. He had 
repaired near one hundred and fifty ships 
of war, during his naval administration. 
But unanimity, concord, enthusiasm, he 
neither could preserve, nor create, nor 
revive, among the officers under his de- 
partment. Probably this calamity ori- 
ginated more in the nature of the war, 
than from the fault of Lord Sandwich : 
the obloquy and the punishment how- 
ever fell upon him. 

The two debates of the 7th and the 
20th of February, had, each, their pe- 
culiar features. In the first Fox per- 
formed the principal part, as Lord Mul- 
grave did the second ; one attacking, 
the other defending the nobleman whose 
administration was under parliamentary 
inquiry, Keppel said little ; but Lord 
Howe flung all his weight into the scale 
of opposition, Pitt likewise added his 
powerful eloquence to that party. If 
ever I beheld Lord North in earnest, 
by which I mean, anxiously desirous to 
protect and to justify his colleague, it 
was on the evening in question. He 
doubtless felt, that having lost Lord 
George Germain, and only metamor- 
phosed the treasurer of the navy into a 
secretary of state, by which transmuta- 
tion, no accession of interest or of 
ability would be gained to government; 
— if Lord Sandwich should likewise be 
driven from his situation, his own con- 
tinuance at the head of his majesty's 
councils must become very precarious. 
While, however, he highly justified 
arid even extolled the Earl of Sandwich's 
professional services, he admitted that 
many of the most popular naval com- 
manders were unemployed and dis^gust- 
ed ; but he denied that their disgust 
was by any means attributable to mi- 
nisters. Sheridan, availing himself with 
great ingenuity and promptitude, of the 
chancellor of the exchequer's assertion, 
called on the admirals present by name, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



265 



and invoked them to declare the reasons 
of their respective retirement from ac- 
tive service. Nor did he fail to repre- 
sent Lord North's expression, as insult- 
ing to those officers, as well as deficient 
in modesty or decency. Lord Howe 
nevertheless declined to say one word 
in explanation of his own motives for 
withdrawing from employment, thougli 
the house waited for some moments, m 
silent expectation of his gratifying their 
curiosity. But Pigot, either more irri- 
tated against the first lord of the admi- 
ralty, or more implicitly devoted to 
Fox, rose, and explained the causes of 
his dissatisfaction. They were singu- 
lar, and obtained belief, when he assert- 
ed that having made an offer of his ser- 
vices to Lord Sandwich, tliat nobleman 
in reply asked him for his interest at the 
India House, where several of his own 
friends were under prosecution for hav- 
ing arrested and confined Lord Pigot, 
when Governor of Madras. " On my 
refusing," continued the admiral, " to 
take part in favour of men who have 
caused my brother's death, Lord Sand- 
wich, with a sneer informed me, that he 
would lay before his majesty, my readi- 
ness to serve him : but from that hour, 
I have never received any answer." 

I have heard it confidently asserted by 
persons who were conversant in the 
secret history of those times, thatbetween 
the first and the second debate. Lord 
Sandwich received a proposition, the 
object of which was to induce him to 
give in his immediate resignation ; offer- 
ing him, as a recompense for this ser- 
vice done to the crown and to adminis- 
tration, the order of the Garter, together 
with a pension of four thousand pounds 
a year for life. I have not the least 
doubt of the truth of this anecdote. In- 
deed, Fox alluded to it, in the course of 
the second discussion relative to the 
nobleman at the head of tlie admiralty ; 
but he affected to consider it as merely 
a report set on foot by ministers, in 
order to serve the purpose of the day, 
and to mislead the country gentlemen 
with promises or expectations never 
intended to be realised. Lord Sand- 
wich rejected the proposal, though com- 
ing from Lord North ; and though the 
state of his private fortune was so limited 
or so embarrassed, as by no means to 
23 



place him above the necessity of looking 
to official situation. Such a rejection 
seems to indicate that he entertained the 
most sanguine, though, as the event 
proved, the most fallacious expectations, 
of the duration of ministry; or that he 
grossly miscalculated his own interests. 
In less than six weeks afterwards, I saw 
his furniture carrying off from the ad- 
miralty, of which official residence, 
Keppel, just named his successor, was 
taking possession. 

[20th February. 3 Fox, who opened 
the second debate on Lord Sandwich, as 
he had done the first; elated, as it was 
natural he should be, at the division on 
the preceding question, began by ob- 
serving that " under any other adminis- 
tration than the present, the number of 
persons who had voted with opposition 
on a former night, would have been re- 
garded as a majority." " For," added 
he, " they certamly constituted the voice 
of the people ; nor would any minister 
except the noble lord in the blue ribband, 
presume to retain a man in employment, 
against whom the popular sentiment had 
been so loudly [)ronoBnced." The mo- 
tion, which attributed " great mismanage- 
ment to his majesty's naval affairs in the 
year 1781," was seconded by Pitt; and 
I believe, it forms the only instance on 
record, where the one of those two illus- 
trious individuals moved, and the other 
seconded the same question, during their 
long parliamentary career. In the pro- 
gress of the debate, Pitt took an active 
part, enforcing with great warmth, the 
proofs adduced of the inaljility or mis- 
conduct of the first lord of the admiralty. 
From every quarter, government was 
assailed. General Conway, Dunning, 
and Sheridan, united on the same side, 
the powers of reason, wit, and argument ; 
while Admiral Keppel and Lord Howe 
attacked in detail, by a statement of 
facts, the official administration of 
Lord Sandwich ; which they stigmatized 
as deficient in judgment, energy, and 
activity. Lord North remained silsnt : 
but Lord Mulgrave maintained with no 
inconsiderable ability, the claims of his 
principal, to national respect, approba- 
tion, and gratitude. Dundas, who never 
absented himself, or shrunk from the 
call of political adherence, came forward 
manfully on the occasion. It was how- 



266 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ever from another individual that adnai- 
nistralion received the most seasonable, 
as well as efficacious aid. Sir William 
Dolben, whose double capacity, as a 
country gentleman, and as one of the 
representatives for the University of 
Oxford, gave him a proportionate weight ; 
though he admitted the alleged mis- 
management to be sufficiently proved by 
the contents of the papers laid on the 
table, yet refused to support a motion 
for the dismission of Lord Sandwich. 
Still less, he said, could he concur in a 
vote for bringing that nobleman to trial. 
In vain Mr. 'i'homas Pitt, with the 
wheedling and querulous eloquence 
which characterized him, endeavoured to 
demonstrate the inconsistency or con- 
tradiction of such a line of parliamentary 
action. Vainly he tried to show that no 
man who concurred in finding the cul- 
pability, coidd hesitate to punish the 
offender. Sir William Dolben stopt 
short ; declaring at the same time, that 
he should not even support the present 
question, if it was intended or understood 
to be a preliminary to stronger and more 
personal steps. It became therefore 
evident that there was a point, at which 
individuals who were of no party, would 
make a stand, and withhold their sup- 
port from opposition. 

[22d February.] Every day, from 
this time down to the hour when Lord 
North suddenly threw up the adminis- 
tration of aff'iirs, was marked by the 
most violent exertions on both sides. 
Incredible efforts were made to procure 
attendance in parliament. The opposi- 
tion, conscious ihat not a moment should 
be lost, allowed the minister no respite. 
Having compelled the colonial secretary 
of stale to give in his dismission, and 
impressed an indelible mark of parlia- 
mentary condemnation or censure on the 
tirsl lord of the admiralty, they directed 
iheir next operations against Lord North 
himself, as the head of the state machine. 
Scarcely forty-eight hours after the last 
debate on Lord Sandwich, General Con- 
way introduced a motion for addressing 
his majesty, " to renounce any further 
attempts to reduce America by force." 
Notwithstanding the eloquence of the 
new secretary of state, Mr. Ellis, who 
<m this occasion displayed very consi- 
derable talents, it became impossible to 



induce the house to maintain the contest. 
Burke, in addition to all the arguments 
.suggested by the nature of the subject, 
and the exhausted condition of Great 
Britain ; oppressed the recently appointed 
minister, under the flashes of intolerable 
wit, supported by the keenest ridicule. 
Never on any occasion was he more 
happy in his allusions, or more pointed 
in his irony ! After felicitating Mr. 
Ellis on succeeding as heir to the noble 
viscount, at whose feet he had been 
brought up, and whose political opinions 
he implicitly adopted ; Burke compared 
him to a caterpillar, who having long 
remained in a torpid state, within the 
silken folds of his lucrative employment 
as treasurer of the navy, now bursting 
his ligaments, fluttered forth, the secre- 
tary of the hour. Pursuing this com- 
parison with inconceivable humour, he 
directed the whole force of his powerful 
mind, in impelling his audience no longer 
to support a hopeless, ruinous, and un- 
availing conflict. 1 have always con- 
sidered this debate, as one of the most 
interesting of any at which I ever was 
present. General Conway performed 
the principal, but by no means the most 
brilliant part in it. The opposition, 
during the course of this great siege, 
which in 1782 had already lasted nearly 
as long as the war of Troy, selected 
their assailants for each progressive 
attack, as Homer does his heroes. The 
general, on whom fell the present effort, 
was not distinguished by the superiority 
of his eloquence. Nevertheless, he 
drew universal attention, when, address- 
ing himself to the new secretary of 
slate for America, he demanded what 
were the right honorable gentleman's 
intentions, or on what principles he 
meant henceforward to conduct the trans- 
Allantic contest. Nor was the attention 
diminished, when, expressing his appre- 
hensions that in Mr. Ellis would survive 
all his predecessor's political sentiments, 
Conway exclaimed in the words of 
Horace to the Roman republic, after the 
fury of the civil wars, 

O Navis ! referent in Mare te novi 
Fluctus 1 

Lord John Cavendish was chosen to 
second the motion. It must be owned 
that Ellis's position demanded talents of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



267 



no common order, to enable him to meet 
so severe and so formidable an inquisi- 
tion. The opposition rows, full in iiis 
view, were crowded with eager candi- 
dates for power, animated by hope, 
and impelled by ambiiion ; while a deep 
cloud overhunji; the treasury bench, anti 
spread its chilling influence over that 
part of the house. The new, but aged 
minister, fell all the awkwardness, diffi- 
culties, and embarrassment of his situa- 
tion. There was even some degree of 
ridicule attached to a man of seventy 
accepting such an employment, under 
the desperate circumstances in which he 
had taken it, on Lord SackviUe's resig- 
nation. ■ In order to obviate these objec 
tions, Mr. Ellis, after acquitting himself 
with great circumspection, gravity, and 
ability, in the course of a long speech, 
finished by observing, that " he had 
come into the office which he held, to 
employ the remains of vigour left him by 
age and infirmity for the benefit of the 
state." " I have now made," said he, 
" my confession of faith, and trust it 
may prove satisfactory to the house." 
Burke instantly fastened like a vulture 
on the secretary's declaration. " A. con- 
fession of faith," observed he, " more 
obscure, more absurd, more incompre- 
hensible, was never framed or delivered 
for the delusion and calamity of man- 
kind ! Like confessions of faith of the 
same unintelligible description, it can 
only be supported by miracles. For, 
what satisfaction has the young secretary 
given to the house ? Not one word 
have we been able to extract from him, 
which the last American minister has 
not told us, five years ago. The name 
may indeed be changed, and hencefor- 
ward it may be denominated a French 
war, carried on in the fields of America : 
but, the fatal system remains unaltered." 
Then fixing his eyes upon Ellis, " I 
may assert," continued he, " that the 
late colonial secretary, though called up 
by patent to another house, still occupies 
in effigy his ancient seat. There we 
behold him, with all the plans for re- 
ducing America, thick upon him. He 
is the universal legatee of the noble lord, 
who has bequeathed to him all his own 
projects; nay, his very language and 
ideas ; his ipsisshna verba. He still 
lives and speaks among us, only trans- 



formed into the appearance and form of 
the right honorable gentleman." 

Jenkinson having risen soon after- 
wards, with the intention of explaining 
to the house, the precise description of 
the war prospectively intended to be car- 
ried on beyond the Atlantic, and thus 
satisfying the enquiries of opposition ; 
observed, that " his idea embraced only 
a war of posts ; to retain henceforward 
no regular army in the field ; but, while 
we kept possession of certain military 
positions, to attack the enemy whenever 
any favourable occasions should present 
themselves." As Burke had pounced 
upon the secretary of state, so Fox start- 
ed up to answer the secretary at war. 
After congratulating the house and the 
country, that two hundred and nineteen 
independent men had been f(5und on the 
recent question respecting the nobleman 
at the head of the admiralty; he ob- 
served, that if the people would only 
consider the number of placemen and 
contractors, who most unworthily occu- 
pied seats in that assembly, the late di- 
vision must be esteemed an unequivocal 
majority against administration. " I 
am, however, glad," exclaimed he, " to 
have at length ascertained from the 
speech of the right hotiorable gentle- 
man that has just sat down, who is that 
evil spirit which produces all our calami- 
ties. It is an individual higher than 
the noble lord in the blue ribband :-~ 
for, that noble person is only his pup- 
pet, and acts under his direction. The 
right honorable member has spoken 
out, and I will take the word of a prin- 
cipal. Those ostensible ministers who 
occupy seats on the same bench near 
him, are merely secondary and subordi- 
nate agents. That infernal spirit 
which really governs, and has so nearly 
overturned this country ; a spirit, 
which, though not so visible as minis- 
ters, is far greater than them ; has 
spoken through the mouth of the right 
honorable gentleman. We now plr- 
ceive that the war beyond the Atlantic, 
is to be prosecuted as violently as tiere- 
tofore, but it is to be carried on' with 
America, and not in America." Jenlyn- 
son rose, solely for the purpose of dis- 
avowing that he was animated by any 
spirit except his own, and the debate 
took a new turn. 



268 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



When we reflect on the import of 
Fox's expressions, and consider how ob- 
viously, or rather unavoidably they ap- 
plied to the sovereign; — if we further 
call to our attention, that Fox was at 
that very moment a candidate for high 
office, and became actually secretary 
of stale to the prince against whom 
he had levelled such imputations, within 
six weeks after lie used them in parlia- 
ment ; we ought not to be surprised 
that his majesty could not immediately 
obliterate them from his recollection. 
Even had they been as well founded, as 
I consider them to have been erroneous 
or exaggerated, they were not the less 
contrary to every dictate of prudence. 
Pitt, however violent and personal he 
might be against ministers, yet observed 
measures in his indignation. The dif- 
ferent political fortune of the two indi- 
viduals, flowed principally from this 
opposite line of conduct. Fox, in the 
ardour of his pursuit, forgot that any 
moderation was necessary, either to- 
wards the king, or towards Lord North. 
He ought nevertheless to have foreseen, 
how .soon contingencies might impel him 
to coalesce with the minister, whom he 
now held up to national aversion. A.nd 
he should have remembered that it is 
easier to force the barriers of state, than 
to stand firm within them. He seemed 
never to recollect that the Marquis of 
Rockingham'sj'^rsf administration lasted 
scarcely ten months. His second pos- 
session of power, was fated to be of much 
shorter duration. So difKcult is it, even 
under the British Constitution, to govern 
without the consent or inclination of the 
monarch ! 

Lord North, who never wanted pre- 
sence of mind, or betrayed any defect of 
capacity ; and who knew that however 
odious the American war had become, 
he was personally beloved; endeavoured 
to stimulate the opposition to propose 
an, address to the crown for his removal, 
as being, he said, a measure more ad- 
vantageous to the state, than to leave 
him ostensibly possessed of power, 
while his hands would be fettered by 
resolutions of the house. But, Fox and 
his adherents well knew that they could 
not carry any such proposition. They 
were only powerful upon one point. 
Fox endeavoured on his side, to induce 



the lord advocate of Scotland to vote 
with them for the termination of the 
American war; charging him with in- 
consistency, or with personal animosity, 
towards the late American secretary, if 
he should now support the very mea- 
sures when proposed by Mr. Ellis, 
which he had reprobated from the lips 
of Lord George Germain. It must be 
owned that Dundas lay open to that im- 
putation, as did Rigby ; though they 
both justified themselves with ingenuity. 
The paymaster of the forces, while he 
avowed that no hope of reducing the 
colonies to obedience now remained, 
and professing at the same time his 
ardent desire of peace, yet refused to tie 
up the powers of the executive govern-' 
ment. Both the Pitts, William and 
Thomas, exerted their difTerent oratori- 
cal efforts on that night, and might be 
considered as well entitled to 

" Pur«ue the triumph, and partake the gale." 

The former, dignified, impressive, 
collected, was always heard with a sort 
of veneration, as the living substitute of 
him who under two successive reigns 
had subjected our foreign enemies, 
while he trampled opposition under 
his feet. The latter, solemn and 
declamatory, if not theatrical ; some- 
times whining, yet often appealing with 
great effect to the passions, or the 
understanding of the house, scarcely 
drew less attention. Their joint co-ope- 
ration unquestionably conduced to the 
success, which crowned the party at the 
conclusion of the debate. On that night, 
the American war may indeed be said to 
have virtually terminated ; the question 
being carried on the part of government, 
by only o?ie vote, though near three 
hundred and ninety 'members divided. 
Many of those who supported the mi- 
nister, seemed not less rejoiced at the ap- 
parent conclusion of the war than the 
persons on the opposite side : and it has 
been supposed, with reason, that Lord 
North himself, whose disinclination to 
prosecute hostilities beyond the Atlantic, 
was well known; did not really regret, 
though he was necessitated to oppose, 
the motion of General Conway. Far 
from manifesting any intention of laying 
down his office in consequence of it, he 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



269 



performed one of tlie most important 
functions of first minister, only three 
days afterwards, by opening the budget, 
and proposing a loan. It is true that he 
postponed the task of staling the taxes 
to be imposed ; but lie did not the less 
declare his determination to continue at 
the head of his majesty's councils : nor 
did those persons who were most in 
his confidence, either question his sin- 
cerity, or doubt his resolution. 

[25th February.] Retaining, as it 
was natural that he should do, a deep 
and acute recollection of the severe in- 
vestigation (which Fox denominated 
chastisement), inflicted on him for the 
terms on which he had concluded the 
loan of the preceding year; Lord North 
adopted every precaution on the present 
occasion, to protect himself from similar 
animadversion. Instead tlierefore of al- 
lowing individuals to make private ofiers, 
lie preferred a close subscription with 
two difl^erent sets of men, each ignorant 
of the conditions proposed by the other. 
Notwithstanding this renunciation of all 
ministerial influence in the distribution 
of any part of the loan, he by no means 
succeeded in disarming his opponents, 
or in silencing calumnious imputations. 
George Byng attacked the terms, as in 
themselves bad, though he admitted them 
to be far less exceptionable than those of 
1781. But Fox inveighed against " the 
mode adopted by the noble lord, of limit- 
ing loans to a few individuals, which 
he maintained to be merely a manoeuvre 
of government." " Under that dark 
cloak," exclaimed he, " are concealed all 
the douceurs given to members of this 
house, to placemen and contractors. 
Here we may perceive how the majnri- 
ties were procured, which have voted the 
prosecution of the American war, as well 
as the rejection of the motions relative 
to the navy. Justly indignant at such a 
charge, and conscious of the rectitude 
of his ministerial conduct. Lord North 
rose to repel the accusation. " I so- 
lemnly and seriously protest," said he, 
" that so far from having negotiated the 
present loan with any view to influence, 
I have not, directly or indirectly, recom- 
mended one person for the smallest share 
or portion of it. Nor do I even know 
by whom the ostensible contractors for 
it are supported in making their pay- 
23*^ 



ments. Two millions of it were 
indeed offered to me, to be filled up 
with whatever names I might select ; but 
I peremptorily refused the proposal." 

Still incredulous, or more properly to 
speak, determined not to be convinced, 
Mr. Thomas Townsend affected to sup- 
pose, that though the first minister had 
not interfered personally in the distribu- 
tion of the loan, yet the official persons 
who surrounded him, were unable to 
make the same declaration. *' Would 
the two secretaries of the treasury ven- 
ture to assert, that they had not recom- 
mended individuals to fill the lists of the 
ostensible contractors for the loan ?" 
This question called up Robinson, who 
protested upon his honour that he neither 
had recommended, nor would mention 
any person to be placed on the list. 
Sir Grey Cooper reiterated the same 
assurances ; adding, that they could 
not, even had they been so inclined, 
disobey the positive injunctions of the 
first lord of the treasury, Burke pre- 
tended, notwithstanding such specific 
declarations on the part of men in office, 
to consider the bargain as calculated to 
conceal, while it promoted ministerial 
influence. It is however well known 
that never was any measure of finance 
conducted on principles more pure, dis- 
interested, and wholly exempt from a 
view to sustain administration. It was 
indeed so exempt from any imputation 
or reproach of that nature, by the total 
exclusion of members of parliament who 
had anticipated a share in it, as to have 
occasioned in consequence of the disap- 
pointment, some mercantile catastro- 
phes, and even some more melancholy 
domestic or personal scenes, over which 
I draw a veil. Lord North having 
stated the amount of the loans, and the 
nature of the terms proposed, entreated 
of the house to excuse him if he did not 
enter on the enumeration of his intended 
taxes for a few days; " possessing," he 
said, " neither strength of body, nor 
sufllcient intellectual power and clear- 
ness of understanding, lo comply with 
the ordinary practice of laying before 
them on the same evening, both the 
loan and the taxes " This indulgence 
was not denied him. 

It became indepd apparent, that though 
a majority of the House of Common* 



270 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



might be still disposed to support the 
ministry, they were altogether weary 
of continuing that contest for the reduc- 
tion of America, which during near 
seven years had produced only an ac- 
cumulation of expense, of disgrace, 
and of misfortune. But on the other 
hand, the opposition soon discovered 
thai the compulsory termination of the 
American war, and the resignation of 
liOrd North, constituted by no means, as 
they had flattered themselves, things 
synonymous, or inseparable. When I 
General Conway, encouraged by the 
event of his late motion, brought the 
subject again before the house, he in- 
deed out-numbered the minister on the 
division, by nineteen, leaving him thus 
in a minority. 

[27th February.] On this occasion 
Convvay attempted to induce, or rather 
to oblige Dundas and Rigby to vote with 
him, by reminding them of their late de- 
clarations respecting the American war. 
And he observed, that " if he might 
borrow an allusion from the sacred text, 
he should say that they, as well as 
many other members of the house, had re- 
ceived the gift of tongues. Cloven tongues 
had alighted upon them. Not, indeed, 
tongues of sincerity and truth ; hnidoitble 
tongues ; one for parliament, the other for 
private society." This singular metaphor, 
drawn from such a source, excited no 
ordinary sensation. Lord North, who 
no doubt felt that his own sincerity 
might become questionable at St. 
James's, if he did not strenuously op- 
pose the motion ; endeavoured by every 
pledge and assurance that he could give, 
to prove that ministry had renounced all 
intention of carrying on ofTensive war 
beyond tiie Atlantic. " If, however," 
he added, " no faith was lent to these 
protestations, and that the truth or inte- 
grity of ministers was doubted, it became 
the house to address the crown for their 
removal, and for the appointment of 
successors entitled to parliamentary con- 
fidence. Should this house," continued 
he, " withdraw from me the confidence 
which they have so long reposed in me, 
it will become my duty, without staying 
for an address to remove me, to wait on 
my sovereign, to present him the seal of 
my office, and to say, sir, I have 
served you long and zealously; but 



your parliament will no longer confide 
in me. Suffer me therefore to resign 
into your majesty's hands, all my em- 
ployments, in order that they may be 
bestowed on some other person, who, 
with better success, though not with 
more fidelity or zeal, will give satisfac- 
tion to the country." Then adverting 
to Conway's reproach of the "cloven 
tongues." He subjoined with more 
than common emphasis, " I do not wish 
for the support of any such double- 
tongued senators, I desire to stand 
this night solely on the merits of my 
cause. And I now call upon all ray 
friends to put out of their view, every 
consideration personal to myself. Let 
them vote according to the dictates of 
their unbiassed judgment ! The re- 
moval of ministers forms no punish- 
ment. His majesty has a right to call 
to his councils, or to exclude from them, 
whomever he may please. I thank God, 
Mr, Speaker, that mere disgrace, in the 
ministerial sense of the term, constitutes 
no crime ! The Constitution has con- 
ferred on the king, the power of dis- 
missing his confidential servants at his 
pleasure ; but it has provided that the 
dismission shall not entail any crimi- 
nality ; because in the eye of the law 
no individual can be pronounced crimi- 
nal without a fair trial." Never, proba- 
bly, in the records of parliament, was a 
more manly, yet affecting appeal made 
by any minister, to the feelings and 
principles of his audience. When 
Lord North sate down, the attorney 
general rose ; and after pointing out the 
impediments that presented themselves 
to an immediate /)eace with the colonies, 
proposed a truce, as at once more judi- 
cious, beneficial, and practicable. He 
added, that he had already prepared a 
motion for leave to introduce a bill, 
enabling the ministers to treat on this 
ground. And with a view to expe- 
dition, in order that not a moment might 
be lost, he concluded by moving that 
" the present debate be adjourned for a 
fortnight," 

Alarmed at the idea that in conse- 
quence of the attorney general's propo- 
sition, the prey which they had so nearly 
hunted down, might yet escape them ; 
the leading members of opposition fas- 
tened upon it with equal violence and 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



271 



ability. Pitt led the way, and endea- 
voured to demonstrate, as he had done 
in preceding debates, that no confi- 
dence could be reposed in the minis- 
terial promises. " Was there," he de- 
manded, one assurance whicli thoy had 
not falsified ? Was there any plan 
of operations in which they coincided? 
No! Their whole system was inces- 
sant vacillation, in which llie house 
could place no trust." With uncom- 
mon ingenuity and acumen, Dunning, 
who already beheld a coronet, as Mac- 
beth does a dagger, marshalling his 
way ; and who within five weeks after- 
wards actually kissed the king's hand, 
on being raised to the peerage ; — Dun- 
ning attacked the minister's speech, as 
the most unintelligible and incomprehen- 
sible farrago, ever pronounced within 
the walls of the house. He protested 
that he did not understand one syllable 
of it; that it was a mere specimen of 
human duplicity, calculated for purposes 
of state deception, unworthy of reply. 
His learned friend (Wallace's) truce, 
he treated as a wretched stratagem of 
an expiring party, only designed to 
allure over to the minister's side, three 
or four undecided votes. With persua- 
sive earnestness he entreated the assem- 
bly to support the motion proposed by 
Conway, as the only temperate and con- 
clusive measure for binding down the 
administration. Fox added his weight 
to these arguments, and stigmatised the 
proposed truce, which he denominated 
a trick, adopted for the purpose of pro- 
tracting the existence of ministry, who 
hoped thereby to gain the respite of a 
few days. 

The new secretary of state took no 
active part in the discussion of that in- 
teresting evening, nor once opened his 
lips. He seemed indeed not to have 
recovered the effect produced by Burke's 
insulting irony, only a few days earlier, 
and contented himself with giving a 
silent support. Not so Dundas. The 
characteristic energy of his mind always 
propelled him forward ; and having 
answered General Conway's imputation 
of speaking with a double tongue, 
which act of inconsistence he disclaimed, 
either in, or out of parliament, he warmly 
supported the attorney general's pro- 
posal. But it was likewise sustained 



from another quarter. Sir William 
Dolben, who had voted with opposition 
on the 22d, rose for the purpose of de- 
claring that he considered the proposed 
measure of a truce, as the most proper 
to be adopted, and refused to proceed 
another step against the existing ad- 
ministration. As his example might 
operate with great effect upon the country 
gentlemen, who formed so large, as well 
as so respectable and independent a 
portion of the assembly, Sir William 
was instantly assailed from a variety of 
quarters. Mr. Thomas Townsend be- 
sought him to examine his conscience, 
before he gave so inconsistent a vote ; 
while Powis lamented the defection of 
an individual, whose private character 
justly excited universal respect. "As 
a friend," said he, " I regret, but as a 
member of this house, I reprobate his 
line of conduct. Nor do I comprehend 
how, after such contradictory behaviour, 
he can look his constituents or iiis coun- 
try, in the face." Sir Fletcher Norton 
endeavoured to demonstrate, that the 
former motion of Conway, and the pre- 
sent, were in fact the same : adding, 
that there had not happened any change 
of public afl'airs, which could warrant or 
justify an alteration of sentiment in the 
honorable baronet. 

Sir William nevertheless remaining 
inflexible, and having risen a second 
time, in order to explain more accurately 
the principles which determined his 
resolution ; Sheridan opened on him a 
battery of wit, calculated to expose him 
to universal ridicule. It is however 
probable that had Lord North survived 
the session, and continued at the head of 
affairs, so important a service, rendered 
at a crisis of such general depression 
and dismay, would not have remained 
unrevvarded. A peerage might with 
reason have been conferred on a man, 
whose support was above all estimation 
under the existing circumstances. The 
detestation nevertheless, universally ex- 
cited by the American war, had reached 
such a point, as to overbear every attempt 
to prolong its duration. Previous to the 
debate, the sheriffs of the city of London 
had presented at the bar, a petition from 
the lord mayor, aldermen, and common 
council, imploring the house to inter- 
pose in such manner as they should 



272 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



conceive to be most effectual, for termi- 
nating further hostilities against the 
colonies. Many of the most ancient 
adherents of the minister began to 
waver. Sir Gilbert Elicit, who had 
hitherto uniformly supported adminis- 
tration, made his retraction, and joined 
the opposition. Soon after one o'clock 
in the morning, the cry of question be- 
came general. Two hundred and thirty- 
four persons voted with Conway. Only 
two hundred and fifteen adiiered to the 
minister. No sooner was the result 
known, and the triumph over Lord 
North ascertained from the chair, than 
the acclamations, — for, such they might 
be justly denominated; — pierced the 
roof, and might have been heard in West- 
minster Hall. Two of the tellers on 
that eventful night, still survive : I mean, 
the Earl of Lauderdale, and Mr. Baron 
Adam. The other two, Robinson and 
George Byng, are long since dead. In- 
formation of the event was instantly 
transmitted, notwithstanding the advanc- 
ed hour, to his majesty, at the queen's 
house. Conway following up the blow, 
carried without any division, before the 
assembly adjourned, an address to the 
throne, soliciting the sovereign to " stop 
the prosecution of any further hostilities 
against the revolted colonies, for the pur- 
pose of reducing them to obedience by 
force." It was ordered to be presented 
by the whole house. 

[1st — 4ih March.] Under these 
critical and portentous circumstances, 
which seemed to announce still greater 
changes or convulsions as imminent, 
opened the month of March. The 
king nevertheless retained all his firm- 
ness ; and though the reply that he 
made to the Commons when they ar- 
rived at St. James's, was couched in 
gracious language, yet the terms of it 
might be esteemed vague and general ; 
only staling that " he would adopt such 
measures as he should think most con- 
ducive to restore harmony between 
Great Britain and her colonies," without 
specifically promising not to carry on 
any further operations of war (or their 
rediiction by force. A fact which made 
a still deeper impression upon the public 
mind, and which the opposition con- 
sidered as eloquently developing the 
royal feelings towards liis American 



subjects, was the appearance of General 
Arnold at court, when the king received 
the address. So obnoxious an individual, 
known to breathe an inveterate aversion 
towards his insurgent countrymen ; 
standing close to his majesty's chair on 
such an occasion, and at his right hand, 
inspired alarm, while it produced animad- 
version. Lord Surrey, than whon;i no 
man of whatever rank, inherited more 
of ihe rough spirit of the barons who 
forced John to sign the " Magna Charla ;" 
and who was never deterred by any 
delicacy or respect for the prejudices of 
a crowned head, from uttering his opi- 
nions, however unpalatable they might 
prove : — this nobleman, who began 
already to perform a prominent part 
under Fox, in the parliamentary drama, 
rising in his place, a few days afterwards, 
reprobated in the warmest manner, " the 
wanton and indecent insult," as he de- 
nominated it, offered by ministers in the 
drawiiig room, to the representatives of 
the people. No notice having however 
been taken of his complaint, from any 
part of the house, it did not produce any 
further debate or proceeding. 

[4th March.] General Conway, now 
completely master of the deliberations of 
the lower house, on the subject of Ame- 
rica ; and not conceiving the renunciation 
of all future hostilities against the colo- 
nies, to have been expressed from the 
throne, in words sufficiently, affirmative ; 
presented himself once more to public 
notice. While he proposed and carried 
another address to tlie sovereign, thank- 
ing him for his gracious reply ; with 
some inconsistency he moved imme- 
diately afterwards to declare " enemies 
to his majesty and to their country, all 
those who should advise or attempt to 
prosecute offensive war on the continent 
of North America." The first lord of 
the treasury, after exposing the contra- 
diction of the mover's conduct, in thus 
affecting to offer th'eir acknowledgments 
to the king for his answer, and in the 
same breath manifesting their doubts of 
his sincerity; observed, that whatever 
might be his private opinions, he con- 
ceived it his indispensable duty to obey 
the orders of a majority of that assembly. 
" But," added he, " parliament having 
expressed its commands, it is scarcely 
possible thai any minister can be found, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



273 



sufficiently bold, daring', and infamous, 
to advise his sovereign (o act in opposi- 
tion to their wishes. I cannot tlierefore 
conceive that the present motion, which 
assumes and pre-siipposes the existence 
of such a minister, can ever be neces- 
sary." Nor did this objection constitute 
the sole ground on which Lord North 
combated the proposition, as he asserted 
that very considerable obscurity per- 
vaded the orders themselves ; which 
circumstance might incapacitate even the 
best intentioned cabinet from knowing 
with certainty, whether they were ad- 
hering to, or deviating from tlie pleasure 
of the house. 

After a discussion of considerable 
length, in which Thomas and William 
Pitt both took part, as well as many 
other members ; but, without materially 
elucidating or explaining the points 
under investigation. Fox rose, and began 
by expressing his total dissatisfaction 
with the answer of the crown. He ob- 
served, that he was not present in the 
house, when they voted an address of 
thanks to the king, as he understood, 
unanimously ; though, had he been there, 
he should certainly have coincided in 
that testimony of personal respect to 
the sovereign. The ministers alone 
ought to be deemed criminal, for advising 
their royal master to follow a plan of 
conduct opposed to the advice of his 
faithful commons. Then directing his 
discourse personally to Lord North, in 
answer to the professions of deference 
which he had made for the orders of a 
majority of that assembly ; Fox, with 
more asperity than, was natural to him, 
inveighed against these illusory protesta- 
tions, only adopted or forgotten, just as 
the exigencies of his situation dictated. 
" The position of the noble lord," ex- 
claimed he, " is truly embarrassing. The 
majority of this house has been, and is 
against him. Yet still he retains his 
place. He stands in a predicament un- 
precedented since the revolution. He 
remains in office, when the commons 
have condemned his system. Under 
circumstances so unconstitutional and 
humiliating, he must necessarily address 
his sovereign when he enters the royal 
presence, in language to the following 
effect, ' I come, sire, to advise you to 
adopt a measure totally opposite to my 



own opinion ; but it is the opinion of a 
majority of the House of Commons.' 
Is then this country so reduced by cala- 
mities, so poor in spirit, or so indifferent 
to all events, as lo permit a minister to 
conduct affairs, in a moment big with 
danger like the present, who dares not 
carry into execution his own plans ? — 
No man respects more than I do, the 
free, incorrupt voice of the majority of 
this house : but when I contemplate the 
majority composed of contractors, pro- 
cured by means the most corrupt, who 
have been declared ineligible to sit here 
I do not respect such a majority." 

" I thank God," continued Fox, 
" that the House of Commons has come 
to the resolutions which terminate the 
American war I Those resolutions have 
utterly destroyed and annihilated the 
principle, they have subverted the basis, 
of the present system, corntption. It is 
not credible that any minister, however 
daring or profligate he may be, can pre- 
sume to retain his employment after the 
intelligence which has just reached us, 
of the capture of Minorca, where fifteen 
hundred troops have surrendered prison- 
ers of war. The loss of that valuable 
possession, in the year 1756, drove from 
their seats an administration, far more 
able and powerful than the present 
cabinet. This day, a report is current 
that St. Kitt's has been taken by the 
enemy ; the most important island, with 
the single exception of Jamaica, which 
we still continue to retain in the West 
Indies. — The only victory to which 
the people of this fallen country look 
with hope, or which hey hear with ex- 
ultation, is the triumph recently gained 
within these walls, over his majesty's 
ministers, who are universally regarded 
as the enemies of their country. This 
triumph coming now, has overcome 
corntption. Its reign is terminated. If 
the conquest had sooner taken place, 
perhaps some paltry, insignificant coali- 
/ions might have been contrived, which 
would have rendered less unpalatable the 
system itself. But now, however mU 
nisters may hold out for a day, a week, 
a month, or even for a year, the founda- 
tion is subverted. It must collapse ; and 
then effectual measures may be devised 
to prevent its future revival." 

Such was nearly the substance of this 



£74 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



memorable speech, unquestionably one 
of the most able, as well as persuasive, 
ever pronounced by Fox, and which pro- 
duced a proportionate effect on the audi- 
ence. Many parts of it were indeed un- 
answerable; and the new secretary of 
stale scarcely could reply to the conclu- 
ding enquiries of Fox relative to the fate 
of St. Kitt's, which he however did in a 
few hesitating, spiritless sentences. Lord 
North remained silent, nor did the lord ad- 
vocate advance tohis assistance; audunder 
so depressed a state of things, the speak- 
er had already prepared to put the ques- 
tion, when Rigby rose. Never could he 
have appeared more opportunely on the 
scene, or at a moment when his exer- 
tions were more necessary to re-invigo- 
rate the ministerial ranks. His very 
figure and aspect, unblushing, fearless, 
confident, as if formed to stem the tor- 
rent of opposition even when most vio- 
lent, powerfully aided the effect of his 
oratory. He commenced by observing, 
that though it was not his intention to 
divide the house, yet he should unques- 
tionably give his negative to the motion, 
in order that it might not pass unani- 
mousily. And he remarked on the singu- 
larity, as well as inconsistency, of dis- 
approving his majesty's answer, and yet 
reluniinor ]\\m thanks for it. This con- 
duct sufficiently proved that the charge 
so often made against ministers, of being 
divided among themselves, might with 
more justice be applied to opposition. 
*' As to the motion," subjoined he, 
" declaring enemies to their country, all 
such as should advise the king to con- 
tinue war against the colonies, I consider 
it nugatory : because I cannot suppose 
that any member of administration, will 
dare to disobey the positive injunctions 
of this house. But probably it has been 
devised and adopted, merely to calm 
tender consciences, tiiereby to conceal 
dissensions. Thus, the vote of thanks, 
and the present motion, are intended to 
balance each other. 1 imagine, one set 
of men may have consented to support 
the first ; under tlie condition, that an- 
other description will agree to vote the 
second." 

" Much has been said," continued 
Rigby, " abTut majorities which have 
voted against the noble lord in the blue 
ribband. And how has he i[ot the better 



of those resolutions? Why, by other 
majorities. It has always been the cry, 
that the ins were corrupt, and the oiifs 
were factious. But it forms no political 
phenomenon, that a minister should re- 
tain his place after he has been left in a 
minority. All sides of this house have 
been occasionally wrong. Lord Rock- 
ingham's administration, which repealed 
the stamp act, yet declared the I'ight of 
parliament to make laws for America. 
Even the honorable member who nowr 
represents Westminster, voted for the 
Boston Fort Bill. If so little faith is 
to be reposed in the assurances of his 
majesty's ministers, better move at once 
to remove them from theiremployments." 
The blunt, not to say contemptuous 
levity, accompanied with some personal 
observations of a disagreeable kind which 
characterized Rigby's speech from its 
commencement to its close, gave a new 
colour to the debate, while it excited no 
ordinary commotion among the opposi- 
tion ranks. Fox, whose early parlia- 
mentary transgressions, when formerly 
seated near Lord North on the treasury 
bench, frequently appeared to him, like 
Brutus's evil genius, started up to ex- 
plain his unfortunate vole on the Boston 
Port Bill. His excuse seemed, I be- 
lieve, even to his friends, not the most 
satisfactory ; as he could assign no 
better reason for it, than that Lord North 
had pledged himself, if the tea which 
the Americans threw overboard was paid 
for l)_v them, he would drop all farther 
idea of taxation. 

Rinby having, in the progress of his 
speech, said rather unadvisedly, that " he 
was tired of the American war, though as 
paymaster of the forces, he was by no 
means tired of receiving cash ;" which 
singular expression he, however, quali- 
fied by adding, that he could neverthe- 
less speak his opinion honestly, unin- 
fluenced by his place ;" Mr. Pitt re- 
marked with great severity on the words. 
He observed, that " if the right honor- 
able gentleman was not lired of receiv- 
ing, the nation was weary of paying cash 
to a person who profited more by the 
war than any four members of that 
asseuibly." Almost any other indivi- 
dual than Rigby would have been discon- 
certed by so invidious a comment, com- 
ing, too, from such a quarter. But he, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



275 



far from slirinking back, or exhibiting 
the slightest mark of tliscomposure, stood 
up ; and directing his looks, as well 
as his reply, to Pitt and Fox, who sale 
very near each other on the opposition 
side of the house, almost under the gal- 
lery, " I will just venture to remark," 
said he, " that however lucrative my 
office mav be, it has been held by the 
fathers of the tivo honorable jnembers 
ivho spoke last ; and I make little doubt 
that whenever I may be compelled to 
quit it, those gentlemen themselves may 
have an eye to getting hold of it. I 
repeat, I am not at all tired of receiving 
money ; but I am not to be told, because 
I receive the emoluments of my place, 
that I am therefore the author of my 
country's ruin." Neither Fox nor Pitt 
attempted any retort. The former, in- 
deed, on all occasions treated Righy with 
marked regard ; and more than once had 
spoken in his place of that gentleman's 
ability, independence of mind, and poli- 
tical principles, in terms approaching to 
panegyric. But Barre, after complain- 
ing that he had retained in his. hands as 
paymaster, an enormous balance of 
public money, amounting to near 900,000 
pounds, adverted with much acrimony 
to the aspersions thrown out against the 
opposition, as being only a rope of sand. 
Conscious how much they were divided 
in sentiment upon almost every point, 
he endeavoured to derive an inference 
from that very dissimilarity of opinion 
favourable to their principles. " A de- 
sire to prevent the ruin of their country, 
which the present ministers," he said, 
«« had nearly effected, formed the tie 
that bound them indissojubly together." 
The debate now drew to a close, Gene- 
ral Conway's motion passing without 
any division. Rigby had acted the most 
conspicuous part in the discussion, had 
gallantly exposed himself, and had co- 
vered ttie minister's retreat, though the 
enemy kept possession of the field. 
These were services at such a crisis, of 
no ordinary description, and could 
scarcely have been performed by any 
other member of the house. Indeed, 
had Lord North been animated by the 
same tenacious, firm, and buoyant spirit 
which the paymaster of the forces dis- 
played, he would probably have sur- 
mounted the storm. Already Sir George by General Conway, yet advised his 



Riulney had reached the West Indies, 
antl was preparing to attack the fleet of 
France. But his administration was 
destined to a speedy extinction. 

[5th March.] If the debate of which 
1 have endeavoured faithfully, though 
imperfectly, to trace the outlines, un- 
veiled so much of the concealed ma- 
chinery, and private feelings of both par- 
ties, during the convulsions that pre- 
ceded Lord North's political exit ; the 
discussion, or rather, the conversation 
of the following evening, disclosed mat- 
ter not less interesting. The attorney 
general having moved for leave to bring 
in a bill " to enable his majesty to con- 
clude a trtice or pence with the revolted 
American colonies ;" Fox aware that 
unless he could blunt this weapon, the 
minister might cut his way by means of 
it, through the opposition squadrons 
which now nearly hemmed him in, rose 
instantly to force it out of the hands of 
government. " The only treatment pro- 
perly applicable to such a proposition, 
coming from such a quarter,'' he said, 
" would be to burst into laughter, and 
instantly to quit the house. Ministers, 
after leaving us scarcely an)' possession 
except Jamaica and Gibraltar ; after re- 
fusing to suffer American agents to meet 
our plenipotentiaries, under the offered 
mediation of foreign powers ; now pre- 
tended to desire peace. Let the learned 
gentleman only look to his right and to 
his left, he would there discover in the 
persons of the ministers, his friends, the 
(greatest impediments to a pacification. 
But before he sate down, he had a pro- 
posal to make to administration." " I 
can inform them," added he, " as a 
matter of certainty, that there are per- 
sons now in Europe, fully authorised to 
negotiate peace between us and the colo- 
nies. Jlnd though I believe those in- 
dividuals will not treat ivith the pre- 
sent ministers, yet I can put them in 
the way to moke peace. Nay more, 
should they dislike personally coming 
forward, I looidd undertake, myself, to 
negotiate it for them.'''' Observing a 
smile on more than one countenance 
opposite to him, he added, that in mak- 
ing such a proposal, he was not more 
inconsistent than the noble lord acted, 
who condemning the resolutions moved 



276 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

— •— — 

sovereig^n to execute them. " Our ; greatly deceived expectation. In what- 



affairs," continued Fox, "are so despe- 
rate, that ministers must either quit 
their places, or the country is lost ! 
Let thern enjoy then the emoluments 
which they holci so precious, provided / 
can only save the empire. If peace can 
he procured, 1 am ready to serve them 
in any capacity even that of a commis, 
or of a messenger." Conscious that 
this patriotic ebullition might subject 
him to some comments, and perhaps ap- 
prehensive that it bore the appearance of 
personal approximation to a government, 
the members of which he had during 
many successive years held up to na- 
tional condemnation or contempt ; he 
subjoined, " I request it may be clearly 
understood, that in making the proposi- 
tion, I mean not to enter into any con- 
nection with ministers. From the in- 
stant when J act, or come to terms with 
one of them, J will rest satisfied to be 
deemed infamous. I cannot for a mo- 
ment contemplate a coalition with men, 
who, as ministers, in every transaction, 
public or private, have proved themselves 
devoid of honour or honesty. In the 
hands of such men, I would not entrust 
my own honour for a single minuteJ" 

This extraordinary decUration, one of 
the most imprndent and ill advised which 
Fox ever made in the course of his long 
parliamentary life ; was probably in- 
tended by him to impress a belief on 
his hearers and the public, of the facility 
with which he and his party could ob- 
tain an honorable peace. Nor if con- 
sidered under that point of view, did it 
fall, like other political delusions, prac- 
tised in all ages, to produce a tempo- 
rary effect. Wearied with the war, peo- 
ple of every description, readily sup- 
posed that he could succeed in disposing 
the Americans to conciliation. And they 
assumed with the pame credulity, that 
administration would either find or fabri- 
cate impediments to a consummation so 
generally and anxiously desired. Un- 
questionably, therefore, the expressions 
used by Fox, operated favourably to 
the views and objects of opposition. I 
will fairly own that I was, myself, in 
some deujiee duped by them, in common 
with others ; and expected from Mr. 
Fox's entrance into office, the return of 
peace, as if by a charm. The event 



ever way, however, Fox's speech affected 
parliament and the nation, it drew from 
the luinister a reply full of dignity, 
independence of mind, and becoming 
resentment. Nor did he fail to mix in 
the dose, some portion of that wit, 
without a few grains of which ingre- 
dient. Lord North rarely addressed the 
house. He began by denying in the 
most forcible terms, the disinclination 
to peace, charged against himself and 
his colleagues in the cabinet. Then 
adverting to the kind offer which Fox 
had just made of his services, coupled at 
the same time with his severe language 
relative to administration ; Lord North 
observed, " These are good and sub- 
stantial reasons for not trusting his 
honour in my hands. Better reasons 
cannot be assigned ; and as they are 
such, they shall serve me against the 
honorable member. I will never em- 
ploy a person, who publicly declares 
thai he can repose no confidence in me. 
Thinking of liim as I do, I am deter- 
mined not to make him my negotiator. 
He seems in a great hurry to get pos- 
session of our places.-, 1 am however 
yet to learn that among those who are 
so impatient to succeed, there exists 
any settled agreement or system of ac- 
tion. It will therefore be for the public 
good that I should remain in office, in 
order to prevent, as I have hitherto 
done, confusion in the state, and the in- 
troduction of unconstitutional principles. 
/ am for that reason resolved not to 
quit my post, until I shall receive my 
royal master'' s commands to leave it ; 
or 'till the will of this house, expressed 
in the most unequivocal terms, shall 
point out the propriety of my with- 
drawing from employnient. As to the 
emoluments of my situation — God 
knows, were they forty times gleater 
than they are, they could form no ade- 
quate compensation for my anxiety and 
vexations, aggravated by the uncandid 
treatment that I frequently experience 
wiliiin these walls ! It is not love of 
power or of greatness, that retains me in 
my [)lace. I speak in the presence of 
individuals who know how little I am 
attached to either ; but I will not 
resign, till I can do it with gratitude 
to my sovereign and to the public." 



HISTORICAL MExMOIRS. 



277 



Fox attempted partly to explain away 
the harsh epithets which he had applied 
to the minister, and partly to liold up tlie 
speech just pronounced, to ridicule or 
condemnation. But its impression was 
indelible. Neither Wolsey, nor Slrai- 
ford, nor Clarendon, ever made a finer 
appeal lo their contemporaries, nor to 
posterity ! In reply to Fox's accusations, 
accompanied with a sneer at his asserting 
that he continued in place, to prevent 
confusion, Lord North humorously ob- 
served, " I undoubtedly have prevented 
much confusion ; and if I have not pre- 
vented more, it is only because there are 
others who possess greater abilities in 
creating confusion, than I have to prevent 
it. But so long as parliament shall not 
think proper lo remove me, either by a 
vote, or by wholly withdrawing from me 
their confidence ; the honorable gentle- 
man must excuse me, if I determine to 
hold my situation." Who, after so pre- 
cise, so public, and so reiterated a decla- 
ration, could have anticipated or ex- 
pected, that within fifteen days, though 
the house had not withdrawn from him 
its confidence. Lord North would, stand- 
ing in the same place, and in the midst 
of the same assembly, lay down his 
office ! Fox made no further answer, 
and the attorney general's motion passed 
without any division : while the minds 
of all men were attracted towards the 
final termination of a scene so interesting 
to every individual ; but, the issue of 
which, it was as yet impossible to fore- 
see, from the conductor the protestations 
of the first minister. 

[6lh March.] With a view to the 
great object of keeping alive public 
clamour against Lord North, and above 
all of not allowing the irritability of par- 
liament to subside ; when that nobleman, 
on the following day, requested the in- 
dulgence of the house for postponing the 
taxes, on account of the hurry of busi- 
ness, Burke and Fox, both, declaimed 
■with violence on the subject. The 
former, after enumerating the articles of 
necessity or of luxury, on which taxation 
had already fallen within the last few 
years, and deploring the state of financial 
exhausture into which we were plunged, 
concluded by making an ingenious and fan- 
ciful exposition of our national condition, 
viewed under a mercantile form. " On 
24 



one side," said he, "we have debtor by 
loss, one hundred millions of money. 
On the other, creditor by loss, one hun- 
dred thousand men ; thirteen American 
provinces ; an annual revenue of four 
millions, five hundred thousand pounds; 
five West India Islands ; besides Florida 
and Minorca." This picture, addressed 
strongly to the imagination and the 
passions, highly coloured, vvas likewise 
false or exaggerated. St. Christopher's, 
one of the islands which he included in 
his list of losses, founding his assertion 
on false intelligence industriously pro- 
pagated, had not been captured by the 
enemy. New York, as well as Charles 
Town, were held by our forces, and 
might form objects of cession, or nego- 
tiation. St. Lucia and Pondicherry, — 
one the key of the West India ciiain of 
islands ; the other, valuable as being the 
capital of the French establishments on 
the Coromandel coast ; — had both been 
subjected by our arms, and were in our 
possession. But these facts or conside- 
rations were wholly overlooked in a 
moment of national and ministerial de- 
pression. Then diverging with his 
characteristic impetuosity toLord North's 
declaration of the preceding evening, 
that " he would not resign till he could 
do it with gratitude to the sovereign and 
to the public :" Burke exclaimed, " The 
noble lord's gratitude! Oh 1 Mr. Speak- 
er, it resembles that of another fallen 
angel like himself, 

" The debt immense of endless gratitude, 
So burthensome, still paying, still to owe." 

Fox, on his part, attacked the minister 
with no less animosity, and declared 
that all the acts of his administration 
were founded in systematic delusion, 
sheltered by obscurity, and stamped with 
ignorance. He added, that *' as the 
parting proof of the noble lord's grati- 
tude, when Jamaica and Barbadoes, our 
only remaining settlements of value, 
were lost, it might be presumed he 
would think of retiring from ofliice." No 
reply was made from the treasury bench, 
to such declamatory charges, calculated 
for sustaining and inflaming the general 
fermentation. 

[8th March.] Unable nevertheless to 
effect Lord North's removal, or lo pro- 
voke his voluntary resignation, by any 
censures passed on the conduct of the 



278 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



'^H! 



American war, or by any interdictions of 
its fntiire prosecution ; ilie opposition 
became of necessity cnmpelleii to bring 
forward a personal question, inculpating 
administration. And it must be allowed, 
ihal in conducting this measure, ihey 
proceeded with judicious, as well as with 
cautious steps. A retrograde movement, 
or an unsuccessful attempt, they were 
well aware, would at once undo all that 
had liilherlo been effected. Lord North, 
who was individually beloved in, and 
out of the house, even by those who 
most disapproved or opposed many of! 
his measures ; was likewise steadily 
supported by the sovereign : while in 
the House of Lords, no prospect of any 
defection or change had hitherto mani- 
fested itself. The session moreover ad- 
vanced rapidly ; and if Easter arrived, 
experience had proved that a full attend- 
ance could not be obtained after that 
period of the year, except with the ut- 
most difficulty. All these facts having 
been maturely considered in the meet- 
ings which took place among the oppo- 
sition leaders, they determined to try 
the temper of the House of Commons, 
without deiay. Lord John Cavendish, 
seconded by Powis, introduced various 
resolutions, finally imputing the misfor- 
tunes of the war, to the " want of fore- 
sight and ability" in ministers. After a 
very long debate, in a crowded house, 
the administration not venturing directly 
to neffative the proposition, yet found 
themselves unable to carry the motion, 
though only for the ttrder of the day, by 
a greater majority than ten. 

Of Lord John's speech, no trace re- 
mains on my mind ; but Powis's address 
to the house was calculated to produce 
the deepest impression. He was indeed 
a man of great parliamentary talents, 
and of distinguished integrity, though by 
no means unaccompanied with deep 
ambition. For, from 1782, till 1797, 
during fifteen years, Lhe seems, under 
successive administrations, never for an 
instant to have lost sight of the peerage 
to wliich he ultimately attained. After 
disclaiming all personal ill will against 
ministers, he adverted to I^ord North's 
recent declaration, tiiat whenever parlia- 
ment should withdraw from him its con- 
fidence, he would then retire. " 'I'hal 
period," said Powis, " is arrived ! Par- 



liament has withdrawn its confidence 
from the noble lord. The fetters which 
this house has imposed on him, consti- 
tute the strongest proof of the fact. He 
has likewise asserted, that he only con- 
tinued in office, with a view to prevent 
confusion. But who are the men likely 
to succeed him, and what are the prin- 
ciples to which they stand pledged ? 
Their first pledge is, to check profusion i 
and prodigality in the expenditure of ! 
public money. Their second engage- 
ment is, to explore the dark recesses of 
the civil list, and to introduce retrench- i 
meni into that sanctum sanctorum of f 
government. Lastly, they have solemn- 
ly promised to adopt some plan for im- 
proving the national representation with- 
in these walls : not, indeed, visionary 
plans : but, such as may tend to dimi- 
nish, if not to eradicate the causes of 
parliamentary venality. Such are the 
r«en, from whom the chancellor of the 
exchequer pretends to apprehend confu- 
sion ! Men, among whom are to be 
found the descendants of the most illus- 
trious families, possessed of the largest 
property, distinguished by the most 
splendid talents. Among them is the 
admired son of a statesman, who carried 
the British name and arms to the summit 
of glory ; and who only quitted his 
situation, when he discovered, that a 
baneful, but secret influence, prevented 
him, either with honour to himself, or 
with advantage to the state, from carry- 
ing into execution those counsels, ichich 
he was no longer permitted to direct. 
Yet from such men does the noble lord 
anticipate confusion !" 

After touching with the hand of a mas- 
ter these great political keys, while the 
house listened in silence, Powis drew, in 
the same able manner, the contrast pre- 
sented by ministers, when compared 
with the principal individuals constiiu- 
ting opposition. Commencing his de- 
lineation with the new secretary of stale, 
who sate opposite to him, " that right 
honorable gentleman," observed he 
" gives us no encouragement to hope 
that such measures will emanate from 
his department, as can be beneficial to 
the country. He has presented us a 
sketch of his creed: but I cannot deno- 
minate it a sincere profession of faith. 
At best, I regard it only as an act of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



279 



occasional conformity. He has retracted 
no error. He lias abjured no former 
principle, tliougii he may have yielded 
somewhat to the feelings of the times. 
Once we remetnber him loud in declaim- 
ing on this side of the house ; but he is 
now sunk into ministerial dependency. 
All the starch and the buckram of his 
com[)osition is dissolved, and he seems 
reduced to a stale of complete pliability. 
The noble lord in the blue ribband, is 
formed of the same ductile materials. 
Destitute of any system of action, im- 
pelled 1)1/ a secret, concealed in/lncnce, 
he submits to adopt the principles of 
others. He now stands in a predica- 
ment altogether without example, having 
lost the confidence of parliament. What 
stronger proof of it than those already 
exhibited, does he demand ?" Proceed- 
ing to delineate in the same caustic and 
contumelious, or invidious colours, the 
remaining members of the cabinet, he 
concluded by a forcible appeal to the 
gentlemen of landed properly, repiesen- 
latives of counties or of cities. " Would 
they," he asked, " continue to support 
an administration, which had ruined their 
country ; while order, regularity, and 
success, mightjustly be expected to arise 
from the exertions of the men who must 
succeed them in power ?" The secretary 
at war now rose, — for the occasion 
fully called on him to come forward in 
so desperate a ministerial emergency. 
Within the compass of a few periods, 
he compressed almost every fact or argu- 
ment which could be adduced, in justifi- 
cation of his colleagues. Never, indeed, 
did Jenkinson abuse the patience of his 
audience, or lose siglit of the principal 
object for which he presented himself to 
notice, bv fiights of fancy, or diijressions 
of imaginaiion. He adn\ilted that the 
war had been unsuccessful, but he denied 
that its principle was unjust. " Great 
power," he observed, " necessarily pro- 
duces envy. Our splendid successes 
during the last contest with the two 
branches of the House of Bourbon, had 
raised us so high that those powers now 
eagerly seized the occasion to humble 
us. Hence, too, we were without allies. 
The monarchies of Austria and of France 
had, each in turn, suffered the same de- 
pression from similar causes. But were 
ministers on thataccountcriminal? With- 



out attempting, therefore, to negative 
facts which were undenia!)le, he would 
move the order of the day.''' 

At greater length, though with no less' 
ability, Ellis addressed the iiouse. In 
reply to Powis's charge of subservient 
pliability, the secretary of state re- 
marked that there existed no strong 
temptations to induce him to covet his 
new office. " When I accepted the 
seal," said he, " I was possessed of a 
lucrative employment, to which no re- 
sponsibility attached. I was undoubt- 
edly in a warm, comfortable bed, out of 
which I have been summoned to take an 
active part in the ship of state, assailed 
by storm and tempest. I find myself 
now in a place of responsibility, by no 
means unaccompanied with danger. 
When these circumstances are duly 
weighed, gentlemen will find little cause 
to accuse me of such excessive pliabi- 
lity." The occs'sion was too favourable 
for Burke to lose. Starting up as soon 
as the secretary had finished, he attacked 
the new minister with those shafts of 
classic wit, satire, and ridicule, which he 
knew so well how to launce against his 
opponents. Shakspeare, as well as 
Milton, was ever ready at his call. '• It 
was true," he allowed, " that the trea- 
surer of the navy had quitted a warm 
bed, with his eyes hardly open ; and 
ventured into a vessel, leaky, founder- 
ing, and tossed by tempestuous winds." 
— " He has been most unwise so to do ; 
and to him I may apply the words of 
Brutus, when he asks his wife, 

' Wherefore rise you now 1 

It is not for your health, thus to commit 

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.' 

The right honorable secretary declares 
that he has left a warm bed for a j)ost of 
danger. In my firm belief, it has been 
left merely with the intention of intro- 
ducing a Scotch warming pun.'' The 
allusion to Dundas, which was too pal- 
pable to be mistaken, excited no little 
laughter; and received, in the course of 
the evening, a most appropriate reply. 
Burke, proceeding in his career of sar- 
casm, answered Ellis under the triple 
character of a lawyer, a physician, and 
a divine ; in each of which capacities 
he asserted that the secretary had spoken. 



280 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Nor, when tired of oppressina: him un- 
der tropes and metaphors, did Burke 
fail to adduce more solid arguments in 
support of the motion, derived from the 
expenses, the disgraces, and the cala- 
niitiesofso many transatlanticcampaigns. 
Far from being abandoned, however, on 
that night by the country gentlemen, 
various of them stepped forward to the 
support of a first minister, who had in 
fact committed no fault, except attempt- 
ing to subject an insurgent people, placed 
ai a remote distance from Great Britain. 
Sir John Delaval, Sir Harry Hoghton, 
Lord Nugent, Sir Edward Deering, all 
professed that the support which ihey 
extended to administration, arose from 
their conviction that the cabinet, how- 
ever unfortunate, " wanted neither fore- 
sight nor ability." 

Among the most able defenders of 
ministry in 1782, might be justly ac- 
counted Mr. Adam, who then held the 
post of treasurer of the ordnance. His 
duel with Fox, when added to his par- 
liamentary eloquence, and the vigour of 
his character, had already acquired him 
no ordinary celebrity. From no indi- 
vidual in the house did Fox indeed ex- 
perience so personal, and probably so 
painful an attack, in the course of the 
present debate, as from Adam. Re- 
minding Fox of his assertion made on a 
former occasion, while addressing the 
house, that " the man, who on coming 
into office, should forget or renounce his 
early political principles, would be in- 
famous ;" Adam implored parliament to 
pause before they called into power a 
person professing tenets repugnant to, or 
subversive of, the British Constitution. 
As the best proof of the justice of his 
allegations, he charged the honorable 
member with having more than once de- 
clared, that " the sense of the people 
was to be collected ivithout doors, from 
the people themselves, and not from 
their representatives.'''' Nor was this 
the only sentiment calculated to produce 
confusion, held and recommended by 
him. Two others, equally opposed to 
the wisdom of our ancestors, had been 
avowed from the same authority. He 
had professed himself " an advocate for 
annual parliaments, and he had ex- 
pressed his desire to alter the represen- 
tation of the people." Burke, on his 



part, stood pledged to reduce the civil 
list. And Adam then asked, " what na- 
tional concord or unanimity we could ii 
reasonably expect, if men professing ', 
such principles should seize on the 
government, at a moment when general 
harmony was universally admitted to be 
indispensable for our extrication and pre- 
servation ?" 

It is probable that Fox, like other de- 
magogues who have made their way up 
to power, in free states, by mounting on 1 
the shoulders of the people, and profess- '| 
ing opinions calculated to gain popular 
favour; would gladly, when he had at- 
tained his object, have turned his back 
upon the ladder which facilitated his as- 
cent. Not that I believe he cherished 
any principles inimical to constitutional 
freedom : but, poverty and ambition 
combining in the same individual, natu- 
rally produce asperity of language ; and 
he had remained more than seven years 
excluded from office. Even now, though 
apparently near his prey, it might still 
elude his grasp. We must likevvise re- 
collect, that if ever there was a time in 
the modern history of this country, when 
reform seemed to be universally de- 
manded, it was towards the close of the 
American war ; when our humiliation, 
our losses, and our critical position, sur- 
rounded by enemies, inflamed the minds 
of men against a government, which had 
produced so much calamity. Pressed 
therefore by Adam, Fox rose ; and as 
Welbore EUishaddone on a former night, 
made his reluctant political profession of 
faith. He did it in that manly, open 
manner, characteristic of his mind, 
which disdained reserve, and might 
rather be accused of inconsistence or 
imprudence, than of duplicity or dis- 
guise ; artifices foreign to his nature. 
" Two leading principles," he said, " in 
which he difl^ered from ministers, were 
the prosecution of the American war, 
and the influence of the crown. The 
general principle of reducing that in- 
fluence, he strenuously approved. The 
corruption of the House of Commons had 
become intolerable ; and to all the re- 
solutions for excluding contractors, 
members of the board of trade, and of 
the green cloth, he gave his cordial 
assent. If placemen and contractors 
were subducted from the late division 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



281 



respecting the American war, when 
ministers had remained in a minority of 
nineteen; the majority against adminis- 
tration wonUi exceed a hundred on that 
question. To all the details," continued 
Fox, " prepared for the reduction of in- 
fluence, I do not subscribe : but I main- 
lain that this assembly ought to be made 
the representative of the nation. I 
likewise think that the duration of par- 
liament ought to be shortened, but 1 ad- 
mit that it is a point on which honest 
men may differ. 1 am however of opi- 
nion thai annual or triennial parliaments 
would be calculated to preserve the 
privileges of the people from the en- 
croachmenls of the royal prerogative, 
and therefore would form an amelioration 
of the Constitution." 

Having thus answered Mr, Adam's 
queries, though without noticing speci- 
fically the idea of introducing an altera- 
tion into tlie representation of the people ; 
he diverged to another point of a very 
interesting, because, of a personal na- 
ture. " li has been asserted," said he, 
" that an administration of proscrip- 
tion is to be formed. I deny posi- 
tively the fact. 1 have only declared 



pleased, when addressing the secretary 
of state near me, to mention his quitting 
a snuff, warm bed, in order to make 
room for a Scotch warming pan. Now 
I see no reason, when I look at the 
gentlemen opposite me, if their eager 
exf)ectalions of coming into power are 
fulfilled why it should not be an Irish 
warming pan which is to be intro- 
duced into that bed." A retort so 
apposite, turned the laugh against Burke. 
In fact, scarcely three weeks elapsed, 
before Barre was made treasurer of the 
navy. Having professed his inability 
to comprehend how a broad bottomed 
administration, such as Fox pretended 
to desire, could ever be formed, which 
must proscribe half the ability of the em- 
pire, the lord advocate called on him to 
explain more intelligibly his meaning. 
Then pushing the inquiries, which 
Adam had commenced, to a greater 
length, he demanded, " if Fox should 
come into office, and should find him- 
self left in a minority on any of his popu- 
lar or patriotic questions ; whether it 
was his intention in such case, to avail 
himself of the right which he had fre- 
quently maintained ? Did he mean to 



that I can form no connexion with the 'appeal from that house to the people? 
present cabinet ; and that if I do, /shall 1 Would he resort to his other parliament 



be infamous. But it is the desire of 
those with whom I have the honour to 
act, to collect all the ability, talents, and 
consideration of the country, and to em- 
ploy lliis body of national strength, for 
the deliverance of the empire. 1 hope 
we may soon behold an administration 
settled on a broad basis, in which con- 
fidence may be justly reposed : it is 
however only by driving the present 
weak and wicked advisers of the crown, 
from about his majesty's person, that 
Great Britain can ever hope to recover 
from her actual disgraces and misfor- 
tunes." Such were nearly Fox's ex- 
pressions on that memorable evening. 
The lord advocate of Scotland, who al- 
ways knew when to interpose with the 
greatest efl'ect in debate, and who waited 
to answer the opposition leader ; in- 



convened in Westminster Hall, or in 
Palace Yard, and complain of the par- 
liament sitting within those walls ? 
Would he tell the people that they were 
betrayed ; and induce them, like certain 
associations which of late years had 
been formed, to adopt resolutions, cal- 
culated to operate as a control upon the 
House of Commons ?" To tliese ques- 
tions he demanded a reply. 

Under so embarrassing a load of in- 
quiries on subjects so delicate. Fox (leli» 
vered his opinion with great ability ; 
neither abandoning his former profes- 
sions, nor yet maintaining them in all 
their force. Relative to the administra- 
tion which might be formed, he de- 
clared that " they would proscribe no 
individuals, of whatever principles, ex- 
cept the five or six confidential advisers 



stantly rising, began nevertheless hy\ of the crown, tvho had produced the ac- 



directing his discourse in the first in- 
stance, not to Fox, but to Burke. " The 
honorable member," observed Dundas, 
*' whose classic redundancy of wit al- 
ways charms this audience, has been 
2i* 



tital calamities of the country. They 
did not mean to proscribe the learned 
lord himself, however strong they might 
reprobate his constitutional principles. 
With regard to tlie people without 



282 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



doors, lie conceived that they possessfd 
a right to declare their opinion of men 
and things ; in order to do tvhich, they 
might meet and consult together, pro- 
vided they did it in a peaceable, orderly 
manner.'^ " I will further add," con- 
linued he, " that whenever this house 
shall become lost to all sense of public 
duty, so sunk in corruption as to 
abandon the rights of the people, and to 
become the passive instruments of the 
crown ; then it may bejustijiuble to re- 



bly, but to a situation more honorable in 
the hearts of the people." 

Lord North rose wlien Sheridan sate 
down, and replied with his accustomed 
ability ; though as I thought, not with 
all his usual animation ; but the feature 
of the debate, which attracted universal 
attention towards its close, was the de- 
claration made by Pitt. After holding 
up the first minister to condemnation 
under various points of view ; and ob- 
serving that a change of administration 



vert to the original principles of the presented the only chance for national 



Constitution, and to resume the direc 
Hon of their own affairs, so that the 
popular loeight may be preserved in the 
scale of government. The present ad- 
ministration is the first since the revolu- 
tion, which has dared to deny this right." 
Perhaps, in Fox's position, no words 
more judicious, or less exceptionable, 
could easily have been found. Never- 
theless, Sheridan, who manifested on 
many occasions a sounder judgment 
than his friend, and who beheld in full 
view the promised land of power from 
which the party had been so long ex- 
cluded; apprehensive that Fox's expres- 
sions might appear rather those of a tri- 
bune, than becoming a man who now 
aspired to consular offices and dignities ; 
presented himself to the house. Direct- 
ing his discourse pointedly to Dundas, 
he demanded of the learned lord, whe- 
ther, because his honorable friend had 
maintained the right of an appeal, under 
certain circumstances, to the people, he 
could be suspected of ever exercising it, 
when he should become a minister ? 
Did no obvious distinction exist, be- 
tween a private member of parliament 
applying to his constituents, and a confi- 
dential servant of the sovereign, holding 
an office at his majesty's pleasure, ap- 
pealing to the people in that capacity, 
against pailiament? " No !" added he, 
" were my honorable friend in the noble 
lord's place, and should he even forfeit 
the confidence of parliament, he would 
neither fly to the people, nor to the 
throne for support. He would not cling 
with the convulsive grasp of despair to 
the helm which he could no longer con- 
duct. He would follow the advice given 
by that learned lord himself, to a late 
minister, ^e would instantly retire; — 
not, indeed, probably to another assem 



extrication ; he subjoined, " It is not 
for me to say, nor for this house to dictate 
who may be the persons chosen to fill the 
offices under a new administration. All 
that I feel myself compelled to declare, is, 
that I cannot expect to take any share in 
it : and even if the attainment of such 
an object were within my reach, I never 
will accept of a subordinate situation." 
These words, which undoubtedly had 
been well weighed before they were 
pronounced ; disclosed without disguise, 
not only the elevation of his views, and 
the well founded confidence that he re- 
posed in ills own talents ; but likewise his 
perfect independence of the two leaders, 
whose followers were now preparing to 
storm the cabinet, side by side. He 
served indeed, in their camp, as a volun- 
teer, and auxiliary, though without 
looking up either to the Marquis of 
Rockingham, or to the Earl of Shel- 
burne, for immediate advancement. Re- 
lying with reason, solely on his personal 
abilities, aided by patience, judgment, and 
the nature of the times ; he doubtless an- 
ticipated at no remote period, his attain- 
ment of every object of well regulated 
ambition. The division did not take 
place till a very late hour ; and the ma- 
jority in favour of ministers was so small, 
that a desertion of only six individuals 
from the government side to that of op- 
position, would have left the whole cabi- 
net at the mercy of their adversaries. 
Yet, as only four hundred and forty-six 
members voted on the question, even in- 
cluding the four tellers ; and as conse- 
quently one hundred and eleven were ab- 
sent, many of whom might probably 
attend on a future evening, sanguine ex- 
pectations were entertained by both par- 
ties. It might indeed have been sup- 
posed that a government which rested 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



283 



on so precarious a basis, was already 
virtually at au end. But Lord North 
^'ave the best indication, as it was con- 
sidered, of" his own intention to re- 
main in office by proposing only three 
days afterwards, the new taxes which he 
Dieant to impose for the service of the 
year. The contending parties, there- 
fore, perpared for fresh struggles ; and 
frum every part of the kingdom, as well 
as from foreign courts, attendance was 
procured. The duration of the ministry 
being now evidently at issue, and pro- 
bably about to be decided in a very short 
lime, not exceeding three weeks ; it is 
difficult to convey an idea of the anxiety 
which agitated the court, the capital, and 
the country. 

[15th March.] On the last debate 
which preceded Lord North's resigna- 
tion. Sir John Rous moved to declare, 
that " the house iiad no farther confi- 
dence in ministers." The opposition 
imagined that if this motion was carried, 
no administration would venture to con- 
tinue in office ; or if they should be bold 
enough to defy the indignation of parlia- 
ment, the same majority would, it was 
presumed, next address the crown for 
their removal. There then remained 
only one step more to impeachment. 
But so equally balanced were the two 
sides, that though four hundred and 
sixty-seven members, including the tel- 
lers, voted on the division, scarcely any 
ground was lost or gained. Govern- 
ment still remained in a majority of nine, 
thus losing one since the preceding de- 
bate. Yet, even that single vote being 
in favour of the opposition, in so full a 
house, seemed to indicate that they were 
progressive in the public esteem. In 
fact, twenty-one members more voted on 
this, than on the preceding division. 
Among the interesting features of the 
debate, must be accounted the appear- 
ance of Mr. George Onslow on the scene. 
He was one of the two representatives 
for the town of Guilford, and a man of 
much eccentricity, as well as irregularity 
of deportment. He seldom spoke ; but 
his speeches, if they did not abound in 
wit, were marked by great freedom of 
language and opinion. Without circum- 
locution of any kind, he accused the oppo- 
sition leaders, as the principal instruments 
in dissevering America from her allegi- 



ance to Great Britain. " General 
Washington's army," exclaimed he, 
" has been called by members of this 
house, our army ; and the cause of the 
rebels has been denominated the cause of 

freedom. Every support has been givea 
the Americans, who liave placed their 
confidence on the encouragement extend- 
ed to them within these walls. Franklin 
and Laurens are here made the subject 
of daily panegyric ; and the weak parts 
of our interior government have been ex- 
posed or pointed out to the rebels It has 
evenbeen reported, and I believe it is true, 
that information has been transmitted 

from hence to the court of Versailles.'' 
A loud cry arising from the opposition 
benches, calling on him to name the in- 
dividuals to whom he alluded, Onslow 
declined compliance; adding, that " he 
could not tell : or, if he could, he would 
not ; but that he retained his conviction 
of its truth." He concluded by declar- 
ing his belief that the ill success of a 
war, in the principle of which almost 
the whole nation concurred at its com- 
mencement, might be with reason as- 
cribed to those persons, who had not 
scrupled uniformly to avow, that they 
should deeply lament its being crowned 
with fortunate results. Lord North him- 
self might be said to give some counte- 
nance to these assertions or accusations 
of Onslow : — for, in the course of a 
long and masterly appeal to the house, 
some parts of which he pronounced with 
evident emotion, he observed, that "far 
from feeling either the contrition or the 
repentance for the acts of his past ad- 
ministration, which gentlemen opposite 
asserted would become him, he experi- 
enced, on the contrary, the most perfect 
calm, arising from the consciousness of 
not having done any wrong." " If, in- 
deed," continued he, "in any of mv 
speeches in this house, or in any which 
I have made out of doors, or in any part 
of my conduct, I had held out hopes to 
the Americans that they possessed 
friends in this country, professing to 
be their advocates, and who embraced 
every occasion to advance their interests, 
in preference to those of their native 
country, — then, I confess, I should think 
I had acted in a manner that colled for 
deep contrition and sincere repentance : 
nay, even for humiliation, for self- 



284 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



abasement, and for shame.'^ He could 
not more clearly designate, nor repro- 
bate in stronger terms, llie line of con- 
duct adopted by the chiefs of opposition, 
throughout the whole progress of the 
American contest. 

Reverliiig next to the conduct of that 
war, " I deny," said he, " that its com- 
mencement is in any degree to be attri- 
buted to his majesty's present ministers. 
The SlaiDp Act was repealed, and the 
Declaratory Act had pas.=ed, before I was 
called to the cabinet, though I voted for 
fhem both, as a private member of par- 
liament. I came into office at a moment 
of crisis, when others had deserted the 
helm, and I have exerted my best en- 
deavours to serve my country." His 
allusion to the manner in wliich the 
Duke of Grafion abandoned the reins of 
government, was rendered more striking 
by the circumstance of that noblen»an's 
accepting the privy seal under the new 
administration, only a few days after- 
wards. When Lord North came to 
speak, of the misrepresentations whicfi 
he was accused of using, with a view to 
persuade parliament to the prosecution 
of hostilities for so many unfortunate 
campaigns ; and particularly, with de- 
clarini^ that we had numerous friends in 
America; he spoke under visible em- 
barrassment. It became requisite, in 
order to exculpate himself, that he should 
inculpate his late colleague, Lord Sack- 
ville ; nor did he hesitate so to do. 
" The declaration in question,^' ob- 
served he, " came not from me, but 
from another minister. It fell not, in- 
deed, within the range of my depart- 
ment, to receive such official information. 
Not that I doubted it; for I am con- 
vinced that the minister who made the 
assertion spoke from good authority. I 
believe we not only had, but that we 
still retain, numerous friends throughout 
the colonies. / confess, at the same 
time, that I never thought those friends 
sufficient in point of numbers, nor in 
any point of view whatever, either to 
justify our commencing, or our con- 
tinuing the war, solely on their ac- 
county These significant expressions 
undraw in a considerable degree the veil 
from before the cabinet ; and like Don 
Cleofas, in the " Diable Boiteux,^'' we 
are admitted behind the scenes. How 



far the first minister acted with his ac- 
customed prudence or elevation of mind, 
in making such an avowal, in such a 
place, posterity will best decide. His 
position, still in office, and intending, as 
he asserted, to remain at the Jiead of 
his majesty's councils, unless driven out 
by a vote of the House of Commons, 
was in itself most painful and delicate. 
Probably he thought, by sacrificing in 
some measure a member of the cabinet 
who was now no longer in oflice, and 
who had reached the upper house, he 
might conciliate his enemies. But in 
his accusation of the late American 
secretary, he virtually enveloped his 
sovereign in the same charge. Fox's 
opinion of it may be collected from his 
own comments, when he replied to 
Lord North. " Up to this day," said 
he, *' I always considered the noble lord 
to have acted generously by his col- 
leagues, as he uniformly professed to 
share in their guilt, whatever might be 
its extent. But on the present evening, 
he throws the responsibility and the 
blame on another minister, for having 
deceived us by erroneous or exaggerated 
accounts, respecting the number of our 
adherents beyond the Atlantic. The 
noble lord has, however, himself, de- 
luded and deceived parliament, in a 
variety of instances." 

The conclusion of the first minister's 
speech was unusually pathetic, as well as 
interesting. 1 sate near him, and his 
words were well, calculated to remain 
engraven on the memory. Il is, indeed, 
probable, whatever assurances he might 
give to the king, or to his friends and 
adherents, ihathe neverthelessconsidered 
himself as near his political extinction. 
" My wish," exclaimed he, " is not only 
for peace, but for an administration that 
may act with unanimity and effect to- 
wards the general safety ! / will not 
form any obstacle to a coalition, in 
which I shall have no share or place. 
There are indeed those who well knov«r 
that for .=ome years past, I have been 
ready and willing to make way for such 
an administration : nor is it owing to any 
personal desire of mine, that I have so 
long remained in ray situation. / de- 
clare to God, that no love of office or of 
emolument, should detain me for a mo- 
ment in place, if I could with honour 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



285 



leave it ; and if certain circumstances, 
which I cannot noiv explain^ did not 
prevent my resignation! A time may 
come, when I can better speak upon this 
point. I act in obedience to a sense of 
duty, and neither advice nor menaces 
can influence me to abandon it. Never 
will I subscribe to the idea, that provided 
ministers will only quit their places, 
punishment shall not follow. I neither 
desire to avoid censure nor punishment, 
Aiy only demand is, that the proofs of 
neglect, or of guilt, may be established 
against ministers, before censure is voted. 
If we deserve censure, it ought to be M- 
\owed by punishment.''^ It is impossi- 
ble not to suppose that " the circum- 
stances" to which Lord North so point- 
edly alluded, but " which he could not 
explain;" were the solicitations of his 
sovereign not to desert him, as had been 
done by his ministerial predecessors, 
Lord Bute, and the Duke of Grafton. 
There were passages in this speech, 
which reminded me of Wolsey's lan- 
guage to Cromwell, when he says, 

" I feel within me 

A peace above all earthly dignities' 
A still and quiet conscience." 

" I am able now, methinks, 

(Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,) 

To endure more miseries, and greater far, 

Than my weak-hearted enemies dare offer." 

Indeed, so much did Lord North feel the 
degree of similitude between his own 
situation and the fall of Wolsey ; that, 
adopting the expression of the cardinal, 
when one of his friends waited on him 
a few days afterwards, to offer his con- 
dolences, accompanied with some marks 
of surprise, at his resignation ; he an- 
swered, with the utmost good humour 
and complacency, in Shakspeare's words, 

" What, amazed 
At my misfortunes 1 — Can thy spirit wonder 
A great man should decline 1" 

So much did his constitutional suavity 
and amenity of character, enable him to 
surmount every vicissitude of fortune ! 
And so naturally did his improved and 
classic mind suggest to him, the historic 
images analogous to his situation ! 

Fox, in his reply on that night, — for 
he would allow no person to answer the 
minister, except himself ; — made some 



observations tinctured with more severity, 
than his placable nature usually dictated 
to him. Only four days earlier, having 
indulged in similar remarks upon Lord 
North, when he laid before the house 
his proposed taxes for the year ; Fox, 
either conscious that he had trespassed 
beyond the bounds of liberality, or im- 
pelled by his own generous cliaracter, 
made the chancellor of the exchequer an 
ample and a voluntary apology. "I do 
assure the noble lord," said he, " that in 
all I have staled on the present occasion, 
or at any former time, I meant not to 
press upon him, to goad him, or to run 
him down. Still less is it my intention 
to say any thing that should hurl his 
mind, or give liim uneasiness. Upon my 
honour, 1 nourish no such design ; and 
though I neither ask pardon of the chair- 
man, nor of the committee, for any ex- 
pression that I may have used, yet I ask 
pardon of the noble lord if I have offend- 
ed him; — for I meant it not. We 
cannot help admiring a man who united 
such a disposition, with talents so pre- 
eminent. Pitt, however superior he was 
to Fox in judgment^ and in various other 
respects, wanted that noble, winning, 
and open spirit, which conciliated so 
many friends, and retained them in defi- 
ance of adversity, poverty, or exclusion 
from power. In the course of the pre- 
sent debate, which may be considered 
as the last that took place previous 
to Lord North's surrender, various 
members of the house rose, to attack, or 
to defend him. Sir William Dolben not 
only voted with him, but pronounced an 
affecting encomium on his integrity, 
honour, and domestic virtues; from 
which no individual had attempted to 
detract, and to which so many had 
borne testimony. Having expressed 
his anxious wishes, that a coalition 
might yet be formed between the noble 
lord and his principal opponents, seated 
on the opposite benches ; he added, " If 
nevertheless a change should take place, 
to the total exclusion of the present first 
minister, either in consequence of a vote 
of this house, or from his own sponta- 
neous movement ; I am persuaded that 
he will exhibit a phenomenon to this 
country ; namely, a minister out of 
office, supporting the government that 
expelled him, instead of opposing, 



286 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



thwarting, and embarrassing their 
measures.''^ The lord advocate did not 
abandon his principal, but sustained 
him with eloquence and ability "A 
union of parties," lie admitted, " seem- 
ed to be not only the general wish, but 
coincided with his own individual opi- 
nion. It was however to be etTected by 
the substantial connection of both sides, 
not by putting the government exclusive- 
ly into the hands of opposition. The 
noble lord in llie blue ribband had de- 
clared his readiness to facilitate such a 
coalition, and that he would not stand 
in the way of its accomplishment." 

Indignant at the idea of Lord North's 
attempting to capitulate, to protract, or 
to make any conditions before he laid 
down his employments; Pitt rose to 
answer Dundas. His speech, though 
not long, breathed the most determined 
hostility, couched in language of no ordi- 
nary warmth. Reprobating the propo- 
sition itself as an insult to parliament, 
not deserving an instant's attention, he 
said he thanked God that an end was 
likely to be put to the present govern- 
ment ; but he trusted the house would 
not contaminate its own purpose, by 
allowing ministers to manage the ap- 
pointment of their successors. It nei- 
ther was the province of that house to 
settle the men who were to succeed, nor 
lo indicate the measures proper to be 
pursued. " I ask pardon," concluded 
he, " of this assembly, if I have de- 
livered myself with too much heat; but 
I cannot help feeling for my country 
under the distressful situation of being 
governed by ministers, who manifest 
neither sensibility nor shame ; and who 
are as devoid of feeling, as of every 
other quality of statesmen." To these 
bitter and humiliating re[)roaches, no 
answer was attempted from the treasury 
bench, though the new American secre- 
tary- spoke for a few minutes, to an 
impatient audience loudly demanding 
the question, f Its result, when notified, 
inspired the opposition with new en- 
ergy, in the same degree that it spread 
dismay over the ministerial benches. 
Fox gave immediate intimation to his 
friends of a motion similar in its import, 
for the following Wednesday ; which 
notice he reiterated in the house on the 
subsequent day. Among the members 



who voted with Lord North on the two 
last divisions, of the 8th and the 15th I 
of March, I must not omit Gibbon, the 
celebrated historian. He had likewise 
supported administration on General 
Conway's second motion for termina- 
ting the American war, when government 
was lelt in a minority of nineteen. 
Gibbon then sate in parliament as one of 
the members for Lyminglon, and attend- 
ed constantly on great questions ; but I 
believe he never attempted to atldress ,• 
the house. Addison had not displayed i 
any parliamentary talents, though he I 
occupied the high office of secretary of I 
state for a short time. We know that 
Johnson was anxious to obtain a seal in 
the House of Commons, with a view of I 
sustaining Lord North by his eloquence. ' 
We may, however, seasonably doubt 
whether, notwithstanding his gigantic 
abilities, he would have succeeded bet- 
ter on that theatre, than his Irene did at 
Drury Lane. Oratory appears to have 
no connection with historical, poetical, 
or philological capacity. 

Every artifice of party was used by 
the opposition, to encourage their 
friends, and to terrify, or hold out to 
popular odium, the adherents of admin- 
istration. Lists were published, and 
disseminated throughout the kingdom, 
containing the names of the members 
who voted on each question ; those voting 
on the sideof ifovernmenlbeing printed in 
red letters, while the names of tiie mino- 
rity appeared in black type. Unimport- 
ant or contemptible as this circumstance 
may appear, it produced nevertlieless a 
powerful effect on weak, or timid indivi- 
duals ; and bore some faint resemblance 
to the proceedings of the memorable par- 
liament which met in 1640. under 
Charles the First. Lord North appeared 
likewise to entertain strong apprehen- 
sions respecting the consequences, which 
might ultimately result to the king, if not 
to himself, from the struggle in which 
ministers were engaged. It was gener- 
ally believed that he had stated these 
fears to his mijesty with so much ear- 
nestness, and had so warmly depictured 
the painful situation in which the sover- 
eign might be personally involved, if his 
cabinet shoidd be taken by storm ; as to 
have obtained the royal permission for 
negotiating, and even surrendering on 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



287 



terms. His expressions in the last de- 
bate, whicli iniimaled his readiness or 
disposition to vvillidravv from oflice, and 
not to form any impediment, if a coali- 
tion could be formed for carrying on the 
public service ; seemed fully to justify 
the belief, that he was authorized to 
make such propositions. 'I'liey were, 
however, treated with affected ridicule 
or scorn, by his opponents, both in, and 
out of the house ; as only calculated for 
purposes of delusion, in order to weaken 
or distract iheir efforts. Far from list- 
ening to any overtures of accommoda- 
tion, they anticipated a certain triumph. 
Never were moments more precious, or 
more critical. It being well known 
that the House of Commons would, ac- 
cording to regular usage, adjourn on the 
28lh of March, for ten or eleven days, 
till after the Easter holidays, which in 
that year happened to fall early ; Lord 
North consequently might calculate al- 
most the number of hours that he had to 
hold out against his assailants : — for, no 
sanguine expectation of successfully re- 
newing their attack upon ministry, after 
the recess, could be entertained by the 
opposition. Every effort, therefore, it 
was evident, must necessarily be wound 
up within a week or two, and govern- 
ment made the strongest demonstrations 
of abiding the issue. 

[16th — 19th March.] In all the 
departments, positive assurances were 
given, that no compromise or resignation 
was intended. Robinson protested the 
same thing to rne, at his house in St. 
James's square ; the same which is now 
occupied by Lord Castlereagh ; and to 
which splendid residence Robinson had 
only recently removed, from a small 
house in Parliament street. Lord North 
himself, whatever fluctuations of mind 
he might internally undergo, personally 
reiterated those declarations to his nearest 
political connexions. On the 18th of 
March, Monday, he came down to the 
House of Commons ; spoke in reply to 
Sir Edward Asiley, on the subject of 
some tax bill, then on its passage through 
parliament ; and displayed all his cha- 
racteristic good humour, mingled with 
gaiety. No man on either side of the 
house, doubted the firmness of the 
sovereign, or suspected him of abandon- 
ing his ministers from personal timidity. 



Each party therefore prepared to try 
their force, and both expressed themselves 
confldent of success. I can assert, how- 
ever, from the best authority, that if the 
contest had been maintained, it would, 
according to every probability, have ter- 
minated numerically in favour of adminis- 
tration. Robinson, then secretary of the 
treasury, and who knew better than any 
man, the secret of aifiiirs, has many 
times assured me, that government would 
have infallibly divided from fourteen to 
twenty majority, on the day when Lord 
North resigned ; Robinson having re- 
ceived the written assurances of attend- 
ance and support, from many members 
who were absent on the last question. 
Even various of the country gentlemen 
who had hitherto voted with opposition, 
hesitated, or refused, to push the struggle 
to the utmost extremity. They had put 
an end to the American war, which they 
reprobated ; and they wished for a change 
of men, as well as of measures, and of 
systems : but they wished it with mode- 
ration, and were averse to using the last 
expedients which the British Constitu- 
tion admits, lest the Constitution, or the 
state itself, should suffer in the shock. 

[20th March.] On the other hand, I 
know from authentic channels of infor- 
mation, that Lord North, during the last 
four months of his continuance in office, 
repeatedly tendered his resignation to 
the king; which his majesty as often de- 
clined, accompanying his refusal with 
the most gracious and encouraging ex- 
pressions. On Tuesday, the 19th of 
March, the first minister, apprehensive 
of the event of the debate which was 
fixed for the ensuing day, in the House 
of Commons, wrote to the kinu in the 
most decided terms, resigning his em- 
ployment; and his majesty being down 
at Windsor, Lord North despatched a 
messenger with the letter. When it 
arrived, the king was going out to hunt: 
having perused its contents, for which 
he was probably not unprepared, he 
calmly put it into his pocket, made no 
observation, and mounted his horse. 
But, he had not proceeded more than a 
few paces, when a page came running 
after him, to say that Lord North's 
messenger had received orders to bring 
back a reply. " Tell him," said the 
king, " that I shall be in town to-morrow 



288 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



morning, and will then give Lord North 
an answer." Two noblemen were with 
him at the time, one of whom was the 
late Duke of Dorset : the other, Lord 
Hinchinbrook (afterwards Earl of Sand- 
wich), related to me these particulars. 
Turning immediately to them, — " Lord 
North," observed his majesty, " has 
sent me in his resignation ; but I shall 
not accept it." If, however, the king 
was apprized of Lord North's intention 
or determination to resign, it was by no 
means known in London ; and on the 
morning of the very day, I believe that 
few individuals of either party entertained 
a doubt of the continuance of the strug- 
gle. Still less did any person conceive, 
that the first minister would sponta- 
neously lay down his office, without 
giving notice to his friends, and contrary 
to his own recent professions. He went 
soon after one o'clock, to the treasury, 
from whence he was to repair to St. 
James's, where the king, as usual, had 
a levee. Robinson told me, that pre- 
vious to his quilting the treasury cham- 
bers, they held a long conversation to- 
gether ; in the course of which, he 
showed Lord North, on paper, the names 
of those members who had promised to 
support him on the ensuing question, to 
the number of nine, ten, or eleven, at 
least ; not one of whom had been present 
in the preceding division. And he did 
not, iiimself, entertain the slightest sus- 
picion of the first minister's resignation ; 
from whom he received the most satis- 
factory assurances of his intention, in 
every case, to abide the issue of the ap- 
proaching debate. After standing to- 
getiier at the fire in the board-room, till 
Lord North's carriage drew up, they j 
parted about ten minutes after two 
o'clock ; the minister driving straight to 
St. James's, while the secretary, after 
despatching a variety of official business, 
rejjaired soon after four o'clock, to the 
House of Commons. 

It is probable that the conversation 
which took place between the king and 
Lord North on that occasion, was never 
minutely reported by either, to any third 
person : but we may safely assume, that 
his majesty endeavoured to prevail on 
his minister not to abandon him. Robin- 
son professed himself ignorant of all the 
particulars ; though he entertained no 



doubt that Lord North, whether from 
weariness and disgust, or apprehension 
of the consequences that might accrue to 
his sovereign, to himself, and to the 
country, had made up his mind as he 
drove to St. James's, to state at once to 
the king the determination that he had 
irrevocably embraced, of laying down 
immediately his power ; a resolution 
which he had notified under his hand, on 
the preceding day. It is certain that 
the interview between them was long, 1 
lasting above an hour and a half, with- f 
out any witness present; at the end 
of which time the minister withdrew, in 
order to attend the House of Commons. 
I have rarely witnessed so full an attend- 
ance, at so early an hour, as on that 
day ; not less than four hundred mem- 
bers having taken their seats before four 
o'clock, both parties appearing impatient 
to proceed to business. The only delay 
arose from the absence of the first minis- 
ter ; and he being every instant ex- 
pected to arrive from St. James's, all 
eyes were directed towards the door 
each time that it opened. The mem- 
bers on both sides, who, it vvas gene- 
rally understood, would speak in the 
course of the ensuing debate, were well 
known ; and as the ground of contro- 
versy had been so often gone over, as 
well as on account of many invalids who 
attended, and who were unable to remain 
long, it was thought that the question 
would be brought on before midnight. 

At length Lord North, entering in a 
full dressed suit, his ribband over his 
coat, proceeded up the house, amidst 
the incessant cry of " order, and places," 
As soon as he had reached the treasury 
bench, he rose, and attempted to address I 
the chair; but Lord Surrey, who had 1 
given notice of a motion for that day, 
being consequently in possession of the 
right to speak first, and having likewise |{ 
risen, a clamour began from all quar- ' 
ters, of the most violent description. In 
the course of this scene of disorder, 
Pitt, Fox, and various other members 
spoke to the point of order or prece- i 
deuce ; the opposition loudly demanding I 
that Lord North shouhl not be permit- 
led to address the house, or to propose 
an adjouri.ment, till the Earl of Surrey 
had been heard. The confusion lasted • 
for some minutes, with more or less 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



289 



violence, in defiance of every efTort made 
by the speaker to enforce silence ; un- 
til, in consequence of the earnestness 
with which the minister besought a iiear- 
ing, and some expressions relative to 
the importance of the communication 
that he had to make, which pervaded 
the tumult ; Fox having moved that 
" the E;irl of Surrey do now speak," 
Lord North availed himself of that pro- 
position, to obtain a priority. An instant 
silence succeeded to the late storm ; and 
as he prepared to begin his discourse, 
it might have been truly asserted that 

" his look 



Drew audience and attention still as night." 

After justifying himself from the impu- 
tation of having improperly occasioned 
the recent disorder, by the public notice 
given in the house, both of Lord Sur- 
rey's intended motion, and of its purport, 
he stated that he had come down on 
that day, in order to announce from au- 
thority, his majesty's determination to 
change his ministers. He should, him- 
self, form no obstacle to that consumma- 
tion ; and he therefore conceived it un- 
necessary to debate a question wliich 
had for its object a removal already pro- 
duced. Having then returned his ac- 
knowledgments to the house, for their 
long and steady support extended to 
him, he added : " A successor of greater 
abilities, of sounder judgment, and bet- 
ter qualified for his situation, it is easy 
to find. One more zealous for the glory 
and interests of his country, or more 
anxious to advance them ; animated by 
more loyally to his sovereign, or more 
desirous to pres.erve the Constilntion 
whole and invio/ate, may not be so 
easily found. The crown has deter- 
mined on choosing new ministers ; and 
I hope to Ciod, whoever they may be, 
they will embrace such measures as may 
extricate us from our present diflicullies, 
may render us happy at home, and suc- 
cessful abroad ! I know that I am re- 
sponsible fur my public conduct, when- 
ever my country calls on me to answer 
lor it. I do assure this assembly that I 
shall not run away, nor will I avoid any 
enquiry whicti they may think proper to 
institute respecting me." He concluded 
bv moving that the house should adjourn, 
25 



in order to allow his majesty time to 
make new ministerial arrangements. It 
is not easy to conceive the efiect which 
this declaration produced in a popular 
assembly, scarcely an individual of which 
did not hear it with lively sentiments of 
exultation or of concern, both which 
emotions were heightened by surprise. 

Fox having advised Lord Surrey not 
to withdraw, but to reserve his proi)osed 
motion, for the ensuing Monday, incase 
the minister's present declaration should 
not be fully and completely verified ; 
observed, that whoever might be the 
persons called to the councils of the 
crown, he should hold them infamous if 
they abandoned their principles, on ob- 
taining possession of power. He added, 
that as the house had now proved their 
abhorrence of a government of influence, 
the new ministers must ever bear in mind 
that fact, and remember that fo the house 
they owed their situations. Rigby, who 
probably was more prepared for Lord 
North's resignation, than most other in- 
dividuals present; after professing the 
highest respect for him, as a man and as 
a minister, yet admitted that " after the 
division of the preceding Friday, he was 
not only justified in laying down his 
office, but that he had, himself, advised 
the first lord of the treasury to retire. A 
majority of nine, opposed to a minority 
of two hundred and twenty-seven, which 
had grown out of the distresses of the 
country, in consequence of the war, 
must overbear any minister, let his abili- 
ties be ever so resplendent." " As for 
the new administration," continued he, 
" I hope it will be formed on a broad, 
solid basis ; and I sincerely wish they 
may prove equal to extricating the 
country. It has been asserted that some 
men can make peace better than others, 
and that the Americans will more readily 
treat with gentlemen on one side of this 
house, than with those who occupy the 
opposite benches. I shall be happy to 
find the prediction verified hy the fact.'''' 
These words were not forgotten, when 
it was ascertained how inefficient and 
unsuccessful Fox's attempts to open ne- 
gotiations with Holland and America, 
subsequently proved. 

Powis concurred with Fox, in ex- "^ 
horting Lord Surrey to suspend his mo- 
tion for a few days ; " but," added he, 



290 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



»♦ if by Monday next, every atom of the } 
present administration ; — those minis-] 
ters ivho are behind the curtain, as well i 
as the ostensible men; — the invisible 
as well as the visible agents, who have 
so long governed, and precipitated to the 
verge of destruction, this country, are 
not swept away ; then I shall wish my 
noble friend to renew his motion." The 
treasury bench observed a profound si- 
lence, neither Ellis, Dundas, nor Jen- 
kinson pronouncing a single word 
throughout the course of the debate. 
But a species of dialogue or interlude 
was exclusively performed by Burke and 
General Conway, which lasted a con- 
siderable time ; each complimenting the 
other on the situation which, it was pro- 
bable, they would respectively fill in the 
new order of things, under the govern- 
ment about to be formed. Burke, in- 
deed, disclaimed having any such views 
or expectations ; while Conway content- 
ed himself wiih only declaring that 
" whether he should be a minister, or a 
private member of parliament, he would 
always approve himself the determined 
enemy of corruption." AfTecling to 
moderate the tumultuous joy of his 
friends at this sudden change of affairs, 
Buike implored them " to be calm ; and 
to remember that the ministers who were 
retiring, did not quit office in conse- 
quence of any address to the throne car- 
ried on that day. They were neither 
tired of occupying their situations, nor 
was the sovereign weary of them ; and 
therefore the great work just achieved, 
would prove incomplete, if the indepen- 
dent members, who had effected it, did 
not support the ministers whom they 
themselves had raised to power." 

Lord North did not however remain 
without testimonies to his public talents, 
integrity, and virtues, even on this day 
of his fall. Sir John Delaval expressed 
his high admiration of that nobleman's 
great, as well as amiable qualities, and 
his regret that such abilities would now 
be lost to his country. Courtenay 
with great pertinacity and greater wit, 
addressed an audience which refused 
him a hearing ; and though he assured 
them that he was neither of a disposi- 
tion, or temper, or nation, to be intimi- 
dated, yet his voice could not surmount 
the impatient exultation of the opposi- 



tion benches. The tribute that he paid 
to the expiring minister, derived a pe- 
culiar zest, if I may so express myself, 
from the circumstance of Courlenay's 
having always lamented the American 
war, as inexpedient, impolitic, and even 
unjust. Indeed he animadverted with 
no little severity, both on the country 
gentlemen who had originally propelled 
or encouraged the attempt of parliament 
to tax America; and on the members 
seated opposite, whose clamorous and 
indecorous testimonies of satisfaction, 
overbore his voice; humorously com- 
paring the latter to Nell in the farce of 
" The Devil to Pay," when to her 
astonishment she wakes in Lady Love- 
rule's hed. Lord Surrey at length 
rising, acquiesced sullenly and reluc- 
tantly in the advice of his friends to 
postpone his motion ; which act he 
however accompanied with a menace, 
that if any part of the administration 
should remain in office upon the follow- 
ing Monday, he would come forward 
wiih a motion of a very different nature, 
and far more personal to ministers. 
This declaration was received with loud 
cheers. The house now unanimously 
agreed to adjourn to the subsequent 
Monday, the 25th of the month ; and 
the members, actuated by very opposite 
emotions, dispersed in all directions, to 
spread the intelligence through the 
capital. A more interesting scene had 
not been acted within the walls of the 
House of Commons, since February 
1741, when Sir Robert Walpole retired 
from power. Nor did the first minister 
of George the Second by any means 
display in the last moments of his 
l)olilical life, the equanimity, suavity, 
and dignity, manifested by his suc- 
cessor. Lord North ordered his coach 
to remain at the House of Commons in 
waiting, on that evening. In conse- 
quence of so unexpected an event as his 
resignation, and the house breaking up 
at such an early hour, the housekeeper's 
room became crowded to the greatest 
degree ; few persons having directed their 
carriages to be readv before midnight. In 
the midst of this confusion, Lord North's 
coach drove up to the door; and as he 
prepared to get into it, he said, turning 
to those persons near him, with that un- 
alterable good temper which never 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



291 



forsook liim, *' Good night, gentle- 
men, you see wlial it is to be iu the 
secret." 

However extraordinary nnd unexpect- 
ed Lord North's resignation appeared 
at the moment when it took place ; and 
however certain I esteem it, that he 
would liave carried the question, on the 
evening when he laid down his office, 
by a larger majority tlian had supported 
him on the preceding dehate of the 1 5th ; 
yet it must be admitied that he could as- 
sign, not only to himself, but to his 
sovereign, and to the country at large, 
many cogent, if not unanswerable rea- 
sons, for retiring from power. The na- 
tion, he well knew, was universally 
weary of a war, the misfortunes that had 
attended which, though originating in the 
very nature of the contest, and perhaps 
jusliv imputable to many other causes 
or persons, taiher than to him, were at- 
tributed principally to his errors or mis- 
management. He belield himself now 
engaged in fiostilities, direct or indirect, 
with half Europe, in addition to America. 
Ireland, availing itself of our enibarrass- 
rnents,, loudly demanded commercial and 
political eman3ipation. On every side, 
the empire appeared to be crumbling 
into ruin. Minorca, long invested, had 
already surrendered, some weeks earlier, 
after a defence protracted to the last ex- 
tremity. Gibraltar was closely besieged, 
Tn the East Indies, our difficulties, finan- 
cial, as well as military, threatened the 
total subversion of our wide extended 
authority in that quarter of the globe ; 
where Hyder Ally, though expelled by 
Sir Eyre Coote, from the vicinity of Ma- 
dras, still'maintained himself in thecentre 
of the Carnatic. If the first minister 
looked to the West Indies, the prospect 
appeared slill more big with alarm. St. 
Christopher's, attacked bythe Marquis de 
Bouille, might be hourly expected to 
surrender; and he had already re-cap- 
tured St. Eustatius, either by surprise, or 
by corrupting the officer who command- 
ed the orarrison. Among all the chain 
of Caribbee Islands which had belonged 
to the crown of Great Britain at the 
commencement of the war, only Antigua 
and Barbadoes remained. Such was our 
maritime inferiority, that Sir Samuel 
Hood, whose abilities had been vigor- 
ously exerted at the head of the fleet, to 



defend St. Christopher's, found himself 
unable to hazard an engaoreuient with De 
Grasse. Rodney had indeed sailed from 
England, with a considerable reinforce- 
ment, in the month of January, to join 
the British admiral at Barbadoes, But 
Lord North could not foresee, nor did 
the most sanguine adherents of Lord 
Sandwich venture to predict, the splen- 
did victory which Rodney obtained over 
De Grasse, scarcely more than three 
weeks after the resignation of the first 
minister. That naval triumph, which, 
if it had taken place sooner, might have 
saved the administration, only served to 
illustrate Lord Rockingham's short mi- 
nistry. 

Far from anticipating any such event, 
the most alarming apprehensions were 
entertained relative to the safety of Ja- 
maica itself. If the combined fleets of 
France and Spain in the West Indies, 
after the reduction of St, Ciiristopher's, 
should effect a junction, they would 
have exceeded fifty sail of the line ; 
while Rodney's whole force scarcely- 
amounted to more than thirty. And it 
was very doubtful whether such a junc- 
tion could be prevented by any exertion 
of vigilance, courage, or skill, Tlie loss 
of Jamaica would complete the measure 
of the national calamities, by involvin<j 
our commerce and our finances in al- 
most total ruin. Under such an accu- 
mulation of defeat and of disaster, the 
vengeance of the country might demand 
some victim ; and the leaders of oppo- 
sition, though neither sanguinary nor 
vindictive in their disposition, might be 
compelled to yield to the torrent of popu- 
lar indignation. Fox, as well as Burke 
and Barre, had in fact many times al- 
luded to the axe and the block, amongst 
the opprobrious epithets that they 
lavished on the ministerial errors ; and 
such menaces mieht be realized in a mo- 
ment of national depression or violence. 
The crown might be even unable to ex- 
tend protection to its servants ; and the 
scenes of the year 1641 mi<rht be re- 
newed under the reign of George the 
Third. That this picture is not exag- 
gerated, the history of the period which 
I am writing, sufficiently proves ; and 
however exempt from personal pusilla- 
nimity or apprehension we may sup- 
pose Lord North to have been, it was 



292 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



impossible that he could avert his view 
from these considerations, or not allow 
them their due weight over his mind. 
Though it seems to be indisputable that 
his final resolution to resign was at last 
somewhat suddenly embraced, yet the 
motives which led to it, had unquestion- 



ably long existed, and may fully explain, 
as well as justify, his conduct. 

The termination of Lord North's ad- 
ministration, and the close of the Ameri- 
can war, form a great era in the reign of 
George the Third. Here, therefore, I shall 
finish the second part of these Memoirs. 



PART THE THIRD. 



1782. — [21st — 27th March.] Lord 
North's resignation, preceded at only a 
short interval of time, by that of Lord 
George Germain; and followed, as it 
was, by the dismission of all the minis- 
terial adherents in every department, 
with the single exception of the chan- 
cellor; were in themselves events of the 
first national magnitude and importance. 
Their impression was augmented by the 
sudden and unexpected declaration of 
the first lord of the treasury in the House 
of Commons, that " his majesty's minis- 
ters were no more," at a moment when 
the most vigorous resistance on their 
part was universally considered as cer- 
tain. The younger portion of sorieiy 
scarcely remembered any other minister 
than Lord North ; and Lord Sandwich 
had presided nearly as long at the head 
of the admiralty. To the king, the for- 
mer of those noblemen was endeared by 
almost every personal quality or circum- 
stance which could render him accepta- 
ble in the closet, as well as useful in his 
public capacity. More than twelve 
years of almost daily intercourse, amidst 
scenes of perpetual disquietude and 
alarm, had cemented by the eff'ect of 
habit, the other motives for royal predi- 
lection. It may indeed be reasonably 
doubted, whether even Lord Bute's re- 
signation affected the sovereign so deeply 
or so painfully, as Lord North's retreat. 
Mr, Grenville's administration was re- 
garded by many persons, as a continua- 
tion of the preceding ministry, under 
another name ; whereas in 1782, the 
king could only anticipate a complete 
surrender. The individuals, the mea- 
sures, the reductions contemplated, ac- 
companied with the total renunciation of 
sovereignty over the revolted colonies ; 



all were alike odious, or disagreeable to |! 
the king. No man who attentively con- 
siders these facts, will hesitate in believ- 
ing that Lord North might probably 
have continued in power as long as Sir 
Robert Walpole had done, if the Ameri- 
can war had not intervened and over- 
turned him. Its duration, expense, cala- 
mities, and disgraces, became at length 
too overpowering to be surmounted by 
any human ability. However indispu- 
table I consider the parliamentary right 
of legislation over the American colonies 
to have been ; yet the attempt to enforce 
that right by arms ; or, as Burke deno- 
minated it, " the experiment of shearing 
the wolf," should unquestionably have 
been renounced after the capitulation of 
Saratoga. From the instant that France 
and Spain, listening to the impulse of a 
narrow, vindictive policy, and oblivious 
of all considerations except those of ani- 
mosity towards Great Britain, undertook 
to sustain by armies and fleets, ihe cause 
of insurrection ; we ought to have aban- 
doned the further prosecution of hostili- 
ties beyond the Atlantic. Probably, 
Lord North himself was not far removed 
from that opinion. We are at least in 
some measure warranted so to assume, 
from the tenor of his expressions in the 
House of Commons, when speaking on 
the subject, the last time that he rose as 
first minister, previous to his resignation. 
He yielded however to the majority of 
the cabinet, sustained by the wishes of 
the sovereign. 

The voles of the 22d, and 27th of 
February, followed by that of the 4th of 
March, had, it is true, incapacitated the 
first minister for continuing war against 
America. But no reason existed to pre- 
vent him from negotiating as successtully 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



293 



for the attainment of peace, as could he 
done by Lord Kookingham, or Lord 
Shelburne. He liad declared his perfect 
readiness to obey the orders of parlia- 
ment, though he disapproved, as a mea- 
sure of policy, the resolntions proposed 
and carried by General Conway. Nay, 
he had tlirected the attorney general to 
bring in a bill for enabling his majesty 
to conclude a peace or truce with the 
revolted colonies ; which proposition 
was actually made and adopted in a com- 
mittee of the whole house, on the 5lh of 
March, only fifteen days before his own 
resignation. Public opinion, however, 
seemed imperiously to demand a change 
of ministers, as well as of measures. 
Men, long accustomed to ill success, 
fondly imagined that they must benefit 
by the substitution of new names. Neither 
ihe health, nor the abilities of the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham, seemed, indeed, 
equal to sustaining the fatigues or the 
duties of government, at a period of such 
national depression. Towards the Earl 
of Shelburne, it is true that all eyes were 
directed, as a nobleman whose talents 
and information were peculiarly adapted 
to the critical emergency of public alTairs. 
Nor can we doubt, that if a cordial union 
and co-operation could have been effected 
between them and their respective adhe- 
rents ; an administration might have 
arisen, calculated to rescue the sovereign 
•and the country from their state of dis- 
tress. Fox and Burke acknowledged 
the marquis for their leader ; while Dun- 
ning and Barre looked up to the carl for 
prote(rtion. Of these four disiinguished 
persons, Fox only could in any degree 
be regarded as a free agent. Burke, 
having lost his seat at the last general 
election, as one of the representatives 
for the city of Bristol, owed to Lord 
Rockingham his present place in the 
House of Commons, being returned for 
Malton. Cable sent to parliament, both 
Dunning and Barre. Fox having not 
only succeeded in Westminster, but, 
being the only member competent to 
perform the active duties of the situation 
while his colleague Sir George Rodney 
was absent in the West Indies, might be 
considered as standing on a great emi- 
nence. If, to this circumstance we add 
liis birth, his connexions, the energies of 
his character, and his splendid talents of 
25* 



various kinds, he might doubtless have 
aspired to occupy in his own person, the 
oOices left vacant by Lord North. Mr. 
Pelham, and George Grenville, who, 
under the late and present reign, had 
been placed at the head of the treasury 
and of the exchequer, were only younger 
brothers of noble families. But the state 
of destitution to which Fox had reduced 
himself, and the mode by which he had 
effected it, operated to depress him be- 
low the level on which nature had placed 
him. Pitt, though like Fox, he possess- 
ed little or no patrimonial fortune, yet 
became first minister ; while Fox, with 
abilities equally eminent, never aspired 
beyond a second place in the govern- 
ment. The public voice, even under a 
sovereign of more relaxed morals than 
George the Third, would not, I am per- 
suaded, have permitted him to be [>iaced 
at the head of the finances. That place, 
it was evident, must be conferred on 
Lord Rockingham, or on Lord Shel- 
burne. Those persons who looked be- 
low the surface, and who knew how little 
personal communication existed between 
the two noblemen in question, how dis- 
similar were their opinions on many 
great points of policy, and by what dif' 
ferent adherents they were surrounded or 
impelled ; argued most unfavourably re- 
lative to the concord and duration of a 
ministry, formed under their joint aus- 
pices. 

The king, who upon every point was 
not less accurately informed than any of 
his subjects, finding himself abandoned 
by Lord North, as he had repeatedly 
been deserted at earlier periods of his 
reign, by other ministers, chose that evil 
which he esteemed to be the least in his 
situation. Well acquainted with the 
discordant materials of which the oppo- 
sition was composed, he sent to Lord 
Shelburne, to signify a desire of con- 
ferring with him, on the formation of a 
new administration: and when that 
nobleman attended his majesty for the 
purpose, the king proposed to him to ac- 
cept the place of first lord of the 
treasury. But Lord Shelburne, how- 
ever disposed he might be from inclina- 
tion, to comply with an offer so flatter- 
ing to his ambition ; felt too deeply 
conscious of his inability to maintain 
himself in power, independent of the 



294 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Rockingham party, to venture on its ac- 
ceptance. Having stated therefore, the 
necessity under which he lay of declin- 
ing so gratifying a distinction, at least 
for the present ; he urged the over- 



gloomy satisfaction at the intelligence 
imparled by Dunning, was adopted. 

The leaders of opposition were never- 
theless far from having surmounted all 
the impediments to their acquisition of 



ruling circumstances that no immediate I office ; and they soon discovered that 
alternative to the crown, except placing I the expulsion of Lord North, though it 
the Marquis of Rockingham at the head might open to them the door of the 
of the ministry. Sensible that he must cabinet, by no means secured the dura- 



submit to the measure, however painful, 
the king therefore, on the subs^uent 
day, desired Lord Rockingham's attend- 
ance. At the audience which took 
place, his majesty consented to the con- 
ditions on which the marquis insisted, 
before he would agree to accept office ; 
only attempting to stipulate as a prelimi- 
nary, that two of his actual ministers, 
namely, the chancellor and Lord Stor- 
mont, should be continued under the 
new administration. He could not 
however obtain such terms ; nor was it 
without some repugnance, and after 
considerable difficulty, that even Lord 
Thurlow was admitted to retain his situ- 
ation. A decided negative was put on 
the other nobleman, whom it was deter- 
mined by the Rockingham party, at all , 
events to exclude from any cabinet 
office. In the king's situation, as he 
could neither contest nor protract, a few 
days sufficed to terminate the negotia- 
tion : but throughout every stage of it, 
a marked preference was exhibited to- 
wards Lord Shelburne. When the 
House of Commons, pursuant to its ad- 
journment, met again on the 25lh of 
March, an adherent of that nobleman 
(not a friend of the marquis, his com- 
petitor for power), was selected and 
authorised to communicate the state of 
affairs at St. James's. Dunning, who, 
forty-eight hours afterwards, kissed his 
majesty's hands on being created a peer, 
informed the members whom curiosity 
or anxiety had brought down in greai 
numbers to Westminster, that arrange- 
ments for the formation of a new admi- 
nistration, which, he trusted, would 
meet the wishes of the house and of the 
nation, were in considerable forward- 
ness. In order to allow time for their 
eomplele accomplishment, he moved 
that another short adjournmei.t should 
ake place, to Wednesday, the 27ih. 
The motion, after a few words from 
Lord Surrey, expressive of a sort of 



bility of their administration. From the 
first moment that the new competitors 
for power appeared at St. James's, in- 
extinguishable jealousies arose, and mu- 
tual distrust manifested itself on every 
occasion. With difficulty could they 
be prevented from immediately proceed- 
ing to an open rupture ; and the exter- 
nal appearances of political union, which 
had been preserved during several years 
of parliamentary opposition, dissolved 
as soon as they came to divide the 
ministerial objects of plunder, or to dis- 
pute for preference in the royal favour. 
The Marquis of Rockingham, conscious 
that though he might ostensibly be 
placed at the head of the new adminis- 
tration, yet the king regarded him and 
his adherents with sentiments of aliena- 
tion ; while he considered Lord Shel- 
burne with regard, and treated him with 
confidence; took umbrage at the distinc- 
tion. In this situation of affairs, before 
the formation of the new cabinet, an in- 
cident which displayed the superior in- 
terest that Lord Shelburne possessed at 
court, nearly terminated at once the com- 
pact by which Lord North had been 
expelled, and consequently involved the 
whole embryo ministry in total confu- 
sion. 

[27th March — 7th April.] Scarcely 
could the administration be said indeed 
with propriety, as yet to have any real 
existence: for, though Mr. Fox and 
Lord Shelburne had been named secre- 
taries of state ; and though Lord Cam- 
den had accepted the presidency of the 
council, while the Duke of Grafton was 
made privy seal ; yet neither the new 
boards of treasury nor of admiralty were 
constituted. Lord John Cavendish alone 
had been sworn in, as the new chancellor 
of the exchequer: but, the Marquis of 
Rockingham, and Admiral Keppel, who 
were destined to preside at the vwo 
boards, were not as yet regularly appoint- 
ed. The post of commander-in-chief of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



295 



the forces, as well as the master-general of 
the ordnance, both which liati commonly 
or frequently been cabinet offices, still 
remained vacant. No individual had 
been proposed to be raised to the peer- 
age ; when Lord Shelburne, availing 
himself of the facility which he enjoyed 
of access to the sovereign, induced his 
majesty to confer the dignity of a baron, 
on his friend and adherent, Dunning. 
The business iiself, which neither the 
king, nor Lord Shelburne, communicated 
to the Marquis of Rockingham ; was 
managed with such dexterity, as well as 
silence and despatch, that the first inti- 
mation received of it, even by the per- 
sons about the court, arose from Dun- 
ning's kissing the king's hand at the 
levee, on his creation. But, no sooner 
had the intelligence became known, than 
it produced the most violent fermentation 
and resentment among all the Rocking- 
ham party. Considering their chief as 
equally overreached and insulted by the 
proceeding, since it was evident that 
Lord Slielburne could effect for his foK 
lowers, objects of the highest importance, 
which proved to the public his superior 
and exclusive ascendancy at St. James's ; 
they determined on exacting immediate 
reparation. 

Under this impression, several of the 
leading persons, among whom were Fox, 
Burke, and George Byng, having re- 
paired to Lord Rockingham's house in 
Grosvenor-square, a sort of tumultuary 
consultation was there held on the occa- 
sion. They unanimously agreed that 
the first lord of the treasury would be ai 
once dishonoured in the cabinet, and 
disgraced in the public estimation ; if 
the secretary of state, so much his infe- 
rior in oflioial rank, could thus, without 
his knowledge or participation, dispose 
of the highest dignities to his own adhe- 
rents. It was maintained, that the re- 
paration ought to be no less public, than 
the affroni ; and that in order to wipe it 
away, some individual must be without 
delay raised to the peerage, at Lord 
Rockingham's personal recommendation. 
This resolution being adopted, it was 
next debated whom to choose for the 
honour. The selection fell on Sir Fletcher 
Norton, late Speaker of the House of 
Commons : not, indeed, so much from 
inclination, as from necessity ; no other 



person appearing equally proper to be 
created a peer at the same time with 
Dunning, as Sir Fletcher: they being, 
both, lawyers of great eminence in their 
profession, members of the House of 
Commons, speaking, as well as voting, 
in decided opposition to the late govern- 
ment, and rival candidates for power or 
office. 

On the following day, Thursday, the 
28th of Manh, the new first lord of the 
treasury repaired therefore to St. James's, 
Having obtained an audience of the king, 
he represented the impossibility of his 
continuing at the head of the intended 
administration, after the elevation of Mr. 
Dunning to a peerage, on Lord Shel- 
burne's recommendation, unless his ma- 
jesty should be graciously pleased to 
confer the same mark of royal favour on 
one of his own friends. After some 
hesitation, the king, apprehensive of the 
consequences to himself and to the public 
tranquillity, if Lord Rockingham and his 
followers should suddenly resign, as 
they menaced ; and aware that Lord 
Shelburne could not support himself 
alone ; signified his assent to the propo- 
sition : adding, that the person named, 
Sir Fletcher Norton, might kiss his hand 
at the first levee. But, the marquis 
peremptorily insisted on that ceremony 
immediately taking place on the same 
day. In vain the king stated the singu- 
larity and impropriety of such an act, 
contrary to all the usages of established 
court etiquette, inasmuch as no individual 
ever was known to be presented at the 
queen's drawing room, by wliatever 
title, till he had previously been received 
under that denomination, at the levee. 
Lord Rockingham signified in reply, re- 
spectfully but tenaciously, thatevery form 
must give way on the present occasion ; 
and he exacted compliance. Sir Fletcher 
being brought forward, actually kissed 
his majesty's hand on his creation as a 
baron, by the title of Lord Grantley, the 
same day, in the drawing room, to the 
no small astonishment of the oldest 
courtiers ; and hardly less so of the 
newly created peer himself, who having 
been apprized of this extraordinary ele- 
vation, alltnded for the purpose at St. 
James's, on the previous notice of only 
a few hours. No instance of such a 
breach of established usage has occurred, 



296 



either before or since, in 
the present reign. 

This subject of contest being thns 
regulated, and the Rockingham party 
triumphant, the new adniinis.tration was 
at length formed, though of very hetero- 
geneous materials. Instead of nine indi- 
viduals, who constituted Lord North's 
cabinet, eleven were now admitted ; the 
third secretaryship of state, namely, 
that for tlie colonies, lately occupied by 
Lord Sackville, being extinguished. 
General Conway, as the recompense of 
his late distinguished services in parlia- 
ment, was placed at the head of the 
army. The separation of the office of 
first lord of tiie treasury, from that of 
chancellor of the exchequer, made way 
for Lord John Cavendish's entrance into 
the cabinet ; and the introduction of the 
master general of the ordnance, who had 
not been admitted under Lord North, 
brought in the Duke of Richmond: while, 
in order to oppose some little balance to 
the preponderating ascendancy of the 
marquis's friends. Lord Ashburton, late 
Mr. Dunning, contrary to general usage 
or precedent, was admitted to a seat, in 
quality of chancellor of the Duchy of 
Lancaster. The transition was doubt- 
less great in every instance ; but in that 
of Dunning, peculiarly striking; who, 
from a barrister of obscure birth, though 
of transcendent talents, beheld himself 
transformed, in the space of a few hours, 
into a peer, a member of the cabinet, and 
the possessor for life of a lucrative, as 
well as honorable legal dignity. 

The other great objects of ambition or 
acquisition, were shared with tolerable 
equality, among the friends of the two 
principal leaders. Tiie Earl of Carlisle 
was replaced, as Lord Lieutenant of Ire- 
land, by the Duke of Portland. Rigby, 
who during near fourteen years, had en- 
joyed the prodigious etnoluments of the 
pay office, without any colleague, relin- 
quished that enviable and lucrative post 
to Burke; whose brother, Richard, was 
likewise made one of the two secretaries 
of the treasury. Welbore Ellis, fallen 
in an instant from his double elevation 
of secretary of state and treasurer of the 
navy, made way for Barre in the latter 
employment; thus verifying Dundas's 
prediction of the Irish tvarmin^ pan : 
while Jenkinson was succeeded, as 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

— • — 

the course of 



secretary at war, by Mr. Thomas Town- 
send. Kenyon became attorney general. 
We were colleagues for the borough of 
Hindon, in that parliament. He pos- 
sessed a deep and recondite knowledge 
of the law, the result of severe applica- 
tion ; and was supposed to be consulted 
by the chancellor on all cases that arose 
of legal difficulty. It was, indeed, to 
Lord Thurlow's friendship, and the high 
opinion entertained by him of Kenyon's 
ability, that the latter was indebted, in 
an eminent degree, for being brought 
forward in political life. Though he 
loved wealth, he was not naturally an 
ambitious man. I know that he reluc- 
tantly consented to become a member of 
the House of Commons, and that he 
was more than indifferent to his continu- 
ance in that assembly. His inflexible 
love of justice rendered him superior to 
parly attachments, or to party sacrifices; 
and he was fabricated of such tough mar 
terials that you might bre;ik him, but 
could never bend him. Gascoigne, un. 
der Henry the Fourth, or Sir Matthew 
Hale, under Cromwell, were not more 
intrepid and tenacious of right, 

I cannot forget his expressions, when 
the question was agitated in the House 
of Commons, whether the public had or 
had not, a title to demand interest on the 
balances of money remaining in the 
hands of public accountants. It took 
place, — I mean the debate on the sub-?' 
ject, — in the month of June, 1782, 
when Fox might be esteemed first mi^ 
nisler, though Lord Rockingham was at 
the head of the treasury. And Fox's 
opinions were well known to be in 
favour of the accountants. For he al- 
ways maintained that, " when a balance 
of public money lay in the hands of a 
public functionary, all which the country 
or parliament were entitled to expect 
from him, was, that whenever the money 
should be demanded, it should be forth- 
coming." These were nearly Fox's 
words, who never forgot that his father 
had been paymaster of the forces ; that 
he had made a vast profit of those bar 
lances; and that liis accounts remained 
unsettled for many years subsequent to 
his disease. But Kenyon, then attorney 
general, thought very differently on the 
point, "I never will preclude myself," 
said he, when addressing the house from 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



297 



the treasury bench, " from a full right to 
discuss in a court of justice, the question 
of whether the public may not call on 
their servants to account for, antl to re- 
fund, the great emoluments made by 
means of public money. I speak not 
from ill will to any man alive ; but 
solely from a sense of duty in an office 
which I have, undeservedly, as well as 
unexpectedly, been called to fill. I 
know not how long 1 may continue in 
it ; but if I should be dismissed from my 
present situation, I shall return to much 
domestic happiness, which I enjoyed be- 
fore I was called into public life. So 



being thus liberated from the inabilities 
which his surrender at Saratoga had in- 
flicted on him, was sent to replace Sir 
John Irvvine, as commander in chief in 
Ireland. 

The Duke of Bolton, as a compensa- 
tion for the service which he liad ren- 
dered in the session of 1781, by arraign- 
ing in the House of Peers, the conduct 
of the first lord of the admiralty, was 
made governor of the Isle of Wight. 
During his elder brother's life, when 
only Lord Harry Powlett, he had serv- 
ed in the royal navy, where, however, 
he acquired no laurels ; and he was 



long, however, as I may remain in it, I j commonly supposed to be the " Captain 



am determined to do my duty." 



Whitlie" portrayed by Smollet, in his 



A man composed of such stuff, might Roderic Random." Sheridan received 



look down on ministers. When Mr. 
Eden only ventured to suppose, that in 
his conduct relative to Kigby and Ellis, 
who (as having been, the one, paymaster 
of the forces, and the other, treasurer of 
the navy), were, both, largely indebted 



the appointment of one of the underse- 
cretaries of state in Fox's office ; who 
having taken for himself ihe foreign de- 
partment, left the home secretaryship to 
Lord Shelhurne; a partition, by no 
means grateful to the latter personage, 



to the public ; he could be actuated by whose extensive information on all sub- 
any personal feelings or motives, Kenyon jects connected with continental or 
instantly took fire. " I hope," said he, ^ foreign affairs, qualified him eminently 
with great emotion, after justifying him- for that line of political employment, 
self from the imputation, " the right Mr. Orde became his under secretary, 
honorable gentleman does not look into Of all the ostensible candidates for public 



his own heart, to find out the motives 
which actuate me on the present occa- 
sion." Lord North endeavoured to ex- 
plain Eden's expression ; but the attor- 
ney general made no answer. Little 
conversant with the manners of polite 
life, Kenyon retained, even when lord 
chief justice of the King's Bench, to 
which high dignity he afterwards rose. 



situation, whose birth and talents seemed 
to call him forward to the service of the 
state, and whose eloquence in parlia- 
ment had eminently conduced to the tri- 
umph obtained over the late administra- 
tion, Mr. Pitt, alone remained without 
post or remuneration. Not that the new 
ministers manifested either insensibility 
to his merits, or indifference to securing 



all the original coarse homeliness of his such abilities in their immediate support, 
early habits. Irascible in his temper, On the contrary, as ihe best proof of 



like his countrymen, the Welsh ; desti 
tute of all refinement in dress or external 
deportment, parsimonious even in a de- 
gree approaching to avarice ; he never- 
theless more than balanced these defects 



their consideration, they offered him the 
place of a lord of the treasury, in the 
formation of the new board. But, in 
making him this proposition, they ap- 
peared to have ill appreciated his charac- 



of deportment and character, by strict ter, as well as to have forgotten his late 



morality, probity, and integrity. As a 
member of the House of Commons, 
whenever he spoke, though he wanted 
grace and dignity, he could not be re- 
proached with any deficiency in the es- 
sential qualities of perspicuity, energy 



declaration in the house; and least of all 
to have understood the extent, as well as 
the depth, of his ambition. Pitt steadily 
rejected every proposition or solicitation, 
preferring to remain for the present 
without office. Whether this refusal ori- 



and command of language. General ginated in his consciousness of possess- 

Burgoyne, whose exchange had at length ing r'taleiits, which, from their pre-emi- 

been effected against Laurens, the late nence, enabled him at once to seize a 

president of the American congress ; cabinet place, without passing, like other 



298 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

— *—~ 



men, through any inferior gradations of 
political life ; or, whether it rather pro- 
ceeded from that superior intelligence 
and discernment, which even at so early 
a period of youth, showed him that a 
ministry imbued with such discordant 
principles, and odious to the sovereign, 
could not possibly pro"e of long dura- 
tion ; it may be difficult to determine 
with certainty. Probably, both those 
sentiments concurred in regulating this 
judicious line of action. 

Charles Turner, member for the city 
of York, and one of the most eccentric 
men who ever sate in parliament, ac- 
cepted a baronetcy from the Marquis of 
Rockingham. He was a man of large 
landed property, situated in Yorkshire, 
on the southern bank of the Tees, near 
the edge of the Bishopric of Durham. 
Lord Rockingham could not boast of a 
more enthusiastic or devoted adherent 
in either house; but Turner's attach- 
ment was not bestowed on his rank or 
power. The constitutional principles 
which that nobleman professed, and 
those only, constituted the objects of 
Turner's veneration. It was to com- 
memorate, as he said, the era of a virtu- 
ous minister and administration attaining 
to power, not from any impulse of per- 
sonal vanity, or desire of title, that he 
accepted a dignity which should date 
and derive from the auspicious period of 
Lord Rockingham's nomination to the 
head of the treasury. Sir Charles had 
many peculiarities of character, dress, 
language, and deportment, in all which 
he was truly original. He never wore 
any coat, except one of a green colour, 
with tally-ho buttons, — for he was a 
decided sportsman. Yet the love of 
liberty, and detestation of every en- 
croachment on the comforts, pleasures, 
or enjoyments of his fellow subjects, 
particularly in the lower classes of so- 
ciety, was so ardent in his bosom, that 
he declaimed airainst the game laws as 
the most oppressive and disgraceful to 
our national character. I remember, in 
the month of February of this very year, 
1782, Mr. Coke, member for Norfolk, 
having proposed in the house a revisal 
of those laws, with a view to prevent 
poaching, which motion was seconded 
by the other representative for the same 
county, Sir Edward Astley ; Turner m- 



stantly rose, and in animated, though 
unpolished language, inveighed against 
the whole code, which he stigmatised 
without reservation. " It is most shame- 
ful," exclaimed he, " to find this house 
perpetually occupied in making laws to | 
protect gentlemen. I wish we made a 
few for the benefit of the poor ! Let the 
legislature extend protection to ^/iCTW, and 
the gentry will have nothing to fear 
from their depredations. If I had been 
a poor man, I am convinced that I should 
have been a poacher, in defiance of the 
laws. It is to the severity of those laws 
we owe the increase of poachers. I 
wish to see the game laws revised, and 
stripped of more than half their severity. 
My wish, nevertheless, is by no means 
an interested one : for every shilling 
that I possess is in land, and I am a 
sportsman as well as other gentlemen." , 
There existed not in the kingdom a more 
determined enemy of the American war, 
or of Lord North. Turner did not want 
good sense, nor was he destitute of edu- 
cation ; but the simplicity, asperity, and 
untutored roughness of his ebullitions, 
always produced laughter. " 'i'hey 
call us a rope of sancW^ said he, mean- 
ing the opposition. " I will tell the 
noble lord in the blue ribband, what he 
and his colleagues are. They are a 
rope of onions ; — for they stink in the 
nostrils of the whole country." He did 
not long survive liis elevation to a baron- 
etcy, dying in the subsequent year, 
1783. Turner bore some resemblance 
to Fielding's Sqtdre Western; but with 
far more benevolence, probity, philan- 
thropy, and general humanity, than 
Sophia^s father possessed. 

[[8th April.] Never was a more total 
change of costume beheld than the 
House of Commons presented to the 
eye, when that assembly met for the de- 
spatch of business, after the Easter re- 
cess. The treasury bench, as well as 
the places behind it, had been for so 
many years occupied by Lord North and 
his friends, that it became difficult to 
recognise them again in their new seats, 
dispersed over the opposition benches, 
wrapped in great coats, or habited in 
frocks and boots. Mr. Ellis himself, 
no longer secretary of state, appeared for 
the first time in his life, in an undress. 
To contemplate the ministers, their sue- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



299 



cesaors, emerged from their obscure 
lijtlgiiigs, or from Brookes's, having 
thrown off their bUie and biilT uniforms ; 
now ornamented wiili the append;iges ol' 
full dress, or relnrning from conn, de- 
corated with swords, lace, and hair pow- 
der, exciled still more astonishment. 1 
confess that it appeared to me the most 
extraordinary revolution I ever witnessed; 
and the members of llie new administra- 
tion seemed, themselves, not to have 
recovered from their surprise at being 
thus suddenly transported across the 
floor of the house. Even some degree 
of ridicule attached to this extraordinary 
and sudden metamorphosis, which af- 
forded subject for conversation, no less 
than food for mirth. It happened that 
just at the time when the clian<j;e of ad- 
ministration took place, Lord Nugent's 
house, in Great George-street, having 
been broken open, was robI)ed of a va- 
riety of articles ; among others, of a 
number of pairs of laced ruffles. He 
caused the particulars of the effects 
stolen to be advertised in some of the 
daily newspapers, where they were mi- 
nutely specified with great precision. 
Coming down to the House of Com- 
mons, immediately after the recess, a 
gentleman who accidentally sate next to 
him, asked his lordsiiip if he had yet 
made any discovery of the articles re- 
cently lost ? " I can't say that I have," 
answered he, " but I shrewdly suspect 
that I have seen some of my laced ruf- 
fles on the hands of the gentlemen who 
now occupy the treasury bench." This 
reply, the effect of which was infinitely 
increased by the presence of Fox and 
Burke in their court dresses, obtained 
general circulation, and occasioned no 
little laughter. 

All eyes were for some minutes di- 
rected towards the part of the house 
where the new ministers, occupied in 
taking the oaths on their re-election, en- 
grossed universal attention. But no 
sooner had that ceremony been com- 
pleted, than Colonel Luttrell (now Ear) 
of Carhampton), rising, solicited the no- 
nce of the assembly to the affairs of Ire- 
land, wtiich, from their critical position, 
he said, admitted of no delay. He called 
at the same time on Mr. Eden, secretary 
for that kingdom, then in his place, to 
explain their nature, and the embarrass- 



ment in which they were involved. 
Eden instantly obeyed the summons ; 
and in a .speech of considerable length, 
well digested, and by no means destitute 
of ability, laid open the alarniing fermen- 
tation, approaching to emancipation from 
all dependence on the king and parlia- 
ment of Great Britain, by which every 
class of inhabitants was animated in the 
sister island. With one voice, he said, 
they declared their determination no 
longer to submit to any legislation, ex- 
cept tliat of the sovereign ami parliament 
of Ireland ; concluding, by a motion for 
leave to bring in a bill to repeal so much 
of the act of the 6th of George the First, 
as asserted a right in the government of 
this country to make laws for Ireland. 
" I do not wish," added he, " to preci- 
pitate matters ; but not an instant is to 
be lost. I must set off for Dublin, this 
night, or to-morrow morning. The 
Irish parliament meets in eight days 
from the present time, and Mr. Grattan 
will immediately propose a declaration 
of rights. I shall be happy, therefore, 
to carry over the pleasing intelligence, 
that tlie legislature of this country is ready 
to give every reasonable satisfaction to 
the Irish parliament and people. 

Eden's motion being eajjerly seconded 
from various sides of the house, the new 
secretary of state rose, and addressed the 
assembly, in language of great animation, 
accompanied with visible emotion. Hav- 
ing reprobated the line of conduct adopted 
by Mr. Eden, as equally factious, inju- 
rious, and censurable, in thus unexpect- 
edly introducing a proposition of such 
magnitude, whose operation might tear 
asunder the political ties that united the 
two kingdoms ; he threw himself and 
his colleagues in the new cabinet, on the 
candour of the house, for protection. 
He protested that, though scarcely in- 
ducted, yet they had already employed 
much of their time in consultation on the 
affairs of Ireland. Before many days, or 
perhaps hours, would elapse, they hoped 
to bring forward a proposition calculated 
to restore harmony and concord between 
the two countries. Against the Ute ad- 
ministration Fox declaimed with great 
asperity, as having by their criminal 
negligence and procrastination produced 
the actual calamity. On Eden himself, 
the secretary was most severe, for quit- 



300 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ting his post, and repairing to London, 
obviously with no other intention lliaii 
that of involving the new ministers in 
difficullie.-;, before they could possibly be ' 
prepijred to produce an adequate remedy. ' 
Fox terminated by moving the order of 
the day, though he exhorted Mr. Eden 
to withdraw his motion; but, he, far j 
from manifesting a disposition to comply, | 
repeated his intimation of leaving Eng- 1 
land without delay : adding, that if the | 
motion which he had just submitted to; 
the house, was not adopted, it might be j 
loo late to avoid a rupture between the i 
two countries. ! 

Irritated at such pertinacity on his 1 
part, vvliich evidently originated in mis- j 
chievous intentions towards theadminis- \ 
tration, and might be productive of most i 
injurious ed'ects to the public ; several 
members, either connected with ministry, 
or composing part of the cabinet, sue- ; 
cessively interposed, and endeavoured to 
enforce Fox's exhortation. Eden never- 
theless treating these applications with 
silence or disregard. General Conway, 
after reiterating the request, and finding 
it received m a similar manner, appealed 
to the house against him, as highly me- 
riting a vote of censure for his conduct. 
So strong, indeed, was that impression, 
and such the sentiment of condemnation 
excited, that while Conway spoke, a loud 
and universal cry of " Move ! Move ! 
Tower ! Tower !" echoed from every 
part of the assembly. I joined in it, 
myself, almost involuntarily ; as did 
numbers of other persons, who were not 
at all attached to the new ministers ; but, 
who felt nevertheless the censurable 
spirit of the motion, thus suddenly brought 
forward from motives of personal enmity 
or hostility. Indeed, I am persuaded, 
that if Conway had availed himself of 
the eflervescence, not to say indignation, 
which pervaded both sides of the house, 
and had moved to send Mr. Eden to the 
Tower, it would have been adopted, 
unless that gendeman had prevented it 
by a prompt submission and apology. 

The discussion still continuing, without 
any approximation to the object sought, 
Mansfield, the late solicitor general, en- 
deavoured to defend, if not to justify, 
Eden's proceeding ; though he himself 
at length seemed inclined to capitulate, 
on the stipulation of receiving from Fox, 



a solemn assurance that the obnoxious 
act of George the First shouhi be repealed. 
This demand called up Sheridan, who 
speaking for llie first time in his life 
from the treasury bench, inveighed with 
equal energy and acrimony, against the 
extraordinary conduct of the secretary 
for Ireland. That functionary, Sheridan 
said, deserting his duly, animated solely 
by private pique and resentment, had not 
only withheld from his majesty's present 
ministers, all the information of which 
he must be in possession ; but attempted 
to exasperate the slate of things, by a 
proposition big with pernicious conse- 
quences to the two kingdoms. It was 
not however till Cornwall prepared to 
put the question from the chair, that 
Ellen finding the house generally adverse 
to him ; receiving no support from Lord 
North, though that nobleman was pre- 
sent ; evidently entangled in his own 
web; and exposed to some censure for 
the line of action which he had adopted 
on this occasion, reluctantly consented 
to withdraw his motion. Far from hav- 
ing succeeded in embarrassing the nevr 
ministers, he had afi"orded them an oc- 
casion of acquiring some degree of popu- 
larity, or at least, parliamentary appro- 
bation, at their outset. Fox, in parti- 
cular, by the manly promptitude of hia 
reply, by his declarations of the system 
which the cabinet meant to follow, and 
ihe protestations of their fixed intention 
to execute all their promises of reform 
made before they entered on oflice, pro- 
duced a most favourable impression on 
the public mind. • 

AVith the external insignia of power 
and employment, he seemed to have as- 
sumed in an instant, the tone, the lan- 
guage, and the sentiments of a minister 
of state ; though he could not, even if he 
had been so inclined, immediately aban- 
don the doctrines or the engagements, to 
which he had solemnly pledi^ed himself 
during successive years of opposition. 
On the following day, he brought down 
a message from the crown, recommending 
the immediate consideration of the affairs 
of Ireland, with a view to such a final 
adjustment, as might give mutual satis- 
faction to both countries. It was adopted 
without a dissentient voice, or ihe slight- 
est hesitation. In the progress of his 
speech on the occasion, he again alluded 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



301 



with severity, " to the palliatives which 
the late administration," he said, " had 
used in treating the subjects of contest 
existing between Great Britain and her 
sister Ireland, merely in order to obtain 
the unworthy advantage of a temporary 
suspension of tiie evil. His majesty's 
present ministers came, on the contrary, 
with minds made up to meet the main 
question, to settle the distinct constitu- 
tions of the two countries, and to esta- 
blish such a union or connexion between 
them, as might endure for successive 
ages." A. loyal address was voted to 
the sovereign, re-echoing his gracious 
message , and the ministry appeared to 
commence their career at home under 
very favourable auspices, at least within 
the walls of the House of Commons, 

Even the drawing room at St. James's 
underwent considerable alteration in its 
appearance, as well as the houses of 
parliament, in consequence of the 
political revolution which has driven 
the late ministers from power. The 
Earl of Hertford, one of the " ancient, 
most domestic ornaments" of the court, 
who had held the white wand of cham- 
berlain for more than fifteen years, and 
whose presence in the circle seemed, 
from long habit, almost essential to its 
very existence ; of course disappeared. 
The Duke of Manchester succeeded 
him. Lord Effingham, a nobleman of 
great eccentricity of deportment, whose 
name, since the riots of June, 1780, had 
scarcely been pronounced on tlie theatre 
of public life, became treasurer of the 
household, in the place of Lord Salis- 
bury. No individual, dismissed in con- 
sequence of the change of administra- 
tion, was more personally regretted by 
the king, than Lord Bateman, who had 
held, during many years, the post of 
master of the buck hounds. I had the 
honour to know him with great inti- 
macy. The frankness and gaiety of his 
disposition, rendered his society pecu- 
liarly agreeable to the sovereign. Lord 
Baieman's descent on the maternal side 
was very illustrious ; his mother having 
been grand daughter to John, Duke of 
Marlborough, and sister to llie second 
duke of that name. By his paternal 
ancestors, he inherited only civic 
honours ; his grandfather. Sir James 
Bateman, being knighted when Lord 
26 



Mayorof London, under George the First. 
At near seventy years of age, liOrd 
Bateman preserved all the activity of 
youth, accompanied by an elasticity of 
mind and character which never forsook 
him. He might have been reinstated 
in the employment of master of the buck 
hounds, under succeeding' administra- 
tions : but he preferred tlie enjoyment 
of personal liberty, and passed the last 
years of his life principally at his seat 
of Shobden, in the county of Hereford. 
His understanding was good, but he 
loved pleasure of every description, 
more than business ; and he possessed 
that mediocrity of talents, which, never 
inspiring awe, forms the best recom- 
mendation to royal favour. Curiosity 
was so strongly excited to see the new 
ministers, and to mark the demeanour of 
persons, who during many years had 
rarely stood in the presence of the sove- 
reign, or frequented St. James's ; thai 
numerous individuals attended the levee 
and the drawing room, from no other 
motive. Those who had always specu- 
lated on the short duration of the present 
administration, derived additional proofs 
in favour of their opinion, from the very 
looks and reciprocal deportment of the 
principal personages. Every attention 
shown by the king to Lord Shelburne, 
excited the instant jealousy of the Rock- 
ingham party, and hastened their final 
separation. Time alone, indeed, was 
necessary for making the political ar- 
rangements, indispensable before the 
former nobleman could venture to throw 
oft' his subjection to his colleagues, 
and to set up for himself, as first mi- 
nister. 

[9th — 25th April,] Previous to 
Lord North's resignation, Mr, Fox 
had more than once insinuated in the 
House of Commons, that if lie were 
minister, he possessed the means of 
making a separate treaty with the 
Dutch, and of detaching them from 
France, His friends did not even 
scruple to assert, that " he had a peace 
with Holland in his pocket," Expres- 
sions, which being uttered in a period of 
misfortune and despondency, could not 
fail of producing a forcible impression 
on the sanguine, as well as on the 
credulous, part of society. One of his 
first attempts, as secretary of state for 



302 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



toreign affairs, became in fact directed to 
the aitaiiimenl of so salutary and import- 
ant an object In order to effect it, he 
thought proper to address a letter to 
Mons, Siniulin, the Russian minister, 
then residing at liie court of London ; 
niakinuf through him, the offer of an 
immediate suspension of hostilities be- 
tween Great Britain anil Holland, as a 
step i)reparatory to negotiation. This 
proposal was afterwards warmly reiter- 
ated and seconded, by the ambassadors 
of Catherine the Second at the Hajjue. 
But instead of the nation deriving any j 
benefit from Fox's hasty overture, it 
was received by the stales general with 
coldness, and treated with contempt ; 
they wisely preferring to negotiate in 
concert with France and Spain, when- 
ever a plan should be set on foot for 
general pacilication. Baffled in this ex- 
perin)ent, the cabinet next made propo- 
sitions at the court of Versailles, with a 
view to general accommodation ; and 
even sent Mr. Thomas Grenville, Earl 
Temple's brother, to Paris, for the pur- 
pose : while Admiral Digby and Sir 
Guy Carleton were despatched to Ame- 
rica, with instructions to offer an imme- 
diate acknowledgment of the independ- 
ence of the thirteen colonies. The Con- 
gress, however, as if animated by the 
same spirit with the Dutch, refused to 
receive any messenger, or even to grant 
a passport to the person deputed by the 
British commissioners, for commencing 
a negotiation. 

So conscious was the secretary of state, 
that some degree of ridicule attached to 
the failure of his attempt to open a treaty 
with Hulhuid, as to induce him to anti- 
cipate public opinion, by mentioning it 
in the Mouse of Commons. He judi- 
ciously prepared his audience for the dis- 
closure, by first loading Lord North's 
adminisiration with the severest epithets, 
as solely culpable, from their negligence 
or incapacity. Wretched and fallen as 
the country had been depictured," he 
said, *' by himself and his friends, before 
Ihey came into power, yet its real condi- 
tion intinitely exceeded even their own 
apprehensions. His former suspicions 
were poor and feeble in comparison with 
the fact. Our navy was so reduced and 
impotent, that he thought an enquiry 
ought to be set on foot, in order that the 



country might see the extent of the ca- 
lamity." Unfortunately for the secre- 
tary. Sir George Rodney, commanding 
the tleet sent out and equipped by Lord 
Sandwich, had already gained the glo- 
rious victory of the 12th of April, though 
the intelligence did not reach London 
before the middle of the month of May. 
Fox alluding next to his recent experi- 
ment for making peace with the Dutch, 
said, that owing to the incapable mea- 
sures and mismanagement of the late mi- 
nisters, the greatest impediments were 
thrown in the way of a treaty with Hol- 
land. If the present confidential servants 
of his majesty, had only been called to 
his councils some weeks ear/ier, it would 
have been effected." He concluded by 
repeating his accusations of Lord North, 
accompanied with the observation, that 
though no man was less vindictive than 
himself, yet self preservation would 
render it necessary to lay before parlia- 
ment, the deplorable stale of the nation. 
He probably imagined, that in the pros- 
trate position of the late minister's 
friends and supporters, these imputations 
would pass without contradiction or even 
observation. But the lord advocate of 
Scotland, impelled by the manly nature 
of his disposition, and not at all over- 
borne by the secretary's bold asser- 
tions, instantly rose to answer him. 
After exhorting the minister rather to 
promote concord and unanimity within 
those Walls, than to awaken dissension 
and ill-humour. " If," continued he, 
" our navy is really in the bad condition 
described by the right honorable gentle- 
man, or has been so grossly mismanaged 
as he pretends, the best way of proving 
his assertion, will be to produce a better 
navy. And if it was such a very easy 
operation as he asserted, to make peace 
both with Holland and America ; why 
does he not accomplish it, now that he 
and his colleagues have the conduct of 
the business exclusively in their own 
hands ? Or, if they are compelled to 
admit that impediments stand in the way, 
candour might induce them to suppose 
that their predecessors found similar ob- 
stacles, which prevented their attainment 
of the object." Fox made no reply to 
this animadversion of Dundas. However 
triumphanUy he conducted matters in 
parliament, where he experienced scarce- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



303 



ly any obstacle to his pleasure, it seemed 
impossible for him lo begin his foreign 
diplomatic labours more unsuccessfully, 
after having held outlo the country, either 
personally, or through the medium of his 
adherents, such delusive expectations. 

He found it much easier to induce the 
House of Commons to listen to his pro- 
positions, than to persuade or to concili- 
ate any of the belligerent powers. No 
opposition whatsoever was experienced 
from Lord North, who, though at the 
head of a routed parly, yet remained the 
nominal chief of a numerous body of 
men. He attended very regularly in his 
place, and might, if he had been so dis- 
posed, have greatly impeded, if not 
wholly prevented, many of the mea- 
sure.s of the new government. But far 
from throwing any obstacles in their 
way, he allowed them without molesta- 
tion to complete their projects of reform, 
in every direction. The king having 
sent a message to the house on the sub- 
ject, Burke opened the system of domes- 
tie retrenchment, by briiioring in anew 
his famous bill for the reduction of the 
civil list, so often proposed, and so often 
rejected, or eluded, in preceding ses- 
sions. Powis seconded the motion. The 
expressions adopted by both, when 
speaking of the part which the king per- 
formed in it, were not calculated to ren- 
der the measure itself more palatable to 
him. Secret influence was desionated 
clearly, as the latent evil which had so 
long separated the sovereign from his 
people. Burke congratulated the house 
and the country, that " the auspicious 
moment had at length arrived, when his 
majesty, liberated from the secret and 
pernicious counsel which interposed be- 
tween him and his subjects, now ad- 
dressed them in the pure and rich bene- 
volence of his own heart." Words, 
which in reality implied niore censure 
than commendation, since he had already 
reiu-ned above twenty years, without 
feeling or exerting this benevolent im- 
pulse. Powis spoke out in still stronger 
language. After describing the act itself 
of contracting his royal state, in order to 
diminisii the burthens of his people, as 
entitled to the warmest effusions of gra- 
titude ; he added, that " the message now 
sent from the crown, proved the sove- 
reign to be at length delivered from that 



baneful and concealed adviser which had 
lurked unseen, and Ind intercepted his 
gracious inclinations." Fox made no 
allusion to secret influence ; but he ex- 
pressed his hopes that gentlemen would 
be iDianimous in fulfilling his majesty's 
generous intentions, as it could be no 
longer objected that the House of Com- 
mons ought not to interfere with the 
civil list ; the king coming forward to his 
people with unparalleled grace, and de- 
siring to participate in their sufferings." 
In fact, not one word was uttered from 
any part of the house, though a smile 
might have been observed on certain 
faces ; and an address to the throne was 
unanimously voted. 

When, however, the bill itself came to 
be discussed in the committee, some 
weeks afterwards, and the plan of pro- 
posed reduction minutely detailed by 
Burke; instead of two hundred thousand 
pounds a year, which sum, by a species 
of political arithmetic, formetl on data of 
his own assumption, he had calculated 
in 1779, would annihilate ministerial 
influence in the House of Commons, 
commensurate to fifty members or votes 
in parliament; he now proposed only 
about a third part of that annual sum for 
the scope of his retrenchment. Many 
regulations which had appeared to be 
indispensable, while he was in opposi- 
tion, were abandoned when he spoke 
from the treasury bench ; more undoubt- 
edly, from compulsion, than from incli- 
nation. Some abuses owed their pro- 
spective toleration to the personal respect 
that, he said, he fell for the individuals, 
who presided over the office or depart- 
ment. Others were perpetuated from 
deference to prejudice, or popular predi- 
lection. All the regulations 'relative to 
the principality of Wales, which had 
formed a prominent feature of his former 
bill, were now, he said, given up, or at 
least, postponed. Not because he by 
any means believed that they would, if 
adopted, fail to be productive of great 
national utility; but, because they we^e 
disagreeable to the Welsli. He added, 
however, that he hoped a time would 
arrive, more propitious to their introduc- 
tion. The ordnance might be safely 
trusted to the Duke of Richmond's vigi- 
lant frugality. Vyner, member for Lin- 
coln, observed on this clause, that •' as 



304 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the Duke of Richmond was not immor- 
tal, he would vote for the enaclmenl of 
such regulations in his department, as 
might render it impossible for any suc- 
cessor at the head of the ordnance, to 
abuse his power, and to plunder the 
public." Barre afterwards reiterated in 
his place, the same opinions. Lord 
Ashburton, or rather Lord Shelburne, 
extended his protection to the Duchy 
of Lancaster. The mint was left un- 
touched ; and even two of the white 
wands, the treasurer and cofferer of 
the household, as contributing to the 
splendour of the court, obtained grace. 
Yet thus mutilated, and hardly recogni- 
zable, both Burke and Powis, when re- 
turning thanks to the king, for his mes- 
sage relative to this subject, melted 
into tears, at the prospect of their ap- 
proaching triumph over court profusion 
and ministerial corruption. 

'I'wo bills, one for the prevention of 
contractors sitting in parliament ; the 
other, for excluding officers of the ex- 
cise and customs from voting at elec- 
tions ; were likewise passed with liitle 
difficulty or delay, through the lower 
house, where the administration carried 
all before them. Sir Philip Jennings 
Gierke broughtin the former; Mr. Crewe, 
now Lord Crewe, the latter. Except 
from Lord Nugent and Mr. Vyner, as 
well as, I believe, from Bamber Gas- 
coyne, scarcely any material opposition 
was experienced. Lord Nugent, be- 
sides speaking against both the bills in 
every stage of their progress, divided the 
house on them : but he could only carry 
about fourteen votes with him, while 
ministers had more than eighty. Gas- 
coyne said that the bill for depriving 
revenue officers of their right of voting, 
violated Magna Charia, which secured to 
every subject his rights and franchises. 
Vyner represented, that sixty thousand 
individuals would be disfranchised by 
its operation. The secretary at war 
having remarked that nothing could be 
more desirable for the persons themselves, 
t'lian to be thus incapacitated from voting ; 
Mr. Anne Poulett observed, not without 
some wit, that the assertion reminded 
him of the anecdote of Don Carlos and 
the executioner. When the unfortunate 
son of Philip the Second expressed his 
unwillingness to submit to the stroke of 



the axe, the officer of justice besought 
his highness to remain quiet, and suffer 
his head to be taken off, as it was de- 
signed for his own benefit. The honor- 
able Mr. Poulett, son of the first Earl 
Poulett (who occupied the high office of 
first lord of the treasury, for a short pe- 
riod of time, under Queen Anne), was 
about seventy years of age, in 1782, 
when I knew him, and had been named 
after that princess, who was his god- 
mother. Like Welbore Ellis, he always 
came to the house, in a full dress suit, 
and regularly took his place on the 
government side, opposite to Rigby. 
He was a steady supporter of the crown, 
but very rarely rose to speak, being 
naturally of a grave and taciturn disposi- 
tion. His known loyalty, and unshaken 
attachment to the administration which 
he believed to be approved by the king, 
subjected him to the lash of the " Rol- 
liad." After enumerating several other 
members distinguished by similar prin- 
ciples of action, the author adds, 

" An<] JWincy Poulett, as the morning fair, 
Bright as the sun, but, common as the air. 
Inconstant nymph ! who still, with open arms. 
To every minister devotes her charms." 

Mr. Crewe was accompanied by near a 
hundred members, when he carried up 
his bill to the bar of the lords: but in 
their passage through that house, both 
bills. Sir Philip Gierke's, no less than 
the other, experienced from the chancel- 
lor, as well as from Lords Mansfield and 
Loughborough, the most decided oppo- 
sition. These pillars of the law, far 
from yielding to the temper of the times, 
endeavoured, though ineffectually, to 
stem its force. Thurlow, in particular, 
even while holding in his hand the great 
seal of England, and while in his own 
person a member of the cabinet; yet ex- 
pressed with that gloomy indignation 
which characterised his style of speaking, 
the disapprobation that he felt at such 
inroads on the majesty of the crown, as 
well as on the franchises of the subject. 
Unavved by the appearance of Fox and 
Burke, who, in order to impress him 
with respect, as well as to display the 
interest that they took in the success of 
these measures, usually appeared in the 
House of Peers, on the steps of the 
throne, while the bills were agitating ; 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



305 



Lord Tlnirlow animadverted on them 
willi ttie utmo>!t severity, and' divided in 
the tniiiovily, on ^11 the most obnoxious 
clauses. But (lie stream, whiofi ran 
with too much violence, successfully to 
oppose its current, soon secured for each 
of the bills, the concurrence of the sove- 
reio^n. 

It cannot be disputed by the greatest 
enemies of reform, that various of the 
offices, or nominal employments, sup- 
pressed by Burke's bill, were become 
obsolete, destitute of any real function, 
and void of apparent utility. Nor will 
it be denied, that the annual aggregale 
sum which the measure saved to the 
country, though now reduced from two 
hundred thousand pounds, to about 
seventy-two thousand pounds a year, 
yet still formed a consideraijie object of 
national economy. But, on the other 
hand, the extinction of so many places, 
deprived the crown of that species of 
majesty, produced by the operation of 
time, and " the hoar of ages ;" advan- 
tages, which no man knew better how 
to appreciate and to venerate, as well as 
to celebrate and sustain, than Burke 
himself. We beheld him, scarcely ten 
years afterwards, stand forward the de- 
lermined champions of monarchical in- 
stitutions, and the zealous opposer of 
almost every kind of innovation. We 
may likewise remark, that the board of 
trade, and the office of third secretary of 
state, both which institutions his bill 
abolished, have been since revived, from 
a conviction of their respective necessity 
or advantages. Even the "great ward- 
robe," the " treasurer of the chamber," 
the "jewel office," the " clerks of the 
board of green cloth," and some other 
appointments, which may appear at first 
sight to be most exceptionable or unne- 
cessary ; yet, as carrying us back in 
imagination to the reigns of the Tudors, 
by whom they were instituted, diffused 
over the throne itself, a Gothic grandeur, 
calculated to protect and to perpetuate 
the sanctity of the monarchical office. 
These adventitious aids will not be 
despised by those who deeply consider 
the nature of man, and of all human in- 
stitutions. 

Other consequences of an injurious 
description, and not foreseen at the time, 
or from which the author of the bill 
2G* 



chose to avert his view, have flowed 
from the measure. In Burke's eager- 
ness to diminish the supposed overgrown 
influence of the crown, arising from the 
distribution of offices among the mem- 
bers of the House of Commons, a greater 
injury has been probably sustained by 
the British Constitution. The minis- 
ter, deprived of the means of procur- 
ing parliamentary attendance and sup- 
port, by conferring places on his adhe- 
rents, has in many instances been com- 
pelled to substitute a far higher remune- 
ration, namely, peerages. A review of 
Mr. Pitt's administration will form the 
strongest illustration of this remark. I 
know, indeed, from the best authority.., 
that Burke himself lived to adopt the 
opinion, and like other reformers or in- 
novators, found reason to lament the 
effects of his own bill. Being at Bath, 
in a declining state of health, not long 
before his decease, — I believe in 1797, 
— the conversation turned on the great 
augmentation made by Mr. Pitt to the 
numbers of the House of Lords, during 
the preceding thirteen years. "I fear," 
said Burke, that I am partly accountable 
for so disproportionate an increase of 
honours, by having deprived the crown 
and the minister of so many other sources 
of recompense or reward, which were 
extinguished by my Bill of Reform." 
Mr. Pitt, when he came into power, 
early in 1784, had in fact little left him 
to bestow, in proportion to the crowd 
of claimants, except dignities; and he 
was not parsimonious in their distribu- 
tion. The two bills, excluding contrac- 
tors from sitting in the House of Com- 
mons, and depriving revenue officers of 
the right of voting at elections for mem- 
bers of parliament ; though liable, re- 
spectively, to some objections ,* and 
though both were strongly reprobated at 
the time, by the greatest legal characters 
in the House of Peers, yet appear to 
have obtained, and still to retain, the 
general approbation of the country. 

Many persons of high rank reluctantly 
disappeared from about the kinu's per- 
son and court, in consequence of Burke's 
Bill of Reform. The Earl of Darling- 
ion quitted the jewel office ; and Lord 
Pelham, the great wardrobe: the first of 
which offices owed its institution to 
Elizabeth ; while the latter remounted to 



306 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the times of the Plantagenets. The 
Earl of Essex laid down the slag hounds, . 
as did Lord Denbigh the harriers ; while 
the disasters of Saratoga and of York 
Town were thus felt bj' rebound, through 
every avenue of St. James's. Gibbon, 
who had sat at the board of trade since 

1779, being dismissed I'rom his official 
attendance at Whitehall, found himself 
more at leisure to continue that great his- 
torical work which he ultimately com- 
pleted on the banks of the Lake of Ge- 
neva, and which will perpetuate his 
name to distant ages. George Selwyn 
lost a lucrative appointment under the 
board of works ; and though possessed 
of an affluent fortune, together with a 
borough, yet as he loved money, no 
man who suffered in consequence of the 
reduction of the civil list, retained a 
deeper resentment towards the party 
who had abridged his enjoyments, and 
diminished his income. I knew him 
with some degree of intimacy, having 
sat as his colleague in parliament during 
more than six years, for Ludgershall, 
from 1784 to 1790. He resided in 
Cleveland Row, in the house rendered 
memorable by the quarrel which took 
place between Sir Robert Walpole and 
Lord Townsend, under the reign of 
George the First, — when the prime 
minister and the secretary of stale seized 
each other by the throat, — a scene 
which Gay is supposed to have por- 
trayed in " The Beggar's Opera," un- 
der the characters of Peachum and 
Lockilt. Selwyn was a member of the 
House of Commons during the greater 
part of his life; and down to the year 

1780, he constantly represented Glo- 
cester, near which city he had a seat, at 
Matson. The unpopularity consequent on 
the American war, throughout the whole 
progress of which contest he supported 
government, occasioned his being re- 
jected by his old constituents, at the 
general election which took place in 
that year. He told me that during the 
memorable siege of Glocester, under- 
taken by Charles the First in 1643, 
Charles, Prince of Wales, and James, 
Duke of York, who both in lurn ascend- 
ed the throne, but who were then boys, 
remained at Matson. And he added, 
that James the Second, after he rame to 
the crown, used frequently to mention 



the circumstance to his grandfather when 
he went to court; observing, "My 
brother and I were generally shut up in 
a chamber on the second floor at Mat- 
son during the day, where you will find 
that we have left ihe marks of our con- 
finement, inscribed with our knives, on 
the ledges of all the windows." 

Selwyn possessed infinite wit. He 
had indeed succeeded to Philip, Earl of 
Chesterfield's reputation for bon mots, 
most of which that then attained to any 
celebrity, were either made by, or attri- 
buted to him. Their effect, when fall- 
ing from his lips, became greatly aug- 
mented by the listless and drowsy man- 
ner in which he uttered them ; — for, he 
always seemed half asleep : yet the 
promptitude- of his replies was surpris- 
ing. The late Duke of Queensberry, 
who lived in the most intimate friend- 
ship with him, told me that Selwyn was 
present at a public dinner with the 
mayor and corporation of Glocester, in 
the year 1757, when the intelligence 
arrived of our expedition having failed 
before Rochfort. The mayor turning to 
Selwyn, " You sir," said he, " who 
are in the ministerial secrets, can no 
doubt inform us of the cause of this mis- 
fortune ?" Selwyn, though utterly 
ignorant on the subject, yet unable to 
resist the occasion of amusing himself 
at the inquirer's expense, "I will tell 
you in confidence the reason, Mr. 
Mayor," answered he ; " the fact is, 
that the scaling ladders prepared for the 
occasion, were found on trial to be too 
short," This solution which suggested 
itself to him at the moment, was con- 
sidered by the mayor to be perfectly 
explanatory of the failure, and as such, 
he communicated it to all his friends ; 
not being aware, though Selwyn per- 
fectly well knew, that Rochfort lies on 
the river Charante, some leagues from 
the sea-shore, and that our troops had 
never even effected a landing on the 
French coast. 

But it was not merely as a man of 
wit, that I delighted in his society. He 
was likewise thoroughly versed in our 
history, and master of many curious 
anecdotes, relative to the Houses of 
Stuart and of Brunswic. As he had an 
aversion to all long debates in parlia- 
ment, during which he frequently fell 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



307 



asleep ; we used to vvillidiaw sometimes 
lo one of ihe eommiltee rooms up sl-iirs, 
for tlie purpose of conversation. Talk- 
ini{ to him of the death and execution of 
Charles the First, he assured me that 
the Duchess of Portsmouth always 
asserted, as having communicated to her 
by Charles the Second, that his father 
was not beheaded either by Colonel 
Pride or Colonel Joyce ; thouirh one of 
the two is commonly considered lo have 
perl'ormed that act. The duchess 
maintained that the man's name was 
Gregory Braniion. He wore a black 
crape sireiched over his face, and had 
no sooner taken off the king's head, 
than he was put into a boat at White- 
hall stairs, together with the block, the 
black cloth that covered it, the axe, and 
everv article stained with the blood. 
Being conveyed to the tower, all the 
impiements used in the decapitation, 
were immediately reduced to ashes. A 
purse containing a hundred broad pieces 
of gold was delivered to him, after 
which recompense received his dismis- 
sion. Brandon survived the transaction 
many years, but divulged it a short time 
before he expired. This account, as 
coming from the Duchess of Ports- 
mouth, challenges great respect. 

From his own father, who had act- 
ed a conspicuous part during Sir Ro- 
bert Walpole's administration, Selwyn 
knew many of the secret springs of af- 
fairs under George the First and Se- 
cond. He told me that the former of 
those kings, when he came over here 
from Hanover in 1714, understanding 
very imperfectly the English language ; 
found himself so weary while assisting 
at the service in the Chapel Royal, that 
he frequently entered into conversation 
in French or German, with the persons 
behind him. Charles the Second, who 
could not plead the same excuse for his 
inattention ; was accustomed, as we 
know from Burnet., to fall fast asleep ; 
and Harry Bennet, afterwards created 
Earl of Arlington, usually awoke his 
majesty towards the conclusion of the 
sermon. Among the few individuals 
who had retained under the new reign, 
the places that they held or occupied 
about Queen Anne, was Dr. Younger, 
Dean of Salisbury. Anticipating the 
change of sovereigns, he had applied 



with such success lo render himself 
master of the German language, that 
he was continued in the office of clerk 
of the closet, which gave him great ac- 
cess to the king, behinil whose chair he 
usually stood at chapel. With Youn- 
ger, his majesty often talked during the 
service ; a circumstance, which as being 
indecorous, naturally excited much of- 
fence. Lord Townsend, then one of 
the secretaries of state, animated by a 
sense of loyal affection, ventured to ac- 
quaint him that his deportment at chapel 
gave cause of regret, mingled with ani- 
madversion, to many of his most at- 
tached subjects ; beseeching him at the 
same time, particularly to abstain from 
conversing with Dr. Younger. Far 
from resenting the freedom taken with 
him, his majesty promised amendment; 
and Lord Townsend strongly enjoined 
the clerk of the closet to observe in 
future the most decorous behaviour on 
his part. Finding however that they 
resumed or continued the same prac- 
tice. Lord Townsend sent Younger a 
positive order, as secretary of state, di- 
recting him, without presuming to pre- 
sent himself again in the royal pre- 
sence, to repair immediately to his 
deanery. Dr. Younger, conceiving the 
injunction to proceed from the king, 
obeyed without remonstrance or delay ; 
and the secretary waiting on his ma- 
jesty, informed him that the dean had 
received a kick from a horse which 
fractured his skull, of which accident 
he was dead. George the First ex- 
pressed the deepest concern at his loss, 
and never entertained the most remote 
idea of the deception which had been 
practised on him. Several years after- 
wards, before which time Lord Town- 
send had quitted his employment, the 
king going down to review some regi- 
ments that were encamped on Salisbury 
Plain, the bishop and chapter of that 
city had the honour to be presented to 
him, and to kiss his hand. But when 
Younger approached for the purpose, 
his majesty, overcome with amazement 
at beholding again a man whom he had 
long considered as no more, could 
scarcely restrain his emotions. As 
soon, however, as circumstances per- 
mitted, he sent for the dean into his 
presence, and a mutual explanation took 



308 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



place. Conscious of the rectitude and 
propriety of the motives which had ac- 
tuated Lord Townsend in his conduct, 
he never expressed any sentiment of 
anger, or of resentment ; but contented 
himself with promising Younger to con- 
fer on him a mitre, as soon as an occa- 
sion should present itself: an assurance 
which he would have probably realised, 
if the (lean had not shortly afterwards 
been carried off by death. 

Selwyn's nervous irritability and anx- 
ious curiosity to observe the effect of 
dissolution on men, exposed him to much 
ridicule, not unaccompanied with cen- 
sure. He was accused of attending all 
executions ; and sometimes, in order to 
elude notice, disguised in a female dress. 
I have been assured that in 1756, he 
went over to Paris, expressly for the 
purpose of witnessing the last moments 
of Damien, who expired under the most 
acute torture, for having attempted the 
life of Louis the Fifteenth. Being 
among the crowd, and attempting to ap- 
proach too near the scaffold, he was at 
first repulsed by one of the executioners ; 
but, having informed the person, that he 
had made the journey from London, 
sr)lely with a view to be present at the 
punishment and death of Damien, the 
man immediately caused the people to 
make way, exclaiming at the same time, 
" Faites place pour Monsieur. Cest im 
Anglais, et un amateur.'''' The f3aron 
Grimm, in iiis " Correspondence," as- 
serts that the fact took, place, not with 
respect to Selwyn, but to the celebrated 
Condamine. Mr. Pitt, in order to recom- 
pense Selwyn for the place of " pay- 
master of the works," of which he was 
deprived by Burke's bill, made him in 
1784, " surveyor-general of the crown 
lands," which office he retained till his 
decease, in 1790. 

[26th — 30th April.] Hitherto, how- 
ever. Fox occasionally indulged himself 
in animaiiversions of severity on the late 
administration, yet no direct attack upon 
any of the members of that cabinet, had 
been made by the new ministers, or by 
their friends. But, Sawbridge, acting 
independently of men in office, brought 
forward to the notice of the house at this 
time, as a matter of revision or of cen- 
sure, a pension of a thousand pounds a 
year, granted during the last days of 



Lord North's continuance in power, to 
Mr. Robinson, one of the secretaries of 
the treasury. Sawbridge commented on 
the grant, with all the republican bitter- 
ness of his character. Lord North de- 
fended, and Robinson explained, the 
circumstances attending the transaction : 
while the secretary of state availed him- 
self of the subject and the occasion, to 
inveigh against the late first lord of the 
treasury ; inconscions how soon he 
should be compelled or induced, from 
ambitious motives, to form the closest 
connexions of policy, and even of friend- 
ship, with that nobleman. After de- 
claiming with no ordinary asperity, 
against his abuse of the office tliat he 
recently held, in order to provide for his 
adherents and dependents, afier he had 
declared in his place within those walls, 
that his majesty's ministers were no 
more ; Fox exclaimed, " The noble lord 
talks of the services of his secretary. 
Would to God that the honorable gen- 
tleman had been idle ! Nor is the ob- 
servation confined to him. It extends 
to men of a higher rank. I wish to 
heaven, they had employed themselves 
in services less injurious to their coun- 
try ! I beg of the house to understand 
that the pension in question, as well as 
another of five hundred pounds a year, 
given to Sir Grey Cooper, and a third 
pension ivhich has not been mentioned, 
were the work of the late ministers ; not 
of the noble and honorable persons now 
called to his majesty's councils." Lord 
North having observed that the third 
pension alluded to by Fox, which was 
one of three thousand pounds a year, re- 
cently granted to himself, had invariably 
been bestowed by the crown, on all his 
predecessors in the same employment ; 
added, that he had refused it, when of- 
fered him, some years earlier. But the 
secretary replied, " Men who have 
ruined their country, are not entitled to 
the rewards of meritorious service ! 
Nor will the public brook that the nohio 
lord shall receive a remuneration, equal 
to the great and popular Earl of Chat- 
ham." 

Sawbridge, whose pertinacity of cha- 
racter inclined him to prosecute with un- 
remitting ardour, whatever matter he un- 
dertook ; resumed the business three 
days afterwards ; concluding with a rao- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



309 



lion, that " the pension of ono thousand 
pounds a year granted to John Robin- 
son, Esq., 7i)as unmerited by public 
service, and a lavish, improvident ex- 
penditure of the public rnoneij.'" In the 
course ol' his speech on the occasion, 
Saw bridge slated, itiat " the noble lord 
at the head of the treasury, from his 
habitual indolence, entrusted to the se- 
cretary the whole management of that de- 
partment. To him, tiie netjotialion of 
loans Was committed, of which lucrative 
transactions he reserved to himself a 
share, as well as of other contracts. To 
him likewise was confided the manage- 
ment of that house, in wliich delicate 
line of service, he had displayed emi- 
nent dexterity. For these meritorious 
performances, he had obtained from the 
crown, besides the pension in question, 
grants of lands and houses, togetlier with 
the reversion of an office of considerable 
magnitude ;" every particular of which 
the mover detailed to the assembly. 
Lord North was not present ; but Robin- 
son, without discomposure, answered all 
the allegations ; denied some of the facts, 
and admitieii others ; leaving the house 
to act on the occasion, as they might 
judge proper. Fox remained silent : but 
Mr. Tlionias Pitt rising as soon as Rob- 
inson concluded, besought the assembly 
not to forget its own dignity, and the 
great national objects demanding their 
attention, by occupying themselves in 
such pitiful discussions. He therefore 
moved the order of the day, the secre- 
tary of state instantly availed himself of 
this proposition, which, he said, met his 
approbation ; though he paid many com- 
pliments to Sawbridge, and accompani- 
ed them with the heaviest imputations on 
the late ministers. Mr. William Pitt 
supporting his relation, recommended 
unanimity, as presenting the only hope 
of national extrication ; and the order of 
the day was carried without any divi- 
sion, though not before Lord Surrey had 
moved for an account of all pensions 
granted from the 15th of February, down 
to that lime, the HOlh of April. No op- 
position being made to it, the business 
terminated. 

[1st — 6th May.] Wilkes, who dur- 
ing more than thirteen successive years, 
in various parliaments, had vainly en- 
deavoured to expunge from the journals 



of the House of Commons, the memora- 
ble resolutions relative to the Middlesex 
election ; after being so oi'ten foiled, at 
length attained his object. The division 
which took place upon this question, 
when 115 members voted with him, and 
only 47 against him, was attended with 
the singular circumstance of Lord North 
and Fox dividing together in tlie minor- 
ity. The new secretary of state, whose 
original political line of conduct, while 
supporting the atlministralion which he 
had recently expelled, and of which he 
once formed a part, made it sometimes 
difficult for him to maintain tlie appear- 
ance of consistency ; affected to speak 
and to vole from the treasury bench, 
against Wilkes's motion. He was, in- 
deed, well aware of the charge that 
would be made against hiin, and alluded 
to it in his speech, which formed a tissue 
of contradictions. After observing that 
it was for the benefit of the English peo- 
ple, to give the power of expulsion to 
the House of Commons ; he nevertheless 
added, that when the public voice had 
been loudly pronounced against it, as he 
admitted was the case, he would not 
wish to preserve the privilege, in or- 
der to make use of it. for the injury of 
the people. " Besides," subjoined he, 
" when the power to enforce the privi- 
lege is lost, it becomes no longer an ob- 
ject to retain such a privilege. The 
people have associated, and have com- 
pelled parliament to listen to their voice." 
Dundas likewise opposed Wilkes's mo- 
lion ; but he did not the less reprobate 
Fox's doctrine, as dangerous, and sub- 
versive of all government. *' Associa- 
tions,^'' he maintained, " would lead to 
every excess : for, if ten individuals 
might legally associate, so might ten 
thousand. From such meetings, of 
which, Lord George Gordon had exhibit- 
ed a specimen, only confusion, tyranny, 
and despotism, could arise." 'I'he se- 
cretary of state made no reply: but hav- 
ing unfortunately given his ministerial 
sanction in early life, to various mea- 
sures calculated for affixing parliamentary 
disapprobation on the celebrated member 
who originated the motion ; Fox there- 
fore probably thought, that a regard to 
his own character compelled him, how- 
ever contradictory to his late line of de- 
clamation and of action, when harangu- 



310 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



iiig his constituents in palace yard ; to 
abide by, and to attempt a justification 
of his conduct, relative to the election 
for Middlesex. No public man, indeed, 
in my time, ever appeared to me to con- 
sider so little apology requisite for the 
contradictions and derelictions of his 
political principles ; or seemed so com- 
pletely to regard the House of Com- 
mons, as an assembly fit for becoming 
the willing agents and instruments of 
every delusion, however gross or palpa- 
ble, as Fox. The difficulties of the un- 
dertaking never deterred or intimidated 
him ; and his splendid talents, which 
could lend to sophistry the colours of 
truth, emboldened him, by turns, to 
attack and to defend, according to the 
situation in which he stood, almost every 
position and tenet, either of monarchical 
authority, or of constitutional freedom. 

While the House of Commons was 
thus occupied in measures of reform, or 
engaged in retracting their past parlia- 
mentary errors, the new ministers, as if 
they anticipated their speedy dismission, 
employed the precious moments of 
their precarious power, in distributing 
among themselves, without loss of time, 
the honours of the crown. FourGarfers, 
which had been found on the king's ta- 
ble unappropriated at the time of Lord 
North's resignation, they naturally con- 
sidered as lawful plunder. One only of 
the number fell to the share of the sove- 
reign, which he was allowed, tliough not 
without some difficulty, to confer on his 
third son, Prince William Henry, now 
Duke of Clarence. The remaining three 
were reserved for themsolves, with a 
due regard to their respective conse- 
quence, party, and pretensions. Lord 
Rockingham having long since received 
the order from the hands of George the 
Second ; the Duke of Devonshire, as 
head of the Whigs, was invested with 
one blue ribband, and the Duke of Rich- 
mond honoured with another. Lord 
Shelburne took for himself, as was to be 
expected, the fourth Garter. A very 
great person, then in early youth, who 
was present at the ceremony of the in- 
vestiture, observed with considerable 
discrimination of character, that never 
did three men receive the order in so 
dissimilar and characteristic a manner. 
"The Duke of Devonshire," said he. 



" advanced up to the sovereign, with his 
phlegmatic, cold, awkward air, like a 
clown. Lord Shelburne came forward, 
bowing on every side, smiling and fawn- 
ing, like a courtier. The Duke of Rich- 
mond presented himself, easy, unembar- 
rassed, and with dignity, as a gentle- 
man." 

The Earl of Ashburnham, who had 
been during more than six years gronm 
of the stole, laid claim to one of the Gar- 
ters, under a promise which he asserted 
to have received from the king, and of 
which he endeavoured lo enforce the 
performance. His royal master, though 
he did not deny the engagement, pleaded 
his inability to fulfil it, under the actual 
circumstances of his situation, which 
left him no longer any option in distri- 
buting the decorations in question. This 
excuse did not, however, satisfy Lord 
Ashburnham, who was said to liave ad- 
dressed to the king a letter of reproach 
on the occasion, couched in language 
rather too severe from a subject to his 
sovereign, even if the cause of offence 
had been better proved, or more legiti- 
mate in itself. His resentment at the 
supposed infraction of the royal word, 
impelled him to resign his office ; which, 
as being in the king's immediate family, 
and near his person, has always been 
considered exempt from ministerial in- 
terference. Lord Weymouth, who suc- 
ceeded him, had acted a much more im- 
portant part in earlier periods of his 
majesty's reign, when he filled, during a 
very considerable time, the post of secre- 
tary of state ; and even held the lord 
lieutenancy of Ireland for a few months, 
though he never crossed over to Dub- 
lin. He was a man of very eminent 
talents, though accompanied with great 
singularities of character ; highly convi- 
vial, whose conversation entertained and 
delighted ; but in order to profit of his 
society it was necessary lo follow him 
to White's, to sit down to supper, to 
drink deep of claret, and to remain at 
table till a very late hour of the night, 
or rather, of the morning. " Junius," 
alluding to this well known circumstance, 
when addressing the Duke of Grafton, 
in June, 1771, says, referring to Lord 
Weymouth, " Yet he must have bread, 
my lord, or rather he must have wine. 
If you deny him the cup, there will be 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



311 



no keeping him witliin the pale of ihe 
ministry." Lord Gower, the cliancellor, 
and Rigby, were, through life, his inti- 
mate friends and companions. His ap- 
plication to business by no means kept 
pace with his abilities, nor was he ever 
a popular minister. Indeed, if we ex- 
cept tlie first Mr. Pitt, Henry Bilson 
Legge, who was chancellor of the ex- 
chequer during about five months after 
his majesty's accession to the throne, 
and perhaps we may add, to a certain 
degree, the Marquis of Rockingham, all 
three of whom were devolved on him by 
his grandfather, or forced upon by the 
nation ; George the Third cannot be 
said to have had any minister, in any 
department, previous to Lord North's 
resignation, who enjoyed popularity. 
We must except from the remark Lord 
Camden, during the short time that he 
held the great seal as chancellor. Lord 
Weymouth attracted a considerable por- 
tion (if the indignation which ciiaracier- 
ises Junius's opening letter, written in 
January, 1769, for having officially 
signed the order which authorised the 
military to fire on the p()[)ulace as- 
sembleil in St, George's Fields. " Rg- 
(overed from the errors of his youtii, 
from the distraction of play, and the be- 
witching smiles of Burgundy," says that 
writer, "behold him exerting the whole 
strength of his clear, unclouded faculties, 
in the service of the crown." He had 
preceded Lord Ashburnham as groom of 
the stole, in 1775 ; i'rom which utfice he 
became secretary of state for the home 
department; an employment that he 
held about four years, being succeeded 
in 1779 by the Earl of Hillborough. 
Ten years afterwards, Pitt created Lord 
Weymouth a marquis. 

Though the adminietralion of which 
Lord North so long constituted the head, 
had ceased to exist, yet many of the 
parliamentary institutions which had 
originated under him, still continued in 
activity. Among the principal, might be 
esteemed the secret committee for in- 
quiring into the state of the East India 
Company's afifairs. The lord advocate 
of Scotland, as tiieir chairman, brought 
forward almost as soon as the House of 
Commons met after the change of minis- 
ters, various reports, calculated to show 
the causes, not only of the disgraces and 



calamities sustained in the Carnalic, but 
of the improper expenditure of blood and 
treasure in other parts of Hindostan. On 
these reports he founded a number of 
resolutions, which were finally adopted 
by the house. Sir Thomas Rumbold, 
late governor of Madras, and two of his 
colleagues, members of the council, be- 
came the first objects of public accusa- 
tion. 'I'he second blow fell on Sir 
Elijah Impey, who, in his quality of 
chief justice of Bengal, was supposed, or 
asserted, in more than one instance, to 
have lent his legal aid and support to the 
supreme government, from self-interested 
motives, and for unjust, as well as perni- 
cious purposes. Hastings himself, then 
governor general of Bengal, and Hornby, 
governor of Bombay, became implicated 
or involved in these criminations. Dun- 
das, when mentioning the former, in the 
course of his opening speech to the 
house, admitted that Mr. Hastings had 
on many occasions proved himself a 
most meritorious servant of the East 
India Company ; but added, thai he was 
not authorized to fancy himself an Alex- 
ander, or an Aurengzbe ; preferring 
frantic military ex[)editions before the 
improvement of commerce, and the cul- 
tivation of the arts of peace. He then 
called on the new ministers to aid and 
support him ; or, if his propositions for 
the amelioration of our atTairs in India, 
clashed with any of their plans, he olFered 
to resign the whole business into their 
hands. Fox in reply assured him of the 
warmest support from administration,. 
Our situation in the east, as depictured 
by the learned lord, held up, he said, a 
miuiTor, reflecting the slate ot our affairs 
in the west. Then alluding to Lord 
Nofih, he subjoined, " The effects of 
the pernicious system, whicii, thank 
God, is at length destroyed, are felt at 
this hour throughout every portion of the 
empire 1" Burke, in still stronger lan- 
guage, inveighed against the system of 
corruption, which, he asserted, had per- 
vaded all the channels of the slate under 
the late ministry. Measures, adapted 
to the nature *of the imputed offences, or 
misconduct of each of the above men- 
tioned persons, were adopted. Rumbold, 
who possessed a seat in the house, as 
one of the representatives for Shaflsbury ; 
having arrived from India early in 1781, 



312 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



under circumstances that rendered him 
highly unpopular, was restrained from 
either leaving the kingdom, or from alien- 
ating his properly, by act oi' parliament ; 
and severer steps were mediuted, or set 
on foot against him. He contrived 
nevertheless, after bringing his eldest 
son inU) the house soon afierwards, to 
protract the proceedings, and ultimately 
10 elude all punishment. An address 
was voted by a great majority, and pre- 
sented to his majesty, requesting him to 
recall Sir Elijah inipey Irom his judicial 
situation in India. Finally, resolutions, 
of a nature tending to hold out both Mr. 
Hastings and Mr. Hornby, in their pub- 
lic capacity, as men who had committed 
acts of the most culpable or unjustifiable 
kind, were agreed to in the house. But 
the advanced period of the session, and 
the unsettled slate of domestic affairs in 
a cabinet divided by animosity, prevented 
or postponed the further prosecution of 
these interesting concerns, to the subse- 
quent year. 

On liie other side the Atlantic, misfor- 
tune still accompanied the English arms, 
St. Christopher's, after a long and gal- 
lant defence, surrendered : the Islands of 
Nevis and Montserrat were lost. Even 
the valuable settlements of Demerara 
and Essequibo, situate on the continent 
of South America, which we had taken 
in the preceding year from the Dutch, 
were recaptured by France. Rodney, 
indeed, having arrived out, joined Sir 
Samuel Hood at Barbadoes : but he 
found himself unable to intercept, or to 
prevent, the arrival of a convoy from 
Brest, which brought to the French Ad- 
miral De Grasse, supplies the most es- 
sential for his projected hostile opera- 
tions. At home, general despondency 
or apathy pervaded the country. Every 
allegation which had been brought for- 
ward against the late first lord of the 
admiralty while in ofUce, was renewed 
with augmented violence, now tliat he 
had retired to private life ; and these 
clamors were supported or encouraged 
by the new ministers. Fox, speaking 
on the subject of retrenciiinent, in the 
House of Commons, upon the 6th of 
May, when Burke's bill for diminishing 
the royal household, was under consider- 
ation, launched out into his accustomed 
condemnation of the preceding ministry. 



" An inquiry into the actual state of the 
finances," he observed, " was already 
commenced. He anxiously wished that 
another inquiry shoiild be instituted, to 
disclose the condition of the navy, ivliich 
had been found deplorable beyond con- 
ception.'''' "As to the nature of our 
foreign alliances," added he, " no inquiry 
is necessary. Should a committee be 
appointed to sit upon that subject, their 
report must be concise ; we have none." 
Sir George Rodney's victory constituted 
the best reply to the charges made 
against Lord Sandwich. The American 
war, and the calamities which it pro- 
duced, not any want of exertion, fore- 
sight, or talent in the late cabinet, had 
alienated from us the continental powers, 
and rendered ineffectual every endeavour 
to form connexions of policy or friend- 
ship with the European states. Rodney 
himself was enveloped in the accusations 
levelled against the board of admiralty 
which liad sent him out ; and disasters 
more severe than any that we had yet 
experienced, were predicted or antici- 
pated, as about to happen in that quarter 
of the globe where he commanded. 
Never was the nation less prepared for, 
nor less in expectation of, the great vic- 
tory that impended in the West Indies, 
than a week, or even a day, before the 
inielligence arrived. It required the ut- 
most exertions of the new admiralty, to 
prevent the Dutch squadron, which quit- 
ted the Texel at this time, from effecting 
a junction with the combined fieels of 
France and Spain, commanded by Gui- 
chen. Lord Howe, novv restored to the 
British navy, and like Keppel, created 
an English viscount, effected a service 
so distinguished, which unquestionably 
entitled him to the gratitude of his 
country. 

[7ih May.] If Mr. Pitt, whether 
from the dictates of profound ambition, 
or from the calculations of ordinary pru- 
dence, had thought proper to refuse, ac- 
cepting any place or situation under the 
new ministry ; he did not on that ac- 
count, withdraw his individual exertions 
as a member of parliament, or retire in 
any degree from public view and admira- 
tion. On the contrary, he came emi- 
nently forward at this time, as a candi- 
date for national approbation, in the deli- 
cate, as well as arduous character of a 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



3l3 



political reTormer. The spirit of the 
times, wliich operated greatly in his 
favour, removed many of those obstacles, 
that might have impeded him, if lie had 
made the attempt under the former ad- 
ministration. While Burke carried re- 
trenchment into the palace, as well as to 
the table, of the sovereign ; Pitt aspired 
to renovate, or to reorganise, the national 
representation. In the progress of a 
speech, conceived with consummate 
ability, and delivered from the treasury 
bench, he endeavoured to show the vices 
of the actual state of popular election, 
and to point out the most efficacious or 
salutary remedies. The abuses alleged 
by him to exist, which were indeed in- 
disputable, seemed at first siglit loudly to 
demand redress. But, on the other 
hand, theory and practice might be found 
greatly at variance ; and even the re- 
formers themselves, it was well known, 
differed widely in their ideas or opinions 
on the point. The Duke of Richmond, 
who carried his principles to an Utopian 
and visionary length, would have ex- 
tended the right of voting, almost to the 
whole population of Great Britain. Fox 
supported on this occasion, both with his 
eloquence and his vote, the plan proposed 
by Pitt : but Burke, less democratic in 
his ideas of government, refused to lend 
his powerful aid to a cause which he 
disapproved. The secretary at war, Mr. 
Townsend, who looked forward to the 
possession of a borough, at the decease 
of George Selwyn, his uncle ; equally 
absented himself, as did others of the 
ministerial followers. Lord Nortli, 
thougli he attended the discussion, and 
opposed all innovation, yet to the sur- 
prise of his friends, took no active part 
in the debate. Dundas, however, sup- 
plied his place, and made an animated 
appeal against the projected reform ; as 
did Mr. Thomas Pitt, at great length, 
with much ability. Indeed, I thought 
his speech as eloquent, as persuasive, 
and more solid in its deductions, than 
that of his relation, who brought forward 
the question. 

Conscious as Mr. Thomas Pitt was, 
that he represented only a nominal bo- 
rough ; and elected himself, together 
with his father-in-law, Pinckney Wil- 
kinson, as members for Old Sarum ; he 
felt the subject to demand extraordinary 
27 



delicacy. Nor did he make a false step, 
from the commencement to the close of 
his discourse. On the contrary, he en- 
deavoured with great address, to show 
from his own conduct through successive 
parliaments ; — for he had sate, I be- 
lieve, in five; — that a man returned to 
the House of Commons by a single tene- 
ment, might be as independent, as high 
minded, and as incorrupt, as he who 
took his seat for a county, or for the city 
of London. While he paid the greatest 
conipliments to the mover of the propo- 
sition, he denied the principles and the 
facts on which his relation founded 
every one of his conclusions. Equality 
of representation, Mr. Thomas Pitt ob- 
served, never was, nor could have been 
the basis on vvhich our ancestors meant 
to erect the liberties of England, since 
they allowed the Hide county of Rutland 
to send as many members to liiat assem- 
bly, as Yorkshire or Somerset. To one 
proposition for reforming the representa- 
tion, and to one only, which had been 
recommended by the great Earl of Chat- 
ham, he expressed his assent; namely, 
the addition of a knight of the shire, or 
member for every county throughout 
England. Sawbridge seconded, and 
Sheridan supported, Pitt's motion ; but 
Sir Charles Turner, by his originality 
and blunt simplicity of diction, as well 
as of sentiment, attracted more attention 
than either the one or the other. He 
said, " in his opinion, the House of 
Commons might be justly considered as 
a parcel of thieves, who having stolen 
an estate, were apprehensive of allowing 
any person to see the tide deeds, from 
the fear of au-Hin losing it by sucii an in- 
spection. That they were not the re- 
presentatives of the people, was clear ; 
for they had carried on the cur-ed Ame- 
rican war, though the voice of the whole 
nation opposed it." " I believe, in- 
deed," added he, " the present ministers 
are more honest than their predecessors ; 
but I want the Constitution to be so es- 
tablished, that no administration, how- 
ever bad, may be able to convert it to 
the injury of the people." Powis strong- 
ly opposed the motion, as did Rigby, 
who not only treated all innovations as 
dangerous theoretical experiments, bu 
denied that a reform in the national re- 
presentation, was demanded by the peo- 



314 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



pie. ^Associations, he said, formed ex- 
clusively of individuals who met for the 
express purpose, proceeded to elect dele- 
gates ; and these latter published resolu- 
tions in the newspapers, which were 
falsely assumed to speak the public 
opinion. Sir Horace Mann moved the 
order of the day. 

The measure itself not being a party 
question, though of a nature the most 
interesting; by no means attracted the 
attendance which had been produced 
by the motions, that preceded the dis- 
solution of the late administration. 
Scarcely more than three hundred mem- 
bers voted upon it, while near five hun- 
dred had been present in more than one 
of the divisions of the month of March. 
Pitt's proposition "toappointacommittee 
for inquiring into the state of the na- 
tional representation," though it could 
only be considered as a preliminary 
step, yet was negatived by a majority of 
twenty. I made one of that small majo- 
rity, and it is a vote which I not only never 
have repented, but of which I more and 
more approve on full consideration; — 
for I have always regarded the rejection 
of Pitt's attempt, in 1783, to alter the 
national representation, as one of the 
narrowest escapes which the British 
Constitution has had of subversion, in 
our time. Eleven individuals passing 
over from one side to the other, might 
have opened wide the door of innovation. 



boroughs, among which, several, he said, 
" were to be considered as within the 
control of the Carnatic, and under the 
immediate influence of the Nabob of 
Arcot;" that he was himself, sitting at 
that very time, for Appleby, by the in- 
fluence, or in other words, by the nomi- 
nation of an English nabob, Sir James 
Lowther. To the corrupted slate of the 
representation, therefore, it was owing 
that he had himself obtained a place in 
the House of Commons. 

It was equally impossible not to be 
conscious, that if the regulation which 
enacts that every member of that assem- 
bly shall be bona Jide possessed of three 
hundred pounds per annum, freehold 
estate, had been severely and literally 
enforced ; neither Fox, nor Pitt, nor 
Sheridan, nor many other eminent indi- 
viduals, could ever have sate in parlia- 
ment. Probably, indeed, on the day 
that Mr. Pitt made his motion, he 
scarcely possessed any property ; cer- 
tainly no landed property : and as to 
Fox, though actually secretary of state, 
he was known to be plunged in debts, 
contracted by play, which left him with- 
out fortune, or almost means of support. 
Hut they did not less constitute the two 
most distinguished persons of the age in 
which they lived, the ornaments of their 
country in different lines. Fox always 
maintained without reserve, in private 
conversation, as well as in parliament. 



And once opened, what power could that to enforce rigidly the rule relative to 
shut it? The moment too was peculiar- the qualifications of members, would be 
ly favourable to propositions of reform I at once to exclude talents from obtaining 



and amelioration, when the nation, 
bent down and disgusted by the calami- 
ties of the American war, lent a ready 
ear to every project that held out the pros- 
pect of a better order of things. VVhen 
the same subject was agitated anew in 
the following session, the danger was 
over. Peace had been restored ; and 
though Mr. Pitt not only brought it 
again forward, but was joined by two of 
his most formidable opponents ; — I 
mean Mr. Thomas Pitt and Mr. Dundas ; 
— yet the house rejected it by a great 
majority. So complete a change had 
taken place in public opinion, between 
the two periods ! It was indeed difficult 
not to reflect, while listening to the 
arguments of Mr. Pitt, who eloquently 
depictured the corruption of the rotten 



entrance into the house. So little, in- 
deed, may speculation and fact agree, 
that if the list of representatives for the 
county of York, of Devon, or of Lin- 
coln, ever since the reign of Elizabeth 
down to the present year, were to be 
compared with those who have been 
sent to parliament during the same period 
of lime, from the vilest (.!ornish borough, 
we shall find that in every quality justly 
recommending to a seal in tfie legisla- 
ture, namely, high birth, extensive pro- 
perly, distinguished talents, or public 
principle and virtue, the superiority will 
be found, in many instances, perhaps in 
most, to incline on the side of the per- 
sons elected for the boroughs. Such an 
estimate might be difficult to make, and 
must be always, in some measure, open 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



315 



to dispute ; but it serves to prove that I tice, to derive new arguments in its 



varioiis principles in legislation, as well 
as various abuses, do not produce the 
efTecis which might naturally be ex- 
pected to result from them in theory. 

[8th — I6lh May.] Two great pub- 
lic measures were successively brought 
forward about this time, by the new ad- 
ministration ; of both which, the secre- 
tary of slate formed the official organ 
for their communication to the House 
of Commons. Both appeared to me 
highly deserving of approbation, as dic- 
tated by a vigorous policy, or by a 
spirit of wise conciliation. The first 
was a plan for arming the people, or 
more properly, an invitation to them to 
arm themselves, contained in a circular 
letter addressed by the minister for the 
home department, to the magistrates 
of the principal cities throughout the 
kingdom. If we contemplate the criti- 
cal position of Great Britain in May, 
1782, previous to our receiving the in- 
telligence of Rodney's victory, — sur- 
rounded by enemies who had been, dur- 
ing successive years, almost masters of 
the English channel, — while the whole 
east coast, from Leith down to Yar- 
mouth, lay exposed to an attack or to an 
invasion from the Dutch, who had re- 
cently treated with contempt Fox's 
overtures for a separate treaty ; if we 
weigh these circumstances, we cannot, 
with justice, refuse our full tribute of 
praise to an act of such judicious energy. 
Mr. Daniel Parker Coke, nevertheless, 
animated, as he always w:^s, by public, 
spirited, and honest, thougii in this in- 
stance, mistaken views of national bene- 
fit or safety, brought the consideration 
of Lord Shelburne's letter before the 
House of Commons. Mindful of Lord 
George Gordon's outrages, when a 
furious, but, happily, an unarmed mob, 
surrounded and menaced both the assem- 
blies of parliament, he called upon the 
king's ministers to explain and to justify 
their present proceeding; a proceeding 
unauthorised previously by either branch 
of the legislature. Thus questioned, 
or rather inculpated, Fox rose, and in a 
speech of great ability, worthy an en- 
lightened, as well as a liberal statesman, 
assigned the most convincing reasons 
for the adoption of the measure. Nor 
did he omit, according to his usual prac- 



justificalion, drawn from the incapacity, 
neglect, or culpable want of exertion in 
the late ministers, whom he accused of 
keeping the country ignorant of their 
danger, and not daring, themselves, to 
look it in the face. He received, never- 
theless, on this occasion, both from Dun- 
das and from Rigby, the strongest assur- 
ances of support, accompanied with the 
warmest eulogiums on the conduct of 
the cabinet. Mr. Coke himself, though 
sustained in his arguments by Mansfield, 
the late solicitor general, admitted the 
validity of the reasons which the secre- 
tary of state assigned, and only de- 
manded that the measure should receive 
the sanction of parliament, previous to 
its general adoption. No act of the 
Marquis of Rockingham's government 
seems entitled to more unqualified com- 
mendation than the plan for thus render- 
ing the people the agents of their own 
protection against foreign force. It has 
been found in later times, when im- 
proved and extended, our best security 
against internal insurrection, as well as 
against the formidable armaments ol 
revolutionary France. 

[17th May.] The second measure to 
which I allude, regarded Ireland, and 
was dictated by an overwhelming neces- 
sity, if not by enlarged and generous 
views of policy. That island, com- 
pletely in possession of independence, 
and defended by her own volunteers, 
exacted, with arms in her hands, a re- 
nunciation of all parliamentary or legis- 
lative supremacy on the part of Great 
Britain, together with a similar aban- 
donment of the appellant jurisdiction ex- 
ercised here in the courts of law. In 
return for these concessions, she offered 
her loyal submission to the King n{ Ire- 
land, the common sovereign of both 
kingdoms. Fox, after demonstrating 
with great force of reason, that we had 
no other alternative left us than acqui- 
escence, subjoined: "If, therefore, I 
shall this day be compelled to move any 
proposition humiliating to Englishmen, 
the fault is not mine. It is the fault of 
those ministers who left the volunteers of 
Ireland in a condition to make the de- 
mands contained in the addresses laid 
upon your table; not, indeed, by leav- 
ing arms in their hands, but by leaving 



316 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



them their injuries and their oppres- ) ment of the American war of 1775, and 
sions." — "Of the vohinteers them- the peace of 1783. Only a few hours 
selves, I must speak respectfully, for afterwards arrived the tidings of Rod- 
they have acted with temper and mode- ney's victory ; an event which electri- 
ration ; nor have they committed a sin- fied the whole population of Great Bri- 
gle act which does not excite my vene- j tain ; proportionately depressed our 
ration and respect. Whatever hlame European enemies ; and being followed 
may be attributed throughout this whole; by their repulse before Gibraltar, at the 
business, I impute not a particle of it to interval of scarcely four months, pro- 
Ireland. / loy it all at the door of the • duced our extrication 



late ad ininist ration.^'' He then moved 
to repeal the act of 1719, which de- 
clared the dependence of Ireland on the 
crown of Great Britain, observing, that 
it would constitute a pledge to the inha- 
bitants ol the sister island of our since- 
rity and determination to conduct our- 



Pitt having failed in his attempt to 
alter the representation in the House of 
Commons, Sawbridge endeavoured in 
some measure to attain the same object 
by shortening the duration of parlia- 
ments; but his motion was happily re- 
jected; 149 voting against it, while only 



selves openly throughout every stage of 61 members supported the proposition 

The debate nevertheless was not only 

animated, but gave rise to some circum- 

lances of great singularity. Rigby op- 



the transaction. 

Mr. 'J'homes Pitt, who had performed 
a very prominent part in all the debates 



of the lower house, during the whole posed it, as from him might have been 
course of the last, and of the present expected ; treating the idea itself with 
session, seconded the motion; but not contempt or ridicule, and utterly deny- 



without previously entering his protest 
against some of the principles and doc 
trines laid down by Fox on that day 



ing that it was either the sense or the 
wish of the people at larg«. He con- 
cluded by adverting to a meeting of the 



Doctrines or opinions, which it must be electors of Westminster, which had been 



owned, coming from a minister of the 
crown, sealed on the treasury bench, 



held in Westminster Hall a iew days 
before ; observing sarcastically, that 



having the management of the House of " the best sense of the assembly there 
Commons, and in some measure direct- convened, could not probably be col- 
ing the cabinet itself, sounded very ex- lected upon this occasion, on account of 
traordinary to loyal ears ; and savoured Mr. Fox's absence from it." The 
more, as I thought, of Algernon Sydney, secretary of state immediately rose, and 
or of Hampden, than of a secretary of with the manly disdain of all little pru- 
state under a monarchy. Not a word dential arts, or half measures, which al- 
was uttered throughout the whole discus- ways characterised him, whether in or 
sion, by any member of Lord North's out of office, replied that his only reason 
administration, either in their own ex- for not taking the chair, when that 
oulpation, or expressive of their senti- numerous and respectable body of indi- 
ments relative to the propositions about viduals met, was because he knew their 
to be ad(^pted. I must except Mr. ' intention of addressing his majesty on 
Eden from this remark, who was pre- the late change of ministers. Being 
sent in his place, and gave his assent or himself a member of the new cabinet, 
approbation, qualified nevertheless by i he conceived it indecorous to preside on 
certain reservations, to Fox's proposal. ; such an occasion. " The right honor- 
The motions passed without a dissentient able gentleman," continued he, "who 
voice, though not without a feeling of, has just sate down, asks how are we to 
universal fiumiliation. Ireland imitating; collect the sense of the people ? Why 
America, had in fact emancipated her-; let him turn his eyes towards Ireland, 
self from all subjection to British laws, I and see how it has been collected there, 
but she still remained obedient to the j The parliament of that country spoke one 
monarchy. Perhaps this day may be i language, and the nation spoke another, 
esteemed the point of our lowest depres- 1 In consequence the people armed : but 
sion as a nation, during the calamitous [ it is the fatality of this country never to 
period of time between the commence- 1 open its eyes till general ruin menaces, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



317 



and every man is preparing to take up a 
musket." We must admit that these ex- 
pressions, even if we allow their truth, 
and admire their energy, would have 
been more suitable to the leader of oppo- 
sition than to a man filling one of the 
highest offices of state. Such unques- 
tionably was the impression made by 
them at St. James's ; and I believe I 
might add, in St. Giles's. It was evi- 
dent that Fox, even while holding the 
seal of his department, looked more to 
the approbation and support of the 
people for retaining his situation, than 
to the favour of the sovereign. We 
may even suspect that he already fore- 
saw or anticipated the events which 
took place, only a few weeks afterwards 
oni Lord Rockingham's decease. Nor 
can we wonder that George the Third 
should entertain strong prejudices against 
a man, who seemed never to forget that 
he owed his power solely to the predi- 
lection of the people, and who only 
hoped to preserve it by their active in- 
terference. Fox, when speaking in the 
House of Commons, would have done 
wisely to recollect that another illus- 
trious statesman, as well as profound 
writer, who like himself, passed almost 
his whole life in opposition to the 
government of his day ; — I mean the 
Cardinal de Retz ; — has observed — 
" qiCil vautmieux /aire des sottises, que 
(ren dire:"' words dictated by a per- 
fect knowledge of human nature and of 
man. 

Pitt sustained Sawbridge's motion 
with far more decision, more energy, 
and with a much stronger conviction of 
its utility to the cause of conslilulional 
freedom, than was manifested by the 
secretary of state. The latter lent only 
a very limited approbation to it: adding, 
that " as he was convinced the people 
wished it, and would have it, he should 
vote for it ; though he doubted whether 
it would be productive of the beneficial 
effects, expected to result from the pro- 
position." 1 am indeed persuaded, that 
if Fox had been once confirmed in of- 
fice, and acceptable to the sovereign, he 
would have steadily repressed all demo- 
cratic innovations ; as, on the other 
hand, had Pitt passed his whole life on 
the opposition bench, poor and excluded 
from power, I believe he would have en- 
27* 



deavoured to throw his weight into the 
scale of the popular representation. So 
much does situation, as well as sentiment, 
operate on the tenor of our conduct 
through life ! It appeared to me that 
Pitt had received from nature, a greater 
mixture of republican spirit, than ani- 
mated his rival ; but royal favour and 
employment softened its asperity ; while 
his superior judgment and command 
over himself, enabled him to conceal 
those emotions, to which Fox imprudent- 
ly gave vent. Sir Charles Turner set the 
house in a roar, though at his own ex- 
pense, by his answer to Rigby's obser- 
vations on the meeting held in West- 
minster Hall. "I will make free to 
tell the right honorable gentleman," 
said he, " that more good sense" jvas 
uttered in that assembly and to a much 
honester audience, than lever witnessed 
within these walls. The people who 
attend there, do not come for hire, and 
to get places. They meet for the pur- 
pose of asserting their rights, and to 
defend their wives and children." 
Powis, whose love of liberty was 
always under the control of moderation, 
good sense, and loyalty, opposed Saw- 
bridge's experiments on the British 
Constitution, as neither desired by the 
nation in general, nor if conceded, 
likely to operate for the public felicity 
and advantage. In a speech of con- 
siderable length, full of matter, decorat- 
ed with all the charms of elocution, 
Burke brought his powerful assistance 
to the same side ; demonstrating how 
injurious to the people themselves, to 
the public tranquillity, and to the great- 
ness of the state, the abbreviation of par- 
liaments will be found in practice. He 
always held and maintained similar 
principles : nor was Fox, I believe, at 
all chagrined at the result of the debate, 
and of the division. 

Nearly two months had now elapsed 
since North's resignation ; during which 
period of time, though he attended fre- 
quently in his place ; yet, except when 
personally attacked, as he had been a 
few weeks before, on the sidiject of his 
own, and of Robinson's pension ; he had 
scarcely given any marks of political 
or parliamentary existence. Still less 
had he thrown any impediments in the 
way of the new ministers. Even Fox's 



318 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



reproaches or accusations did not seem 
to rouse him, though they might pain- 
fully wound his feelings. This line of 
action was probably wise and judicious, 
as it allowed time for the operation of 
events, domestic, as well as foreign ; 
while he might avail himself of the 
errors of the new ministers, or of their 
divisions. The fate of Jamaica in the 
west, of our territories in the east, and 
of Gibraltar in tlie south, were all pro- 
blematical. Under so deep a cloud, 
oppressed by the loss of America, and 
unpopular, he could not immediately 
emerge. Like Lord North, Jenkinson 
equally withdrew from public obser- 
vation ; rather affecting to take his 
seat, unnoticed, in obscure parts of the 
hou%p, than to appear conspicuous on 
the opposition bench ; though he more 
than once rose to speak on points un- 
connected with parly, as they presented 
themselves for discussion ; and he 
never spoke without throwing light 
on the subject under examination. 
Among all the eminent supporters of the 
late ministry, Dundas and Rigby alone 
held together, spoke, voted, and acted 
in a sort of concert ; sometimes sup- 
porting the new administration, but 
without abandoning their former opi- 
nions or principles. This union neverthe- 
less terminated with Lord Rockingham's 
tenure of power ; Dundas, then attaching 
himself to the Earl of Shelburne and 
Pitt; while Rigby, pressed for the pay- 
ment of his large balances due to the 



cation or cultivation ; though good, and 
admirably calculated in many points of 
view, for a popular assembly, yet deriv- 
ed much of their effect from the manner 
of their possessor. He spoke too from 
an eminence, while holding the pay 
office, where the festivity of his table 
attracted many supporters. Hut when 
dislodged from that fortress where he had 
sustained himself so long, and removed 
to a house of very moderate dimensions 
in St. James's Place, his abilities sunk 
nearer to their just level. He might in- 
deed have then said to George the 'I'hird, 
as the lord keeper. Sir Nicholas Bacon, 
did to Queen Elizabeth, when she ob- 
served that his house was too small for 
him, "It is your majesty who has made 
me too great for my house." Dundas, 
on the other hand, though no longer 
seated on the treasury bench by Lord 
North, and thrown into the shade, in 
consequence of the change of adminis- 
tration, contained in himself all the ma- 
terials of which a superior minister 
might be composed. True, indeed, he 
wanted the classic elegance of Pitt and 
Fox, of Burke and Sheridan : but in 
masculine eloquence, decision of charac- 
ter, firmness, resources of mind, suavity 
of manners, application, and all the qua- 
lities of a statesman, he manifested no 
deficiency. 

[18lh May.] Such was the general 
aspect of the House of Commons, when 
the capital and the country were thrown 
into a deliriuiu of joy, on receiving the 



public, finally joined the coalition of intelligence of Rodney's victory over De 



Lord North and Fox 

In 1782, Rigby might however be con- 
sidered as a declining, if not a setting 
luminary ; whereas the lord advocate of 
Scotland was a rising political constella- 
tion. Nor could any comparison be 
made between their respective abilities. 
The late paymaster of the forces, who 
had risen under the patronage of John, 
Duke of Bedford, by whose friemlship 
he was principally elevated to the lucra- 
tive post that he had so long exclusively 
occupied ; derived his principal support 
from the powerful party of that deceas- 
ed nobleman, better known during the 
first years of the present reign, by tlie 
denomination of "the Bloomsbury 
gang." His own talents, which had re- 
ceived very little improvement from edu- 



Grasse, gained upon the preceding 12th 
of April. It is difficult for us in this 
age, who have been accustomed to obtain 
naval advantages over the French ; and 
who were used to calculate beforehand, 
on the destruction of every fleet that ef- 
fected its escape from the ports of France, 
as soon as we could come up with them ; 
to appreciate, or to imagine, its effect on 
the public mind. We had been habitu- 
ated, during so long a time, under Kep- 
pel, Byron, Hardy, Parker, Graves, 
Geary, Darby, and their successors, to 
indecisive or unfortunate engagements, 
productive of no beneficial results, that 
the nation began to despair of recovering 
its former ascendancy on the ocean. In 
fact, during near twenty years, ever 
since the termination of the war with 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



319 



France in 1763, the British flag had lions, was preserved by the result ; 
scarcely been any where triumphant: while all the promised conquests of 
while the navies of tlie House of Bour- France and Spain, so near their apparent 
bon, throughout the progress of the realization, disappeared, no more to be 
American contest, annually insulted us , revived, even in idea. It consiituted a 
in the channel, intercepted our mercan- j sort of compensation to Great Britain, 
tile convoys, blocked our harbours, and . for so many years of disgrace, for so 
threatened our coasts. Under these cir- | great an expenditure of blood and trea- 
cumsiances, the excess of the public ex- sure, and even for the loss of America 
ultation was prodigiously augmented, by itself. The country, exhausted and hu- 
the dejection that pervaded all ranks dur- j miliated, seemed to revive in its own 
ing the lormer part of the month of May, ! estimation, and to resume once more its 
and by the utter apparent improbability j dignity amon'g nations. France, amidst 
of such an event taking place. all her past success, declined proportion- 

When I reflect on the emotions to ably in the opinion of Europe, and has 
which it gave rise in London, I cannot never since arrogated the same rank, as 
compare them with any occurrence of a naval power. It formed in fact the 
the same kind, that we have since wit- last triumph of England on the element 
nessed in this country. The victory of of the water, over the House of Bourbon, 
Lord Howe, gained on the first of June, before that great family itself, after 



1794, glorious and salutary as it was to 
Great Britain ; yet seemed to be more a 
triumph over Jacobinism and anarchy, 
than over the French nation or navy. It 
was Robespierre and his regicide ac- 
complices, not Louis the Sixteenth, 
whom we there vanquished. Lord St. 
Vincent, and Lord Duncan, unquestiona- 
bly merited, each, the highest eulogiums : 
but they destroyed, at Cape St. Vincent, 
and at Carnperdown, the fleets of Spain 
and of Holland, not those of France. 
And no Englishman is insensible to the 
distinction. The sublime victory of 
Trafalgar itself, was clouded by the 



reigning eight hundred years over the 
French, sunk under the torrent of revo- 
lution and anarchy. 

Lord Cranston, one of the captains of 
the Formidable, Sir George Rodney's 
ship, who brought over the news to this 
country ; having, in consequence of that 
commander's special injunctions, waited 
on Lord Sackville, though then no longer 
in office as American secretary, in order 
to communicate to him the particulars of 
the action ; I had an opportunity of 
hearing Lord Cranston's account of the 
entjagement. He was sent, after the 
Ville de Paris struck, to take possession 



death of Nelson, which checked and of her, as well as to receive De Grasse's 



tempered the general joy. If I were to 
mention any naval action, the news of 
which seemed to difi'use sentiments 
nearly resembling those felt in May, 
1782, I should incline to name that of 
Aboukir. But in the batUe of the Nile, 
where the destruction of the enemy was 
much more complete, though we de- 
stroyed and blew up the French admi- 
ral's ship, we did not either capture her, 
or her commander. There was com- 
bined in Rodney's victory, as Lord 
Loughborough at the time remarked in 
the House of Peers, all " the pomp and 
pride, and circumstance of war." It 
commenced with the rising sun, and only 
terminated with that setting luminary. 
The elements were hushed, only a light 
air prevailing ; and the contending fleets 
were very nearly matched. Jamaica, 
the prize contended for by the two na- 



sword ; and he described the scene 
which the French admiral's ship pre- 
sented, on his ascending her side, as al- 
together terrible. Between the foremast 
and mainmast, at every step he took, he 
said that he was over his buckles in blood, 
the carnage having been prodigious ; 
but as numbers of cattle and sheep were 
stowed between decks, they had suff'ered 
not less than the crew and troops, from 
the effects of the cannon. On the quar- 
ter-deck, which remained still covered 
with dead and wounded, only De Grasse 
himself, together with two or three other 
persons, continued standing. The French 
admiral had received a contusion in the 
loins, from a splinter, but was other- 
wise unhurt; a circumstance the more 
remarkable, he having been, during the 
whole action, for so many hours, ex- 
posed to a destructive fire, which swept 



320 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



away almost all his officers, and repeat- 
edly cleared the quarter-deck. He was 
a tall, robust, and martial figure ; pre- 
senting in that moment, an object of re- 
spect, no less than of concern and sym- 
pathy. Lord Cranston said, that De 
Grasse could not recover from the as- 
tonishment into which he was plunged ; 
the expressions of which he often re- 
iterated, at seeing, in the course of so 
short a time, his vessel taken, his fleet 
defeated, and himself a prisoner. He 
was allowed to pass the night on board his 
own ship, with every testimony of atten- 
tion and regard manifested towards him, 
on the part of the British commander. 

An opinion which became very gene- 
rally prevalent at the time, and obtained 
much belief, has made a deep impression 
on the public mind ; namely, that this 
victory, signal, as it must ever be es- 
teemed, might nevertheless have been 
rendered far more complete, if it had 
been immediately improved by pursuing 
without delay, the flying enemy. The 
friends of Sir Samuel Hood strongly 
maintained that position ; and partial as 
I am to the memory of Lord Rodney, I 
confess that there always appeared to 
me, to have been some foundation for 
the assertion. He was himself well 
aware of the charge ; and I have heard 
him defend the line of conduct which he 
adopted subsequent to the victory, by 
very plausible, if not by solid and un- 
answerable reasons. He observed, that 
it was altogether unwarrantable, and 
might have been attended with the most 
ruinous consequences, to have detached 
twelve or more ships of the line, under 
Sir Samuel Hood, in pursuit of twenty- 
five at least of the French ; which num- 
ber remained together, as was believed, 
after the action, and still constituted a 
most formidable force. If any check 
had been experienced by us, in conse- 
quence of such eagerness or precipita- 
tion, it was obvious that the fruits of the 
victory itself might even have been lost. 
Bougainville and Vaudreuil, who com- 
manded under De Grasse, enjoyed a 
higher reputation for naval skill, than the 
commander in chief, and might have re- 
paired the defeat. How far these facts or 
assertions may carry conviction to every 
mind, I cannot venture to determine. 

Fox, when moving the thanks of the 



House of Commons to Sir George Rod- 
ney, which act he performed in his 
place, as secretary of stale, only a few 
days afterwards ; mentioned with ex- 
pressions of great delight, the unanimity 
which pervaded the victorious fleet. " It 
was," he said, " with peculiar satisfac- 
tion he could assure the house, that 
every letter received from the West In- 
dies, breathed the most perfect harmony. 
No other dispute or competition existed 
among the officers, except who should 
be most forward in advancing the public 
cause." But Lord Rodney, after his re- 
turn to England, made no scruple of de- 
claring the contrary in mixed company, 
where I was myself present. He even 
wrote home at the time, in his private 
letters, more than one of which I have 
seen ; that so violent was the spirit of 
party and faction in his own fleet, as 
almost to supersede and extinguish the 
aflleclion felt towards their sovereign and 
their country, in the bosoms of many in- 
dividuals serving under him. To such a 
height had it attained, that he asserted 
there were among them, oflicers of high 
rank, and of unquestionable courage, who 
nevertheless bore so inveterate an ani- 
mosity to the administration then ex- 
isting ; particularly to the first lord of 
the admiralty, the Earl of Sandwich ; as 
almost to wish for a defeat, if it would 
produce the dismission of ministers. 
Similar assertions were made by mem- 
bers of the House of Commons, in their 
speeches. However incredible the fact 
itself may appear, and however lament-' 
able it must be considered, if it was well 
founded ; yet il is not easy to conceive 
the antipathies, political and personal, 
that had grown up in the English navy, 
during the American war. They formed 
one of the characteristic features of the 
times, and operated to the inconceivable 
injury of the British name and nation. 

The commencement of Rodney's pub- 
lic letter, addressed to Mr. Stephens, the 
secretary of theadmirahy, on this glorious 
occasion, excited a smile among the 
critics and grammarians ; as he stated, 
that " It had pleased God, out of his 
divine providence, to grant to his ma- 
jesty's arms a most complete victory 
over the fleet of his enemy ; whereas, it 
seemed rather to have been an act per- 
formed hi his divine providence. This 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



321 



error of a naval commander, unaccus- 
tomed to composition, and wiiose pro- 
fession was not the pen, but the sword ; 
did not however attract the same com- 
ments, as an ofticial despatch which we 
have since perused, sent from one of his 
Britannic majesty's ambassadors; who, 
addressing the secretary of slate, from 
Constantinople, appeared, by some act 
of oblivious inadvertence, to consider 
himself in Jlsia. Rodney's enemies, of 
whom he had a great number, asserted, 
that after the victory was gained, he gave 
way to a sort of intoxication of mind, on 
finding himself master of the French 
admiral's person and ship. I remember, 
they said, that he seated himself in an 
arm-chair, placed on the quarter-deck of 
the " Formidable,^'' as the moon rose, 
in order to indulge his sight with the 
view of the " Ville de Paris,^'' which 
lay near him in a disabled state, and 
whose sides far overtopped those of his 
own vessel. And they added, that he 
burst into expressions or exclamations of 
extravagant self-praise and complacency ; 
mingled with some reproaches on the 
want of ministerial gratitude, which he 
had experienced for his past services. 
Even admitting all these facts to be true 
in their utmost extent, they only prove 
the infirmity of human nature ; and si- 
milar instances of weakness occur in the 
history of the most illustrious com- 
manders, Rodney, like the celebrated 
Marshal Villars, so distinguished under 
Louis the Fourteenth, talked perpetually 
of himself, and was the hero of his own 
story. Bvit posterity will never forget 
the debt of gratitude due to his services, 
nor cease to consider him as one of the 
greatest men whom the English navy 
produced in the course of the eighteenth 
century. He unquestionably displayed 
coolness and science, on the day of the 
12lh of April ; directed in person every 
inanoBuvre, and preserved during twelve 
hours that the action lasted, the utmost 
presenile of mind. Lord Cranston said 
that he never quitted the quarter-deck 
for a minute, nor took any refreshment, 
except the support he derived from a 
lemon, which he held constantly in his 
hand, and applied frequently to his lips. 
If Rodney did not spare his animad- 
versions on the spirit of political enmity 
and faction which pervaded the British 



navy, his opponent, the Count De Grasse, 
made still louder accusations, and sent 
home stronger charges to the court of 
Versailles, against the jealousies or 
rivalities which actuated the officers 
serving under him, on that memorable 
day. They doubtless, towards the close 
of the action, abandoned their com- 
mander to his fate, and sought their 
safety in flight ; but the unforeseen ma- 
noeuvre by which Rodney had inter- 
sected the French line, at the commence- 
ment of the engagement, threw the whole 
fleet into inextricable confusion ; and it 
is very doubtful whether by prolonging, 
or even by renewing the contest, Bou- 
gainville and Vaudreuil would have in 
any measure retrieved the misfortune. 
De Grasse, it is admitted on all hands, 
displayed the most unconquerable firm- 
ness. But perhaps he highly merited 
censure, at a moment when he saw be- 
fore him, in full prospect, so vast an 
object as the conquest and reduction of 
Jamaica, not to have suffered one or two 
ships of the French line to fall into our 
hands rather than sacrifice, as he did, 
the whole plan of the campaign to their 
preservation. I know such to have been 
the general opinion entertained through- 
out France, where De Grasse laboured 
under popular odium to so great a de- 
gree, that while, after the ensuing peace, 
Suffrein always received, on entering 
the theatres at Paris, the warmest testi- 
monies of admiration from every part of 
the house, De Grasse did not venture to 
present himself at the public spectacles 
from the apprehension of insult. Even 
the court manifested similar sentiments; 
and though decorated with the order of 
the " St. Esprit," he could not obtain 
permission to walk in the annual " Pro- 
cession du Cordon Bleu" at Versailles, 
for several years subsequent to the de- 
feat in the West Indies. 

The effect of so splendid a service 
rendered to his country at a moment of 
such dejection, and the popularity which 
it justly produced, in some measure dis- 
armed the meditated attacks of Rodney's 
opponents at home. Burke, who had 
heaped the severest accusations u[)on 
him, for his conduct towards the inhabi- 
tants of St. Enstatius, and who was pre. 
paring to bring forward a motion in the 
House of Commons, tending to crimi- 



322 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



nate him for his acts while in possession 
of the island, immediately abandoned 
the intention. With one of those classic 
allusions which were familiar to his 
elegant mind, he observed, that " the 
great national benefit performed by the 
English admiral, obliterated his errors ; 
and like the laurel crown decreed by the 
Roman senate to Julius Caesar, covered, 
as well as concealed his baldness." 
Even the rancour expressed by the new 
ministers and their friends, towards Lord 
Sandwich, seemed to be blunted, if not 
mollified, by this undeniable proof of 
his meritorious exertions in sending out 
a fleet to the West Indies capable of 
vanquishing the French naval force. It 
was justly said that Alexander had con- 
quered with the troops of Philip. No 
farther mention of impeachment or pro- 
secution was made against the first lord 
of the admiralty. The cabinet, never- 
theless, evincing, in every part of their 
conduct, the reluctance with which they 
remunerated Rodney's merits, had al- 
ready superseded him, by naming Admi- 
ral Pigot to the command of the fleet in 
the West Indies. But as he had not 
quitted England before intelligence ar- 
rived of the victory gained over De 
Grasse, it was evidently the wish of the 
country, loudly expressed, that Rodney 
should not be recalled at a moment when 
he had raised the naval character of 
Great Britain, humbled France, and 
saved Jamaica. The new administration, 
however, far from paying any regard to 
this expression of the general opinion ; 
and apprehensive of some motion being 
made on the subject, in one or the other 
of the two houses of parliament ; in- 
stantly sent off Pigot, in a quick sailing 
frigate, from Plymouth, with orders to 
replace the victorious commander. 

Severe comments were passed out of 
doors upon the appointment, made un- 
der such circumstances ; especially as 
Pigot had been already constituted a 
member of the new board of admiralty. 
Even the House of Commons, though 
since Lord North's resignation the ma- 
jority seemed completely subservient to 
Fox, yet manifested some symptoms of 
disapprobation. It was, besides, com- 
monly asserted that the secretary of 
state for foreign aflfairs lay under pecu- 
niary obligations to Pigot, of several 



thousand pounds, for losses incurred at 
play. And though such a report might 
have originated in error or malevolence, 
yet it was difficult to disprove ; as Fox's 
notorious passion for gaming had sub- 
jected him to similar engagements and 
embarrassments. Lord Kepple, when 
questioned in the House of Peers, re- 
specting the fact of Pigot's appointment, 
felt so conscious of the indefensibility of 
the measure that he dared not to own it ; 
but he contrived to evade the inquiry by 
stating the want of evidence before them, 
to prove the nomination. It was im- 
possible more clearly to avow how much 
he was ashamed of such a transaction. 
The opposition, during Lord North's 
administration, in their anxiety to decry 
the Earl of Sandwich, then first lord of 
the admiralty, asserted that Sir Edward 
Hughes was bound to divide with him a 
certain proportion of whatever prize 
money he might acquire, as a return for 
being appointed to the naval command in 
the East Indies. " Junius" treats the 
Duke of Grafton, when first minister, in 
various letters, with indignation, for hav- 
ing given a pension of five hundred 
pounds a year to Sir John Moore, whom 
he designates as a " broken gambler." 
Nor does he hesitate to add, that the 
pension was " probably an acquittance 
on the part of the duke, of favours upon 
the turf," But how infinitely less cul- 
pable were Lord Sandwich, or the Duke 
of Grafton, had the allegations been ever 
so clearly proved, than was Fox, if we 
assume the truth of the fact imputed to 
him, in acquitting his debt to Pigot, by 
sending him out to the West Indies ? 

Rodney's victory, if it had taken 
place two months earlier, would proba- 
bly have operated to retard, or alto- 
gether to prevent, Lord North's resigna- 
tion. Nor did any man doubt, that the 
admiral himself would have received 
more distinj/uishing marks of ministe- 
rial gratitude, as well of royal bounty, 
if Lord North had continued at the 
head of aflfairs, than were conferred on 
him by that nobleman's successors. 
Lord Howe and Admiral Keppel had 
just been raised by their party, to the 
dignity of English viscounts, without 
the performance of any naval service 
on the part of the latter officer. Many 
persons thought that an earldom would 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



323 



not have constituted a reward too emi- 
nent for so important a victory. We 
have seen that high rank of the peerage 
conferred since on Sir John Jervis, for 
the battle gained over the Spaniards, off 
Cape St. Vincent's ; a victory, as was 
commouly reported, principally due to 
Sir Horatio Nelson. Lord Duncan, 
Lord Hood, and Lord Bridport, have all 
been created for their exploits, English 
viscounts. It was not without evident 
marks of nnwillingness, that a barony, 
and a pension of two thousand pounds 
per annum, were rather extorted from, 
than spontaneously given by, the mi- 
nistry, to Rodney ; accompanied with 
his immediate supersession in the com- 
mand of the fleet. It must however be 
admitted on the other hand, that pre- 
vious to the time of which I am now 
writing, the most distinguished naval 
services rarely conducted to the peer- 
age. Anson, it is true, from a concur- 
rence of circumstances, was raised to it: 
but neither Saunders, nor Boscawen, 
nor Pocock, attained to that honour. 
Even Hawke, far from being called up 
to the House of Peers, after he had 
destroyed the fleet of France in 1759, 
at the mouth of the Loire, was only 
made a baron by Lord North, near 
seventeen years afterwards ; and then 
in company with several other indi- 
viduals who were raised to the same 
dignity. It is for posterity to judge 
how far these circumstances may form 
some excuse, for the apparent want of 
liberality towards a man, who had ren- 
dered so critical, as well as so distin- 
guished a service to his country. 

[22d May.] No sooner had the House 
of Commons assembled, after the ad- 
journment of a few days which follow- 
ed Sawbridge's motion, than the secre- 
tary of stale rising, moved the thanks 
of the house to Sir George Rodney, 
for his late glorious victory; of which 
event he spoke in the warmest terms of 
grateful admiration, though conscious 
that the triumphant commander who 
had achieved it, was already super- 
seded by him, in order to make way 
for Pigot. Such acts of ministerial or 
political inconsistency, never indeed ap- 
peared to cost Fox any effort, as he 
covered them under the blaze of so- 
phistry, eloquence, and talent. On this 



occasion, he must nevertheless have 
felt how contradictory was his conduct 
in praising, rewarding, and recalling 
the same man, at one and the same 
time. Lord North, who ever since 
the 20th day of March, seemed to have 
remained in a sort of stupor; now 
coming forward spontaneously, joined 
in the tribute due to Rodney for a vic- 
tory, which, he said, was not only the 
greatest gained in the course of the pre- 
sent war, but, perhaps, the most com- 
plete of any recorded in the naval annals 
of England. Unquestionably, the late 
first minister derived a pride and a con- 
fidence from the same event, which in- 
volved the new cabinet in proportionate 
embarrassment. After dwelling for a 
few minutes, on the brilliant services 
just rendered. Lord North concluded 
by remarking, that it would be proper 
to extend the thanks of the house to the 
flag officers of the fleet, who had merit- 
ed so well of their country. To this 
proposition Fox instantly assented, with 
many acknowledgments to the noble 
mover for the suggestion ; and for the 
first time since Lord North's resigna- 
tion, some expressions of courtesy and 
respect fell from the lips of the secretary 
of state, addressed to a person whom he 
had hitherto only loaded with accusa- 
tions. So much had the unexpected 
intelligence just arrived, already molli- 
fied the asperity of the new administra- 
tion towards their predecessors ! Mr. 
Rolle, then member for the county of 
Devon, and since raised to the peerage, 
having asked if it was true that Sir 
George Rodney was about to be 
superseded in his command ; Fox 
replied that he was already recalled, 
and another officer sent out to succeed 
him. Such an act, even if Rodney had 
not performed so recent, and so splendid 
a service, could scarcely be justified, 
either on public, or on private grounds : 
but taking place instantly after a victory 
so eminent, it excited general condemna- 
tion. 

Impressed with that sentiment, Rolle 
rose a second time, and stated his deter- 
mination to move an address to his ma- 
jesty, that he would be pleased not to 
remove the admiral from his present 
situation. Had such a motion been ac- 
tually submitted to the house, it is by no 



324 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



means improbable, the new ministry 
miglit have been left in a minority : but 
Dundas extricated Fox from a dilemma 
to which even his pre-eminent ability 
might have proved inadequate without 
assistance. The lord advocate observed 
that such a proceeding would intrench 
on the prerogative of the crown, and at 
the same time violate the rules by which 
parliament was accustomed to regulate 
its conduct ; as the responsibility of mi- 
nisters must be removed from their own 
shoulders, to those of the House of Com- 
mons. " No individual," he added, 
" could entertain higher feelings of gra- 
titude towards the gallant commander in 
question, than he did ; but a paramount 
regard to the Constitution, impelled him 
to oppose the proposition." RoUe then 
dropping his first intention, declared that 
he would nevertheless move an address 
to the king, to bestow some mark of 
royal favour on the admiral. Here, how- 
ever, he was once raore stopped by Dun- 
das, who said that a motion of such a 
nature would be in fact dictating to the 
sovereign, in whom alone was constitu- 
tionally vested the power of conferring 
rewards or graces : adding, that it was to 
be presumed, the servants of the crown 
would offer such advice to their prince 
on the present occasion, as it was worthy 
of him to pursue. Fox became now as 
profuse in his expressions of acknow- 
ledgment to the lord advocate, as he had 
previously been to Lord North. In 
Dundas's doctrine, he said, he fully con- 
curred ; and with the decision of tone 
and character natural to him, he protest- 
ed that no man or men, short of the ma- 
jority of the house, should ever induce 
or compel him to explain on what 
grounds one officer was recalled, or an- 
other appointed. It was a loyal preroga- 
tive, which he would not allow to be 
either ahridized or controlled. " For," 
concluded he, " though I am an enemy 
to the influence of the crown, I will 
always support its just prerogative." 

Whether the motives by which Mr. 
Dundas was actuated in thus extending 
such opportune sup[)ort to administration, 
were the only springs of his conduct; 
or whether any less obvious reasons 
prompted him to stand forward, and to 
extend a sort of shield over them ; must 
be left to conjecture. Certainly, the 



service rendered was one of no ordinary 
description. But Governor Johnstone, 
though he did not attempt to contravert 
the lord advocate's assertions ; yet, after 
expressing his sense of the glorious 
achievement just performed in the West 
Indies, added, " I could have desired 
that the thanks of this house should 
have been moved from someotherquarter, 
not from the ministers, who have just 
disgraced Sir George Rodney, by recal- 
ling him." — " The secretary of state 
tells us that unanimity reigns throughout 
the fleet. And is that a reason for 
superseding the gallant commander, and 
tearing him from the men whom he has 
so often conducted to victory ? Under 
such circumstances, the very thanks of 
this assembly become an insult, when 
accompanied by his supercession." Al- 
most any other minister than Fox, would 
have been embarrassed under such a 
charge, nor was even he altogether with- 
out evident discomposure. As however 
he never abandoned a friend or a mea- 
sure, because the one was in distress, or 
the other unpopular ; as he always trust- 
ed to his own powers of mind for ex- 
trication ; and the determination to send 
out Pigot, having been taken ; he under- 
took to defend it. His speech neverthe- 
less formed a mass of contradictory 
matter. He began by denying in the 
strongest terms, that recall and disgrace 
had in them any species of alliance. If 
he had entertained any prejudices against 
the gallant admiral, for his conduct at 
St. Euslatius, he said, the recent victory 
had obliterated them. On Johnstone he 
pressed with great severity, for prevent- 
ing the unanimity of the house : but the 
governor, whose tenacity in maintaining 
whateverproposition he embraced, equal- 
led that of the secretary ; rose to reply. 
The discussion might even have assumed 
a new form, if Cornwall, the speaker, 
interposing from the chair, had not for 
the third time in the same day, come to 
the aid of administration, by calling 
Johnstone to order. No further impe- 
diment being presented, the thanks were 
voted, and the house adjourned ; Fox 
having exhibited a strong proof of his 
ministerial ascendancy over the assi^mbly, 
though undoui)ledly in contradiction to 
the opinion of a great majority of the 
members present on the occasion. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



325 



[23d— 30lh May.] The public dis- 
satisfaction nevertlieless being loudly 
and generally expressed in every corner 
of London, at the recall of Sir George 
Rodney, Mr. Rolie brought forward the 
subject a second time, to parliamentary 
notice. He observed, that to supersede 
an admiral in the moment of victory, 
was in itself an impolitic measure ; but 
to send out as his successor, a man who 
for near twenty years had not once been 
at sea, and who had never performed in 
the whole course of his professional life, 
any distinguished naval service, consti- 
tuted an act most unwise and censurable. 
Rosewarne, memberfor Truro, remarked, 
that the present ministers were now com- 
mitting, against the general sense of the 
country, the very act v/hich they so vio- 
lently reprobated in their predecessors ; 
namely, driving from the navy the most 
able and distinguished otficers. " The 
Earl of Sandwich," added he, " has been 
denominated by the secretary of state, in 
former debates, a minister of the King of 
France. He has approved himself a 
bad minister to his employer, since he 
has confessedly sent out to the West 
Indies, one of the best appointed fleets 
which ever quitted the ports of England." 
I spoke, myself, on the same side, in 
that debate, and ventured to assert that 
the only similar case occurring in our 
annals, presented itself under Queen 
Anne, when the great Duke of Marlbo- 
rough, in the midst of his triumphs, was 



have been attacked without mercy from 
every quarter. Yet, though I do not 
approve the nomination of Admiral 
Pigot, I value the unanimity of the fleet 
so highly, that I should be reluctant to 
send out any resolution, which might 
convey a censure upon his appointment. 
Unanimity, both at home and abroad, 
are indispensable ; and though / was 
made a personal sacrifice to obtaining it, 
I shall rejoice if the present ministers 
experience it in its utmost extent." 

These sentiments, however elevated 
or patriotic they may seem, were by no 
means received on the part of the secre- 
tary of state, either with gratitude, or 
even with satisfaction. On the contrary, 
after questioning tiie sincerity of Lord 
North in his expressions of cordiality, 
and his pretended wishes to preserve 
unanimity among the officers and seamen 
of the fleet ; he observed, that unless the 
motion, which cri(ninated ministers for 
recalling Sir George Rodney, was to be 
followed by another, for their removal, 
the first would be nugatory. " Did the 
noble lord," he demanded, " mean to go 
that length ? And if such was his in- 
tention, why did he not speak out?" 
Of Pigot, the secretary expressed him- 
self in language of great encomium, as 
being every way qualified to succeed 
Rodney. " The crime that he had com- 
mitted in the eyes of the late ministers, 
lay in his name being found in a certain 
paper, together with those of various 



recalled, in order to make way for the other admirals, deprecating the trial of 



Duke of Ormond. Nor did I hesitate to 
declare my conviction thai the victory 
just gained, though perhaps less complete 
than the defeat of Conflans by Admiral 
Hawke in 17.'>9 ; yet under the circum- 
stances of the moment, might justly be 
accounted superior in its effects to that 
or to any achievement in our naval re- 
cords. Upon what principle then could 
Admirals Howe and Keppel have been 
created viscounts, while only the dignity 
of a baron was conferred on the man, 
who had performed so transcendent a 
service? Lord North, though he said 
he wished to decline giving any opinion 
on the recent supersession, and the new 
appointment, characterized it nevertheless 
as a hasty measure. " If," continued 
he, " a similar act had been committed 
under the late administration, I should 
28 



Keppel." Relative to Lord Rodney, he 
appeared to labour under no small em- 
barrassment, and to involve himself in 
much contradiction. The victory just 
gained, Fox admitted to be brilliant; but 
his conduct at St. Eustatius, had pro- 
iliiced prejudices against him. " I am 
ready," added he, " to balance his vic- 
tory against his demerits, and to bury in 
oblivion all enquiry respecting his past 
conduct, unless the intemperate zeal of 
the admiral's friends, shall provoke me 
to adopt another line of conduct." He 
concluded by rather insiiuialing than as- 
serting, that if a baron was not considered 
a rank of the peerage sufficiently elevated 
for Rodney's services, no objection 
wonld be made to conferring on him a 
higher title. 

U the secretary expected by the style 



326 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



and tone of his reply, to intimidate or to 
silence liis adversaries on that day, the 
event did not justify his assumption. 
Lord North, after animadverting with 
some wit, on various parts of tiie preced- 
ing speech, denied the assertions made 
respecting Pigot. The late admiralty, 
he observed, had offered him a command, 
which "he thought proper to decline. 
But, as Rodney had constantly refused 
to sign ihe paper in question, might not 
his recall arise from that very circum- 
stance ? " Had his majesty's ministers, 
of whom I formed a member," continued 
he, " recalled a great and illustrious 
officer in the moment of victory, we 
should have been assailed with motion 
after motion in this house." Severe as 
Lord North might seem in these re- 
marks, Johnstone far exceeded him. 
There existed indeed between the gover- 
nor and the secretary of slate, a degree 
of personal ill-will approaching to en- 
mity ; the latter always affc^ctiiig to re- 
gard Johnstone as an apostate or a deser- 
ter ; he having, some years earlier, left 
the ranks of opposition and joined the 
administration, by whom he had been 
employed, both as a negotiator, and in 
the line of his profession. Johnstone in 
retaliation, treated Fox as factious, and 
as sacrificing every consideration to 
party, or to private views of ambition. 
Starting up as soon as Lord North had 
finished^ " Now," exclaimed he, " I am 
perfectly satisfied with the supersession 
of my noble friend. The right honor- 
able secretary holds him up as a delin- 
quent. If he be such, unquestionably 
he ought to be recalled. I now rejoice, 
as much as I was previously shocked, at 
this treatment : — for, now an opportu- 
nity will be afforded him to clear his 
character from the aspersions of his ene- 
mies. Charges brought against him by 
Jews and traitors ! Charges which lie 
will refute with ease ; and of which fact 
I can speak with certainty, having pe- 
rused many parts of my noble friend's 
defence." — " The secretary of state 
proposes to compromise the charge, and 
to bury it in an earldom. But I scorn 
such a proposal, and in my friend's name 
I protest against honours, which are to 
be purchased by such a compromise. 
Honours and titles can never sit easy on 
a delinquent." 



After thus exhaling his resentment, hs 
then entered on the particulars of the 
action fought on the 12th of April, as 
well as on other parts of Lord Rodney's 
naval exploits : but as Lord North, 
though he highly disapproved the recall 
of that illustrious commander, did not 
desire to push matters to a question, no 
division took place. Ministers remained 
masters of the field : not however without 
suffering in public opinion, which cen- 
sured them in the strongest terms. An 
attempt, made by Sir Francis Basset, 
now Lord De Dunstanville, only a few 
days afterwards, to procure for Lord 
Rodney, a provision of four thousand 
pounds a year from the crown, under- 
went the same fate as Mr. Rolle's mo- 
tion : Fox parried it in a similar man- 
ner. A hurony with half the annual 
sum proposed by Basset, was ultimately 
conferred on him. He returned home, 
and Pigot assumed the command of the 
victorious fleet: but, I believe, in the 
course of six or seven months that he 
retained it, he never captured any vessel 
of the enemy, except a Spanish polacre, 
nor performed any other eminent service. 
All the deserved popidarity, which Fox 
—r- for he only was regarded as directing 
the cabinet; — had obtained by the 
measures embraced relative to arming 
the people, and for conciliating Ireland ; 
was more than counterbalanced by the 
selection of Pigot to replace Rodney. 
If the Marquis of Rockingham approved 
so hasty an act, he must be esteemed a 
weak, or an ill-advised minister. If he 
reflectively allowed the secretary of 
state to sacrifice tlie public interest, to 
his own personal predilections or ob- 
jects, he was a highly culpable minis- 
ter. I am not sufficiently informed on 
the point, to venture on hazarding any 
opinion. Posterity, better instructed, 
may perhaps decitle upon it. Fox un- 
questionably lost the finest occasion 
which fortune could have presented 
him, for acquiring general applause and 
admiration, by continuing Rodney in the 
command, after intelligence had arrived 
of the glorious result of the I2th of 
April. 

[June.] While the victory obtained 
over De Grasse, produced so vast and 
beneficial an alteration in the affairs of 
Great Britain beyond the Atlantic ; time 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



327 



seemed rapidly maturing another import- | intention. This nobleman, who was at 
ant change, or rather convulsion, in the that time about twenty-nine years of age, 



domestic concerns of the kingdom. From 
the first formation of tlie new cabinet, its 
jarring materials indicated, in the opi- 
nions of all discerning men, their speedy 
disunion and separation. Fox, consci- 
ous of ihe alienation in which the king 
held him, morally, as well as politically, 
possessed too much penetration not lo 
foresee, and to predict, an approaciiiiig 
change of administration. He was not 
withotit difficulty restrained from pre- 
cipitating it, by his open disapprobation 
of the intended, or imputed measures, 
of some of his colleagues. The stern 
inflexibility of Lord Thurlow, likewise, 
who as chancellor, thwarted and oppos- 
ed, in the House of Peers, many of his 
measures, greatly irritated him. Already 
Fox began to alter his language, when 
speaking of that nobleman : on whom, 
while a member of the late cabinet, he 
had lavished so many encomiums at the 
expense of his colleagues in the admi- 
nistration. Nor did the preference shown 
towards Lord Shelburne, on all occa- 
sions, by his majesty, tend less to ac- 
celerate a rupture. In this situation of 
things, the decline of the Marquis of 
Rockingham's health, by incapacitating 
him to take as active a part in public 
affairs as he had previously done, remov- 
ed the only remaining serious impedi- 
ment : while it facilitated the accomplish- 
ment of those objects, which prudence 
and precaution alone had hitherto com- 
pelled the sovereign to delay, till the ar- 
rival of a favourable opporluiiily. 

[1st — 20th June.] Hitherto during 
the course of nearly two sessions, Fox 
and Pitt had almost invariably coincided 
upon every point submitted to parlia- 
mentary discussion : but the term of 
their apparent political union now ap- 
proached. Lord Mahon, who, by his 
first marriage stood in the near relation 
of a brother in law to Mr. Pitt, was then 
one of the representatives for Wycombe. 
His ardent, zealous, and impetuous 
mind, tinged with deep shades of repub- 
licanism and eccentricity, which extend- 
ed even to his dress and manners ; was 
equally marked by a bold originality of 
character, very enlightened views of the 
public welfare or amelioration, inflexible 
pertinacity, and a steady uprightness of 



having introduced a bill into the house, 
for the prevention of expense and bribery 
at elections, Powis strongly opposed it. 
Pitt replied to him ; denying that the re- 
gulations proposed, would constitute any 
innovation on the British Constitution, 
which, on the contrary, they were cal- 
culated to renovate and restore. Mr. 
Secretary Fox took the contrary side, 
and in a speech of great ability, after 
many flattering compliments to his ho- 
nora.b\e friend, maintained nevertheless 
that the principle.s of the bill had not 
been fairly staled by him. On all ques- 
tions or points which had for their object 
to effect an equal representation," he 
said, " Mr. Pitt might rely on his firmest 
concurrence and support. There, they 
never could disagree : but on the present 
subject, their opinions differed, and he 
had stated with much deference the rea- 
sons of his dissent." Pitt did not meet 
these expressions of friendly respect, 
with all the cordiality or suavity that 
might have been expected. He was in- 
deed lavish of his encomiums on thesplen- 
did display of eloquence made by the- 
secretary of state ; which, he observed, 
impressed him with deeper admiration, 
because, instead of overturning the argu- 
ments which he had himself used, it on 
the contrary supported them. The 
house dividing. Lord Mahon's bill was 
carried by a majority of only one ; and 
being again resumed three days after- 
wards, the discussion was renewed be- 
tween Pitt and Fox ; not, indeed, with 
any asperity or personality, but with 
much pertinacity. Sheridan joined in 
the debate, taking part against one of the 
most important clauses ; which being re- 
jected by sixty-six votes, opposed to 
twenty-six. Lord Mahon immediately 
declared that he would proceed no fur- 
ther in the measure. It would not, in- 
deed, of itself have excited much atten- 
tion, if it had not elicited the first sparks 
of disagreement between two persons, 
who attracted so great a share of national 
consideration. 

[22d — .30th June.] One of the last 
important or in teres ting discussions which 
look place in the House of Commons, 
previous to the Marquis of Rockingham's 
decease, owed its existence to the attor- 



328 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ney general. That intrepid and upright 
lawyer, acting without any concert what- 
ever, uncertain of support from any 
quarter, but impelled by his deep sense 
of public justice and of private rectitude, 
brought forward to parliamentary notice 
the question relative to the balances of 
money remaining in the hands of public 
accountants. 'J'he inquiry being levelled 
principally, though not solely, against 
Rigby, who as late as the month of May, 
1781, iield no less a balance in his pos- 
session than eleven hundred thousand 
pounds ; he, apprehensive of some 
prompt or efficacious resolution being 
adopted, which might subject him to 
difficulties of a pecuniary nature, pro- 
cured by personal applications a very 
numerous attendance. I have rarely 
witnessed' so many members present in 
their places, at so advanced a period of 
the session. To this circumstance Ken- 
yon alluded, when he rose to make his 
propositions, observing that it gave him 
pleasure to see so full a house on such 
an occasion. With stern severity of 
voice and manner, he declared that only 
a strong sense of duty actuated him. 
"Party views," added he, "I have 
none, nor have I consulted any indi- 
vidual whatever, on the nature and pro- 
priety of the motions I am about to 
make. Nay, I am ignorant whether any 
member of the house will second them ; 
but my determination to propose them 
remains unalterable." It must be con- 
fessed that such an attorney general 
does not arise frequently, nor could a 
man of so independent a mind be accep- 
table to any, except mini'sters of the 
most elevated and incorrupt description. 
Having slated that his object was to 
compel the payment of the balances due 
to the public, who, he said, had a right 
to the issues and profits of their own 
money ; he added, that if he should be 
defeated in that house, the courts of law 
would still remain open to him, where 
he might bring the question to a legal 
decision. He concluded by moving 
various resolutions, one of which de- 
clared that " Rigby and Welbore Ellis, 
were both accountable for the interest 
received by them, of the balances that 
respectively remained in their hands, 
from the dny of their quitting their late 
offices." 



No sooner had Kenyon finished than 
Fox presented himself to notice ; and 
after acknowledging that his learned 
friend had not consulted him on the 
business just opened, he contested with 
much warmth and equal ingenuity, the 
attorney general's proposition. It might, 
j he admitted, be law ; but it did not ap- 
pear to him to be common sense, — an 
i assertion which he endeavoured to eluci- 
j date, as well as to prove, by pointing 
j out the essential difference between a 
j guardian, who is bound to place the 
money of his ward in a state to yield 
interest ; and a public accountant, who 
is only held responsible for the capital 
advanced to him for public purposes. 1 
must confess that this doctrine appeared 
to me to be sound, and by no means in- 
consistent with the immutable principles 
of justice ; but from the lips of the secre- 
tary of slate it came with a bad grace : 
his father, Lord Holland, standing in the 
same position as Kigby ; being accused 
by the public voice, though perhaps un- 
justly, as a great defaulter; and his 
executors never having, down to that 
day, been able to obtain h')s quietus from 
the exchequer. Yet Lord Holland had 
quilted the pay office more ttian seven- 
teen years, when Kenyon agitated the 
question tlien before the house, during 
all which time the public derived no 
benefit from the balances remaining due 
from that nobleman's estate. 

Governor Johnstone, who never lost 
any opportunity of attacking Fox, though 
he disapproved of Kenyon's moiion, yet 
contrived to wound the secretary in a 
tender part. " Why," he demanded, 
" should the executors of Lord Holland 
be allowed many years for paying in his 
balances, if Rigby and Ellis were to be 
compelled to make a similar payment 
within the short space of two months ? 
As to myself," continued he, " my rea- 
son for attending in my place to-day, 
was not with a design of supporting any 
particular cause ; but merely from curi- 
osity, in order to observe what part the 
right honorable secretary would lake on 
a question where he is himself so per- 
sonally concerned." Nevertheless, Lord 
North coinciding perfectly with Fox, in 
the doctrines that he had laid down, and 
pronouncing them to be orthodox; 
Wallace, the late attorney general, Je. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



329 



claring that, in his opinion, the public 
had no right whatever to demand any 
interest on the money lying in the hands 
of great national accountants, — an opi- 
nion which he sustained by strong rea- 
soning ; Powis agreeing in the justice, 
as vvell as in the solidity of Fox's ob- 
servations ; and the chancellor of the 
exchequer supporting the same argu- 
ments; — under these circumstances, Ken- 
yon consented to withdraw the obnoxious 
resolution. Having, however, substi- 
tuted in its place a motion for leave to 
bring in a bill to enable the exchequer 
to receive the balances due from Rigby 
and Ellis, he was again opposed, and on 
a division, left in a minority of eleven. 
The secretary of state, as well as the 
other members of administration, sup- 
ported and voted with Kenyon, though 
probably Fox was by no means dis- 
pleased at the result of the day. 

No rational doubt can exist, that even 
if death had not carried off the Marquis 
of Rockingham, yet a change in the 
administration would equally have taken 
place, nearly at the same time, and in 
the same manner, as it was afterwards 
effected. 'I'he necessity of making such 
arrangements as might, it was hoped, 
secure its duration, and enable Lord 
Shelburne to surmount the opposition to 
be expected in parliament, had solely 
prevented him hitherto from accepting 
the place of first lord of the treasury. 
But as the session drew towards its 
close, that difficulty gradually ceased ; 
while the period vvliich must of course 
elapse between the prorogation and the 
subsequent meeting, would afford, in all 
probability, if well improved, various 
means of strengtliening the new nii- 
nistrj'. Lord Shelburne had already 
made advances to, and had sounded Mr. 
Pitt. His talents, eloquence, and popu- 
larity, sustained by his illustrious name, 
rendered him, notwithstanding his youth, 
capable of being successfully opposed 
to Fox, in the House of Commons. 
His ambition, which had impelled him 
to disdain, and to reject, a secondary 
place under the existing administration, 
pointed out to Lord Shelburne the ob- 
vious bait, by which he might be in- 
duced to lend his powerfcl support ; 
namely, a cabinet office. The decorum 
and regularity of his private life, alto- 
28* 



gether untinclured with the vices of 
Fox's character, gave him a vast supe- 
riority, in the estimation of all those 
who considered correct moral deport- 
ment as indispensable to a man placed 
in public situation. In the contempla- 
tion of these circumstances, and with 
these intentions, it is well known that the 
king fully determined to displace such 
members of the cabinet as constituted 
the Rockingham party ; and to transfer 
the management of the treasury to the 
Earl of Shelburne. The lapse of a few 
days, would perhaps have disclosed and 
produced this important event, when the 
decease of the first minister spared his 
majesty the necessity of dismissing him 
from his post. 

[1st of July.] Lord Rockingham, 
though hardly fifty-two years of age, 
already sunk under an infirm and debili- 
tated constitution. A decay, to which 
was added a slow fever, or as it was 
denominated, influenza, a species of 
epidemic distemper, had for some time 
undermined his strength, without ap- 
pearing to menace his immediate disso- 
lution. He was in his place in the 
House of Peers, for the last time, on the 
3d of June, where he both spoke and 
voted in support of Mr. Crewe's bill, 
for depriving revenue officers of their 
vote in elections. But when he rose to 
address the house, he declared that he 
felt himself so severely indisposed, as to 
be almost incapable of uttering a word. 
He even made use of a singular expres- 
sion ; — for he added, " the disorder 
universally prevalent, afflicts me so vio- 
lently, that at times I am not completely 
in possession of myself." His speech 
nevertheless displayed no defect of 
mind. Soon after the king's birth-day, 
having quitted Grosvenor-square, lie re- 
tired to Roeliamptnn, where his reco- 
very was confidently expected by his 
friends, and even predicted by his medi- 
cal attendants. Indeed, neither Fox 
nor Burke seem to have been prepared 
for his decease ; though the former, with 
the manly, but imprudent decision that 
marked his political character, instantly 
determined either to keep possession of 
the treasury by proxy, or to resign his 
office. Burke, though he personally 
detested Lord Shelburne, yet would, I 
believe, have gladly retained his situa- 



330 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



tion, under a nevv first minister of the 
king's election : but he could not sepa- 
rate himself from Fox. On that day, 
they held a long conversation, evidently 
of the most interesting and serious de- 
scription, in the court of requests, where 
they continued walking backwards and 
forwards, long after the speaker had 
taken the chair. At length they both 
repaired to the house, where the mar- 
quis's death being announced, warm 
eulogiums were conferred on his me- 
mory, from various quarters. Fre- 
deric Montagu, himself a man of 
distinguished probity, when mention- 
ing Lord Rockingham, said, " Such 
was my opinion of his integrity of 
heart,- and firmness of mind in resist- 
ing every act that ought to be re- 
sisted, as to make his concurrence 
or approbation sufficient to sanctify in 
my judgment, almost any measure." 
" He was," observed Fox, " an honour 
to his country, and an ornament to human 
nature. Others, I admit, may have pos- 
sessed more brilliant talents ; but I know 
of none who more truly loved his coun- 
try, or who displayed in a more eminent 
degree, that extraordinary combination 
of firmness of mind, with softness of 
manners, by whicli he was peculiarly 
characterised." " Well may I be ex- 
cused," exclaimed Burke, " for ming- 
ling my tears with those of all ranks and 
descriptions of men, for the inestimable 
loss which we have sustained by the 
death of this most excellent and virtuous 
character ! He is gone to appear before 
that tribunal where we must all render 
an account of our actions ; and I believe, 
no soul ever went with a greater and 
better founded certainty of approbation." 
These encomiums may have been merit>- 
ed, as paid to his moral worth and steady 
rectitude of intention : but, we must re- 
member by whom, and when, they were 
uttered. Fox, Burke, and Montagu, all 
relapsed into a comparative obscurity, 
by his death. History will speak of him 
with more moderation. An amiable and 
a respectable individual, rather than a 
superior man, nature had not designed 
him to be the first minister of a great 
country. Junius well characterizes his 
formation of mind, when he speaks of 
" the mild, but determined integrity of 
Lord Rockingham." Yet was there, as 



that writer elsewhere observes, a degree 
of " debility" in his virtue : but, the - 
moderation of his character tempered the 
ardour of Fox, and imposed limits on 
Burke's enthusiasm. 

The state of his frame and health, 
which, even in his youth had never been 
robust ; and both which were believed 
to have suffered severely in consequence 
of some imprudent gallantries, while 
pursuing his travels in the south of Italy, 
at an early period of his life ; incapa- 
citated him for close or continued appli- 
cation, during the short period of his ad- 
ministration. The Princess of Franca 
Villa was commonly supposed to have 
bestowed on him the same fatal present, 
which the " Belle Ferroniere" conferred 
on Francis the First, King of France; 
and which, as we learn from Burnet, 
the Countess of Soulhesk was said to 
iiave entailed on James, Duke of York, 
afterwards James the Second. That 
princess was still living when I visited 
Naples, in the year' 1779 ; and Sir Wil- 
liam Hamilton assured me, that she al- 
ways expressed the utmost concern for 
the unintentional misfortune, which the 
marquis's attachment for her had pro- 
duced, as well as for its supposed re- 
sults. Leaving no issue, the greater 
part of his vast landed property, as well 
as his borough interests, descended to 
his nephew. Earl Fitzwilliam. In Lord 
Rockingham's person, too, became ex- 
tinct the title and dignity of a British 
marquis; he being the sole individual 
in the kingdom who then possessed that 
high rank; to which Mr. Pitt has since 
elevated during his administration, eleven 
individuals ; besides creating nine Irish 
marquises, where there did not previ- 
ously exist one peer of that order. Such 
has been the prodigious increase of peer- 
ages during the present reign ! Un- 
questionably Mr. Pitt, in thus augment- 
ing the numbers of the House of Lords, 
was not animated by llie same intention 
as the Romans attributed to the first of 
the Oecsars, when he increased the se- 
nate to nine hundred ; or as Seutonius 
expresses it, " Scnatum siipplevit." 
But, it will be nevertheless for our de- 
scendants to decide, how far he has 
practically produced a similar effect on 
the Constitution of Great Britain, with 
the pernicious consequence which flowed 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



33] 



from the augmentation of the Roman 
senate by Ccesar. 

[2d — 8ih July.] However deeply 
sensible Fox might be to Lord Rocking- 
ham's dealli, and whatever steps he 
probably contemplated as the natural re- 
sults of such a blow, he was not so pre- 
cipitate as to give in his immediate re- 
signation. He remained a member of 
the cabinet for several days after it took 
place, and on the 2d of the month, he 
spoke (for the last time indeed), as se- 
cretary of state, from tlie treasury bench. 
A bill for the regulation of appointments 
in the West Indies and America, being 
then in its progress through the house ; 
it was opposed by Sir George Savile,on 
a principle of jealous apprehension Vhat 
■we might attempt again to legislate for the 
colonies, thereby re-asserting a supremacy 
over them. Lord Shelburne having intro- 
duced the bill into the upper house, who 
was well known to be very averse to the 
declaration of American independence, 
that circumstance excited still greater 
alarm. The attorney general, with the 
warmth characteristic of all he said or 
did, endeavoured to allay Sir George's 
fears. " The wisdom, probity, disin- 
terestedness, and honorable intentions of 
that noble person," Kenyon observed, 
♦' stood so tirnily established in the pub- 
lic opinion, that he trusted, no man 
would venture to reject the motives which 
had animated him in bringing forward 
such a measure." But Sir George 
Savile remaining inflexible. Fox rose, 
and expressed his astonishment at the 
incredulity manifested on the subject. 
While the present ministers enjoyed their 
sovereign's confidence, no idea," he as- 
serted, " could ever exist of coercing 
America, or of renewing the system so 
strongly reprobated by that house. He 
could not speak peremptorily for every 
member of the cabinet ; but he protested 
that he would not, himself, remain one 
minute in ailminislration, after he should 
discover an intention of bringing back the 
colonies to obedience, either by force, or 
by negotiation," Fox even proceeded 
to prove tluit, however reluctant the no- 
bleman in question might have been in 
times past, to the acknowledgment of 
American independence ; yet, a whole- 
some and salutary revolution had taken 
place in his principles, from the operation 



of events, and of an overpowering neces- 
sity. To these assurances and expos- 
tulations, which were reiterated by Gene- 
ral Conway, Sir George Savile at length 
gave way : but the event proved either 
that Fox was mistaken, or that Lord 
Shelburne exhibited a reluctance to con- 
cede American independence, which he 
afterwards renounced, when Fox had 
quitted the cabinet. Instead of throwing 
up his place in administration, on a bare 
suspicion or belief of Lord Shelburne's 
inteuiions ; he ought (as Pitt told him, 
a few days afterwards), to have sum- 
moned a cabinet council, and there to 
have ascertained the fact, before he pro- 
ceeded to extremities. But passion, in- 
dignation, and disappointed ambition, 
mastering his reason, impelled him, re- 
gardless of the consequences to himself 
and to his friends, to retire, rather than 
submit to the new first lord of the trea- 
sury, Pitt, more calm and wise, took 
Fox's vacant seat, though not his office, 
in the cabinet : an event which the secre- 
tary of state ought to have foreseen, as 
more than possible ; though probably, he 
was not prepared for it. 

If Fox would have submitted to retain 
his office as secretary of state, under 
Lord Shelburne, after the decease of the 
Marquis of Rockingham ; it is not to be 
questioned that the king, whatever per- 
sonal objections or dislike he might have 
felt towards him, would from prudential 
motives, have allowed him to continue 
in the cabinet. Nor can it admit of a 
doubt, that Fox, by consenting to hold 
his own situation, would have induced 
Lord John Cavendish, over whom he 
always exercised an unbounded ascend- 
ant, to follow his example. Burke, who 
manifested the greatest reluctance to quit 
the pay office, required rather to be im- 
i pelled in making that sacrifice, than ap- 
peared to feel any spontaneous disposi- 
tion towards resigning so lucrative an 
appointment, of which he had scarcely 
tasted the first fruits. Fox's private cir- 
cumstances were moreover so desperate, 
as to dictate some attention to them ; and 
many of his friends stood in a similar 
predicament. He did not affect to con- 
ceal his own want of fortune, even when 
addressing the House of Commons. 
Speaking of the motives that impelled 
him to resign, and of their imperious 



332 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



nature, which left him no alternative ex- 
cept quilting office ; he added, " Moved 
by these considerations, though in point 
of fortune, my condition is not by any 
means enviable, I have relinquished the 
pomp, the patronage, and the emolu- 
ment. — I confess candidly that I have 
not quilted my place without a pang. 
I am not such a stoic, as to prefer being 
neglected, rather than to be courted ; to 
prefer poverty to riches, inconvenience 
before comfort, or obscurity before power 
and splendour." It was difficult to desig- 
nate more eloquently his situatiotj. These 
expressions fell from him on the 9th of 
July, in the progress of the interesting 
discussion that took place relative to 
Barre's pension. Burke, with less dig- 
nity, deplored on tiie same day, in the 
same assembly, his ejection from the 
pay office, and his inability to despise 
the favours of fortune. "I have," said 
he, " a family, and my means are small. 
Hike my office. The house, the situa- 
tion, and all its appendages, cannot be 
otherwise than pleasing to my taste. 
All these things I cannot relinquish with- 
out regret: — for, the welfare of my 
family is most dear to me. Who can 
conceive that I would lightly sacrifice all 
these things, and four thousand pounds 
a year ? — I have long been surfeited 
with opposition, and those who know 
me well, will not denominate me facti- 
ous." These lamentations remind us 
ofPomfret's poem, on Adam's expulsion 
from Paradise, beginning, 

" And must I go, and must I be no more 
The tenant of this happy ground." 

Burke's condition was in every point 
of view rendered more critical, in conse- 
quence of Lord Rockingham's decease. 
I have been assured, that nobleman, by 
his last testamentary dispositions, can- 
celled all tlie money due to him by Mr. 
Burke, amounting to a considerable 
sum : but did not bequeath him any ad- 
ditional legacy, or pecuniary mark of 
regard. It was added, that Burke by 
no means expressed himself satisfied 
with the marquis's conduct towards 
him in this respect. Certainly, some of 
his expressions relative to Lord Rock- 
ingham, in his speech to which I have 



already alluded, were very singular, 
and might be regarded as equivocal. 
" Among the encomiums due to that 
noble person," said he, " this was one ; 
that he left his best and dearest friends 
with the simple reward of his own in- 
valuable intimacy. This peculiar test 
of their sincerity, he demanded while 
alive ; and it was a tax which he im- 
posed on their regard for his memory, 
when he was no more." Do not these 
words obscurely designate the fact, that 
he received no augmentation to his for- 
tune, by Lord Rockingham's will ? 
Embarrassed, nevertheless, as were 
both his and Fox's private affairs, the 
resentment of the latter, at seeing the 
helm of state transferred to Lord Shel- 
burne, when added to his knowledge of 
the secret machinations which had pre- 
ceded it, extinguished or superseded 
every other sentiment in his bosom. 
He peremptorily demanded, either that 
the Duke of Portland should be imme- 
diately recalled from Ireland, in order ' 
to be placed at the head of the treasury, 
as the representative of the deceased 
marquis, and the acknowledged chief of 
the whig party ; or he tendered to his 
majesty his own instant resignation. 
His offer was accepted : and that of 
Lord John Cavendish, as chancellor of 
the exchequer, accompanied it, at the 
same time. 

When, after the lapse of five and 
thirty years, we calmly examine the 
motives by which Fox was actuated in 
thus throwing up his office, we must ad- 
mit that he consulted more his passions, 
than his reason ; since he lay under no 
necessity of sacrificing either his coun- 
try, or his principles, to the preserva- 
tion of his employment. Lord Shel- 
burne's insincerity or duplicity could 
not operate to produce the public ruin, 
except by the measures, that in his 
capacity of first minister, he might bring 
forward: and whatever repugnance he 
might individually feel to grant the 
American colonies unconditional inde- 
pendence, yet the majority of the cabi- 
net, after Fox's and Lord John Caven- 
dish's secession, compelled him ulti- 
mately to adopt that principle. By re- 
taining his place under the new first 
lord of the treasury. Fox would there- 
fore have secured his adherence to the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



333 



late marquis's plans; or. on liis depar- 
ture from ihein, Fox would have carried 
parliament and ihe country willi iiim, 
by instantly refusing longer to co-ope- 
rate wiili a minister, who evaded or de- 
clined recognising the sovereignly of the 
thirteen states. Nor could Lord Keppel 
and the Duke of Riclimond, have then 
separated themselves from him. If, in- 
stead of the violent step that he took, he 
had acted with temper, he would have 
advanced the public interests, while he 
consolidated his own tenure of office. 
The king and Lord Shelburne, however 
much they might have desired to dis- 
miss him, could not have ventured on it 
without a pretence. Pitt might probably 
have become secretary of state for the 
home department; and a very strong 
government must have arisen, from 
which Lord Nortb, as well as his adhe- 
rents, would have been altogether ex- 



determination. Itremained during some 
time doubtful, whether Mr. Pitt would 
have been appointed one of the secreta- 
ries of stale, or placed in the post of 
chancellor of the exchequer. The latter 
employment was finally conferred on 
him. Mr. Thomas Townsend succeeded 
Lord Shelburne in the home department; 
leaving the post of secretary at war to 
Sir George Younge. The foreign oflice, 
vacated by Fox, was last filled up, and 
given to Lord Grantham. However in- 
ferior in energy and brilliancy of intel- 
lect to his predecessor, he possessed 
solid, though not eminent parts ; added 
to a knowledge of foreign affairs and of 
Europe, having resided several years 
with great reputation, as ambassador at 
the court of Madrid. 

Two of the lords of the treasury fol- 
lowed Mr. Fox out of office. One, Lord 
Althorpe, has since filled with honour to 



eluded. But, in order lo have produced j himself, and advantage to the public, as 
this benefit lo the state, it was necessary | Earl Spencer, a high cabinet ofiice under 
for Fox to begin by obtaining a triumph ] Mr. Pitt's administration. Frederick 
over himself. He preferred more dicta- i Montagu, the other, a man equally re- 
lorial measures, which in the course of i spectable for probity and for talents, 
a few months, compelled him either to afterwards raised to the dignity of a privy 
behold his enemy confirmed in power, councillor ; was a devoted adherent of 
after making peace, while he hintself the Oavendish and Rockingham interest, 
and his adherents remained on the Mr. Richard Jackson, and Mr. Edward 



opposition bench ; or, regardless of 
consequences, to form a junction with 
Lord North, and storm the cabinet a 
second time. Such indeed were the 
injurious results that flowed from his 
intemperate precipitation. 

Fox, in taking this decisive step, pro- 
bably flattered himself that it would 
have operated to a wider extent, than 
actually happened. Though he could 
not rationally hope that either Lord 
Camden or the Duke of Grafton would 
resign ; and though he ought not to 
have supposed that . General Conway 
would lay down his office ; since not 
one of these ministers depended on the 
late Marquis of Rockingham ; yet he 
certainly calculated that his uncle the 
Duke of Riclimond, as well as Lord 
Keppel, would imitate his example. In 
this expectation, he was, however, dis- 
appointed. They both expressed, in 



James Eliot, succeeded to these vacan- 
cies. The former gentleman, one of 
Lord Shelburne's intimate friends, bred 
to the bar, had obtained from the univer- 
sality of his information on all topics, as 
I have already had occasion to remark, 
the appellation of " omniscient Jackson." 
Mr. Eliot afterwards married Lady Har- 
riet Pitt, sister of the chancellor of the 
exchequer; and his father early in 1784, 
was created a peer, while the new first 
minister had still to contend against a 
majority in the House of Commons. 
The remaining member of the treasury 
board, Mr. James Grenville, whom we 
have likewise seen elevated by Mr. Pitt 
to the British peerage, at a later period 
of his administration ; did not think 
proper to imitate the example of his 
colleagues. Mr. Thomas Orde, who 
became one of the two secretaries of the 
new treasury ; like Mr. Grenville, ter- 



deed, in the upper house of parliament, ] minated his career as a commoner, on 
their great regret at his secession ; but I the very same day, fifteen years after- 
they declined following him out of the | wards, by a removal to the upper house 
cabinet, and stated the motives for their of parliament. 



334 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



The peerage formed, indeed, the Eu- 
thanasia, the natural translation of all 
Mr. Pitt's favoiirile adherents, friends, 
and relations, either by consanguinity, 
or by alliance. It must be admitted that 
Mr. Orde had a double pretension to it, 
from his services, and his matrimonial 
connexion. AVhile a member of the 
House of Commons, he had distinguished 
himself by drawing up more than one of 
the most able reports of the " secret 
committee," appointed to enquire into 
the causes of the war in the Carnatic, of 
which committee he was a leading mem- 
ber. Mr. Dundas, the chairman, when 
addressing the house, on the ninth of 
April, 1782 ; after paying him the highest 
compliments for his assiduity and exer- 
tions in that capacity, added, " Such, in- 
deed, are the talents which Mr. Orde has 
exhibited in the business of investigation, 
that no minister who means to act 
honestly, can overlook him, or omit to 
employ his distinguished abilities in the 
public service." Great, however, as 
was the testimony of the lord advocate, 
to his merits, which I am not inclined 
to dispute, yet his best claim consisted 
in having married the natural daughter 
of Charles, Duke of Bolton ; in virtue 
of which union, and from the failure of 
male issue in the person of the succeed- 
ing duke, Mr. Orde became eventually 
possessed of some of the finest estates of 
that illustrious family. The title itself, 
diminished to a barony, was revived in 
him, together with the name of Powlett. 
Lord North remained an inactive, though 
not an unconcerned, or a silent spectator, 
of this new convulsion in the councils of 
the crown : which had so soon expelled 
from the cabinet, one of the two parties, ] 
by whom he was himself driven from 
power. Of all those individuals who 
had supported his administration, or oc- 
cupied any eminent situation under it, I 
only two quitted him, in order to be re- 
ceived into Lord Shelburne's confidence 
and ministry. The lord advocate of 
Scotland, Mr. Dundas, after eight years 
adherence, now abandoned altogether 
his ancient political leader ; and imitating 
the precedent exhibited by Mr. Pitt, 
took office, by accepting the treasurer- 
ship of the navy. From this period, 
those two eminent men continued for 
the remainder of their lives, inseparable 



in good, as well as in adverse fortune. 
Lord Mulo;rave followed Dundas's ex- 
ample. The Duke of Portland, who, as 
being devoted to the Rockingham interest, 
and now placed ostensibly at its head, 
adopted of course Mr. Fox's line of con- 
duct, was succeeded in the lord lieute- 
nancy of Ireland, by Earl Temple ; a 
nobleman of very considerable talents, 
and great application to business, though, 
we must admit, inferior in energy of 
mind and character, to either of his 
brothers. 

[9th July.] The interruption which 
so important a change in the government, 
occasioned in the ordinary business of 
the House of Commons ; prevented any 
discussion from arising in that assembly 
during some days, relative to the causes - 
and motives of Mr. Fox's resignation. 
But an occasion soon presented itself, 
which enabled him to state all his griev-. 
ances, to unfold some portion of the 
mystery that pervaded his conduct, and 
to bring forward the heaviest charges 
against the new first lord of the treasury. 
A pension of three thousand two hundred 
pounds a year, having been granted to 
Colonel Barre, by the administration of 
which Lord Rockingham constituted the 
head ; and another very considerable 
pension being given at the same time, to 
Lord Ashburton, ihe two principal friends 
of Lord Shelburne in both houses of 
parliament ; — these grants, the con- 
sideration of which was unexpectedly 
brought forward, became severely an 
raigned. It seemed, indeed, impossible 
not to feel a degree of astonishment, at 
contemplating such profuse donations of 
the public money, made by men who 
condemned Lord North's want of eco- 
nomy ; who were with difficulty induced 
to give a pension of two thousand pounds 
a year to Lord Rodney, for having de- 
feated the French fleet, and saved Ja- 
maica; who, themselves, had recently 
reduced the household of the sovereign ; 
and who loudly asserted their personal 
disinterestedness. Mr. Daniel Parker 
Coke, a man who, like Kenyon, only 
look the advice of his own upright and 
intelligent mind, in all cases of public 
or parliamentary duty; coming down 
to the house, without concert of any 
kind, moved for an address, to request of 
his majesty to declare, which of his 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



335 



ministers had dared to recommend the 
grant of the pension in question to Bane. 
The three lords of the treasury present, 
having all admitted that it was the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham's act; and Frederic 
Montagu, one of the number, not only 
justifying it, as a remuneration merited 
by Barre for his long services in that 
assembly ; but adding, that all he re- 
gretted, was his not having signed a 
warrant for a similar sum, to another 
distinguished servant of the public, name- 
ly, Mr. Burke ; Barre himself then rose. 
In a speech, well conceived, and deliver- 
ed from the treasury bench, he detaded 
his military sufferings and renunciations, 
honorary, as well as pecuniary. The 
post of adjutant general, and the govern- 
ment of Stirling Castle, both of which 
offices had been conferred on him by 
the crown, as a reward for his services 
under the immortal IVoIfe in Canada; 
posts, of which officers were only de- 
prived for military offences ; — he had 
sacrificed. " I was," said he, " an ene- 
my to general warrants. I voted against 
them in tliis house, and for this political 
transgression, I was dismissed, the very 
next day, from my military employ- 
ments." — "I sliould now have been an 
old lieutenant general. Had I been less 
a friend to the liberties of the people, 
my income would have exceeded the 
pension conferred on me. If, after such 
sacrifices, I do not merit this provision, 
let it be curtailed or annihilated." 

I confess that, though I felt no predi- 
lection towards Barre, whose manners, 
like his figure, had in them something 
approaching to ferocious ; yet, these 
circumstances produced on my mind, a 
sentiment of conviction or approbation. 
But, Bainber Gascoyne, who yielded to 
few men in strong common sen%e, which 
he expressed with force and freedom 
whenever he mixed in debate ; attacked 
both the grant and the administration, 
with great vivacity. While he candidly 
admitted the deserts of the person on 
whom this mark of royal and public 
bounty had been conferred, he loudly 
inveighed against such profusion on the 
part of men, who, while out of office, 
had condemned the late ministers for 
making similar remunerations ; and who, 
since they had been, themselves, in 
power, though only for a few weeks, 



had practised all the faults that they 
previously reprehended. " The people," 
exclaimed he, " will soon know how to 
form a just estimate of them. They de- 
clare that their predecessors have left 
the exchequer empty, and the finances 
exhausted. Yet they heap new burthens 
upon us. They accused the last cabinet 
of want of unanimity. But what is the 
Slate of the present cabinet ? Is there 
any union of opinion there ? Yet his 
majesty's late servants have not made 
the slightest attempt to impede their 
measures or negotiation. This discord 
is the more culpable and dangerous at 
the present moment, when the. combined 
navies, superior to our own fleet under 
Lord Howe's command, are perhaps 
upon our coasts. A lord of the treasury 
expresses his concern, at not having 
signed a warrant for a pension to another 
honorable member, whose talents and 
merits, I own to be most eminent. Why-, 
Mr. Speaker, 1 have served the public 
for twenty years, and I have got no 
pension ! If such large pecuniary com- 
pensations are to be given to every indi- 
vidual of conspicuous desert, where is 
the financier who can provide funds ade- 
quate to the demand ?" 

Under accusations so severe, as well 
as just, the late secretary of state could 
not remain silent, even had he so 
inclined. Having resigned his office 
four days previous to the discussion 
then agitated, he had relapsed into a 
private member of parliament ; and as 
such, had resumed his ancient seat on 
the opposition side of the house, as well 
as his former costume. Lord John 
Cavendish and Burke were likewise 
seated near him, as they had been 
previous to the change of administration. 
So soon did Fox find himself restored 
to his former position in that assembly. 
Below him sate Lord North ; and this 
approximation, the first that took place 
between them, led the way to a closer 
connection in the course of a short space 
of time. No man could contemplate 
the late premier, now reduced, like Fox, 
to asimple individual ; the one of whom, 
four months earlier, occupied tlie first 
place in the cabinet, while the other had 
only just resigned the seals of his 
department ; without making some re- 
flections on the mutability of human 



336 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



greatness. It might have afforded a 
salutary lesson to ambition, if any 
lessons or examples could serve as 
checks on that passion. Fox rising, 
and directing his discourse not less to 
Bamber Gascoyne, than to Mr. Coke, 
admitted that the deceased marquis, his 
friend, had concurred in recommending 
the pensions conferred on Lord Ash- 
burton, and on Barre : but he entreated 
the house to observe, that while Lord 
Shelburne's adherents received such dis- 
tinguishing marks of the bounty of the 
crown ; the followers of Lord Rock- 
ingham, many of whom could plead 
equal merit, and equal want, remained 
without provision of any kind. 

After thus in some measure removing 
the odium attached to the act, from that 
party of which he formed a member ; 
he indirectly accused the new first 
minister, of the most unworthy du- 
plicity, of the complete abandonment of 
every political principle on which he 
professed to have come into office, and 
of an intention to protect, as well as to 
shelter East Indian delinquents. Hav- 
ing next enumerated the great points on 
which Lord Shelburne and he had dif- 
fered in the cabinet, among which he 
particularly specified the question of 
conceding independence to America; he 
concluded by heaping upon that noble- 
man, imputations more severe and humi- 
liating, if possible, than the charges with 
which, during many years, he had pro- 
fusely loaded Lord North. In the 
warmth of his indignation, he even 
ventured to predict the probability, that 
with a view to maintain possession of 
the power so acquired. Lord Shelburne 
would not scruple to apply for support, 
to the very men, whom the house and 
the nation, had recently driven from 
their official situations. He unfortunate- 
ly did not then foresee, that within seven 
months from the time when he was 
speaking, he should, himself, in order 
to re-enter the cabinet, form a junction 
with the expelled minister, whom he 
had so long held up to national resent- 
ment, and towards whom he still [iro- 
fessed the utmost alienation. Such 
were the inconsistencies and contradic- 
tions, into which the ambition of Fox 
betrayed him ; and from which, all the 
splendour of his talents could not extri- 



cate his public character, without even- 
tually incurring imputations, nearly as 
heavy as those which he lavished on his 
political opposition. 

I should find it difficult to convey any 
adequate idea of this debate, or rather, 
discussion ; which, during the far greater 
part of the time it lasted, had not the 
slightest reference, nor made the small- 
est allusion to the ostensible subject be- 
fore the house, Barre's pension. In 
defiance of order, it was maintained for 
three or four hours, in the shape of a 
conversation or dialogue, carried on be- 
tween Fox and General Conway exclu- 
sively ; the speaker and the members 
present, who were very numerous (es- 
pecially if the advanced season of the 
year be considered) ; acquiescinginatotal 
departure from the question under ex- 
amination, from motives of curiosity. 
Never, perhaps, were political disclo- 
sures more delicate and interesting, made 
within those walls ! Fox, in violation 
of the secrecy which his late situation 
seemed to impose on him ; anxious to 
justify his own violent and precipitate 
conduct, by accusing Lord Shelburne 
of a dereliction of principles embraced 
by the whole cabinet ; lifted up the veil 
from before it, and laid it in some mea- 
sure open to general view. There were 
certain parts of his justification, I own, 
that carried conviction or approbation 
with them : but he by no means succeed- 
ed in persuading the majority of his 
hearers, that he had acted wisely, tem- 
perately, or from necessity, in hastily 
throwing up his office. We may safely 
pronounce that disappointment, not pa- 
triotism, animated him to that improvi- 
dent step, 'though he might really believe 
that Lord Shelburne did not mean to con- 
cede independence to America. 

In reply to Mr. Gascoyne's accusa- 
tion, that the new administration was not 
less divided than their predeces!>ors, Fox 
observed, that he had blamed Lord North 
for having remained in place, after he 
found himself at the head of distracted 
councils. " As soon as I discovered," 
said he, " that I stood in a similar situa- 
tion, I could not remain a member of 
the cabinet, without committing an act of 
treachery to my country, when mea- 
sures, dangerous, if not fatal, were medi- 
tated." " I declare, thati have only 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



337 



resigned, because I believe a new system 
is about to be adopted ; or rather, the 
ancient system revived. I feel it indis- 
pensable to come forward, to ring the 
alarum bell, and to warn tlie country that 
the old system is to be pursued ; proba- 
bly, with the former men; or, indeed, 
with any men that can be found for the 
purpose." — " 'Vhe principles of the late 
ministry are now in the cabinet ; and the 
next tiling that I expect, is to see the late 
ministers themselves rephiced in oitice." 

— All tiiat is great and good in the king- 
dom, has approved my retreat. My 
noble friend (Lord Joim Cavendish), 
has likewise given in his resignation ; 
and the public will infer, that when such 
a character has quitted the cabinet, no 
man of character ought to remain in it." 

— "I now retire with a few select 
friends, to a strong hold, were I confi- 
dently expect all my old companions to 
join me, some sooner, and some later in 
the day." — "On the demise of the 
Marquis of Rockingham, all men's eyes 
were directed to the Duke of Portland. 
But instead of that noble person, the 
Earl of Shelburne has been selected." 
Then, having inveighed against the new 
first lord of the treasury, as the reverse 
of his predecessor; as a nobleman who 
neither regarded promises, nor engage- 
ments, nor systems, nor principles, pro- 
vided that by abandoning or violating 
them, he could acquire and retain power ; 
I doubt not," added he, " that in order 
to secure himself in office, he will have 
recourse to every means that corruption 
can procure. And I expect that he will I 
shortly be joined by those very men, 
whom, the house has recently precipita- 
tedfrom their seats.''^ Yet, after having 
thus repeatedly denounced the late mi- [ 
nisters, and warned the country of the j 
impending danger from their being again | 
taken into power ; by one of those con- i 
tradictions common to Fox, he conclu- j 
ded with declaring, that " as to any ap- 
prehensions of letting in the old admin- 
istration, he entertained none ; because 
the House of Commons would not suffer 
it ; the people would not suffer it ; indeed 
no man would be bold enough to at- 
tempt it." 

The members of the new administra- 
tion diverged on this occasion, in widely 
different lines. General Conway, with 
29 



, the "undetermined discretion" imputed 
^ to him by " Junius," contented himself 
I by endeavouring to justify his own line, 
of conduct, and thatof the cabinet minis- 
ters who had declined to imitate the ex- 
1 ample of Fox ; which he did, rather with 
j caution and delicacy, than with any aspe- 
I rity or acrimony. VVilh solemn protes- 
tations he declared, that he had not been 
al»le to discover the slightest intention 
I on the part of the new first minister, to 
abandon the principles upon which the 
administration was originally constituted. 
Those principles he recapitulated, one 
by one; the first and most essential of 
which, forming the basis of all their 
measures or deliberations, was the con- 
cession of unconditional independence 
to America, as the leading step to peace. 
Whenever he should find any ground 
for suspicion, that the Earl of Shelburne 
designed to adopt another system, he 
protested that he would not remain for a 
day, or for an hour, in the cabinet. He 
lamented the recent division and seces- 
sion in his majesty's councils, as well 
as the loss of ability sustained by Fox's 
resignation. Yet he saw no reason to 
apprehend that the successor of the 
noble marquis deceased, would fail to 
pursue the true interests of his country. 
Throughout every part of Conway's 
speech, a desire to avoid coming to ex- 
tremities with Fox, was strongly rriarked. 
But Pitt, now sealed on the treasury 
bench, and on the point of accepting 
the office of chancellor of the exchequer, 
observing none of these personal ma- 
nagements ; boldly accused the late se- 
cretary of state with sacrificing his coun- 
try, to liis ambition, his interest, or his 
enmities ; charged him as being at va- 
riance, not with principles or measures, 
but with men ; and claimed the support 
of liie house no longer than he should 
maintain that system, on which the late 
administration had been driven from 
power. 

" The right honorable secretary as- 
sures us," said he, " that it was with 
the sole view of preventing dissensions 
in the cabinet, he retired from office. I 
believe him, because he solemnly de- 
clares it. Otherwise I should have at- 
tributed his resignation, to a baulk in 
struggling for power. If, however, he 
so much disliked Lord Shelburne's po- 



838- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



litical principles or opinions, why did he 
ever consent to act with that nobleman, as 
a colleague ? And if he only suspected 
Lord Shelburne of feeling averse to the 
measures which he thought necessary to 
be adopted ; it was his duty to have 
called a cabinet council, and there to 
have ascertained the fact, before he took, 
the hasty resolution of throwing up his 
employment. I can assure him that I 
entertain no such suspicions. If I did, 
no man would be more averse to sup- 
porting the present ministry than myself. 
I am a determined enemy to the late 
ruinous system ; and if I should act in 
any capacity under the administration of 
the present day, whenever I see things 
going on wrong, I will first endeavour 
to set them right. — Should I fail in the 
attempt, then, and not before, I will re- 
sign." Perhaps, in no transaction of 
their whole political lives, was the dis- 
tinntion between Fox and Pitt more 
strikingly exhibited, than in the resig- 



the national confidence. " I invoke 
heaven and earth," exclaimed he, " to wit- 
ness, that I fully believe the presentminis- 
try will prove infinitely worse than thai 
of the noble lord, who has been so lately 
reprobated and driven from employ- 
ment!" After treating Conway with 
great severity of animadversion, for 
trusting to Lord Shelburne's assurances 
or professions ; and comparing the 
general to the little Red Riding Hood 
in iEsop, who mistook a wolf for her 
grandmother; Burke demanded, " Whe- 
ther if he had lived in the time of 
Cicero, he would have taken Catiline 
for his colleague in the office of consul, 
after he had heard his guilt clearly de- 
monstrated by that illustrious orator 1 
Would he become a co-parlner with 
Borgia in his political schemes, after 
reading of his nefarious principles in 
Machiavel ?" — " If the Earl of Shel- 
burne," added he, " be not a Catiline or 
a Borgia in morals, it must be solely 



nation of the former, and the acceptance ascribed to the superiority of his under- 
of office by the latter, in July, 1782. j standing." These invectives, which 
The judgment, patience, and self-coin- j only proved the extent of Burke's en- 
mand of Pitt, enabled him at three and i mity of his regret at quitting the pay of- 
twenty, to mount over Fox's shoulders, j fice, made little impression on his 
to enter the cabinet, and in less than I hearers. Lee, who had filled the situa- 
eighteen months to fill Lord Shelburne's lion of solicitor general under the late 



vacant place, which he held for seven 
teen years ; while his antagonist, though 
he twice forced his way into the coun- 
cils of the sovereign, knew not how to 
maintain himself in that elevation. 

Lord John Cavendish, though he had 
recently filled so high an office in admi- 
nistration, and though he had resigned, 
like Fox; yet took little part in the de- 
bate relative to Barre's pension. He 
however confirmed the late secretary's 
declaration to a certain degree, respecting 
Lord Shelburne's intentions as to Ame- 
rica : but he appeared to act only on be- 
lief, not on proof. Indeed, he always 
seemed to be either propelled or re- 
strained at pleasure by Fox, who held 
Lord John constantly before him, as a 
political screen. Burke, however, made 
ample amends for the defect of commu- 
nication on the part of the late chancellor 
of the exchequer ; and in defiance of the 
impatience manifested by the house, in- 
veighed with equal violence and indeco- 
rum, against the new first lord of the trea- 
sury, whom he depictured as unworthy of 



administration, but who had quitted his 
employment at the same time with the 
other adherents of the deceased marquis ; 
— a man of strong intellectual parts, 
though of coarse manners, and who 
never hesitated to clothe his ideas in 
the coarsest language ; may be said to 
have terminated this curious and interest- 
ing conversation. His indecorous abuse 
of the new first minister, though couched 
in a more homely garb, and not illus- 
trated by any classical or historical allu- 
sions, exceeded in violence even the de- 
clamation of Burke. Like him, Lee 
levelled his reflections and accusations, 
not against the ability nor talents of the 
earl, but against his principles of politi- 
cal and moral action. He fully admitted 
that nobleman's external accomplish- 
ments, specious talents, and comprehen- 
sive information. Mr. Coke having 
withdrawn his motion on Barre's pen- 
sion, the house broke up : but from that 
evening, the country and parliament be- 
held for the first time, two individuals, 
who might hitherto be said to have 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



339 



fought under the same standard, openly 
opposed to each other; and who were 
destined never more, during their lives, 
under any change of circumstances, to 
act in political union. In fact, from 
this period, though Lord North remain- 
ed ostensibly at the head of one great 
party, and though Lord Shelburne, who 
occupied the place of first minister, 
was nominally the chief of another ; yet 
they ceased to be considered as the 
principal personages in the state. Pitt 
and Fox attracted far more attention, 
were regarded by the nation at large, 
no less than by parliament, as rival 
candidates for the future government of 
the country. 

[lOlh and Uth July.] Lord Shel- 
burne, wiien speaking in the House of 
Peers on the subject of the pension grant- 
ed to Barre, which excited the greatest 
comment, endeavoured to shift the origin, 
and consequently the odium of having 
conferred it, on Lord Rockingham. In 
this attempt he proved, however, emi- 
nently unfortunate, as his assertions on 
the subject produced the most unquali- 
fied contradiction from the connexions 
or adherents of the deceased marquis. 
Burke and Fox, both, denied it in the 
strongest terms ; calling at the same 
time on Lord John Cavendish to con- 
firm their declarations on the point. His 
testimony, which was very vague, added 
little force to their previous protesta- 
tions : but it was natural to suppose that 
the proposition must have originated 
with Lord Shelburne, the patron, friend, 
and protector of Barre. Yet that noble- 
man, when addressing the House of 
Peers, not only asserted that the de- 
ceased marquis first proposed the idea; 
but added, that he had in his possession 
a letter from Lord Rockingham on the 
subject, completely proving his asser- 
tion. The new first minister, in a long, 
able, and laboured address, endeavoured 
likewise to impress his audience with a 
conviction, that Fox, in his secession 
from the cabinet, could have had no other 
motive, except disappointed ambition and 
rivalily. Fox, however, not only treated 
the insinuation with indignant contempt 
and a positive denial in the House of 
Commons on the subsequent day : he 
likewise, by the mouth of the Earl of 
Derby, in the upper house, where Lord 



Shelburne was present, declared it " to 
be contrary to fact, and a direct deviation 
from the truth." Not satisfied with so 
public a contradiction. Lord Derby called 
on the other members of administration 
who were in tlieir places, to state their 
personal information, and to give evi- 
dence on the point. Thus compelled, 
the Duke of Richmond and Lord Keppel 
rose, and admitted that the late secretary 
of state had differed in sentiment from 
Lord Shelburne on subjects of great im- 
portance, previous to Lord Hocking- 
hani's decease. They likewise added, 
that in consequence of finding himself in 
a minority on the matter then agitated in 
the cabinet. Fox had declared his inten- 
tion to resign his office. 

After so clear and distinct a testimony, 
it became impossible to doubt or to deny 
the fact; especially as neither Lord 
Camden, nor Lord Ashburton, who were 
both in the house at the time, disputed 
the authenticit}' of the two noble wit- 
nesses. However painful or humiliating 
these contradictions must have been, 
which impeached Lord Shelburne's per- 
sonal veracity, equally as a man, and as 
a minister; he nevertheless submitted to 
them, without making any further effort 
to justify himself in tlie opinion of the 
public : and the circumstances that at- 
tended the prorogation of parliament, 
seemed to indicate his impatience under 
the deliberations of that assembly, as 
well as his apprehensions of the impres- 
sion made on many individuals, by Fox's 
accusations. Lord Shelburne's courage, 
which was unquestionable, liad been 
proved in the duel that he fougiit with 
Colonel FuUerlon. It became therefore 
impossible to suppose, that he would 
have tamely endured such imputations 
on his private character, if he had pos- 
sessed the means of effectually repelling 
or disproving them. Even on the sub- 
ject of granting American independence, 
there appeared so much ambiguity, if 
not tergiversation and contradiction in 
all his parliamentary speeches, as greatly 
tended to persuade mankind, that Fox's 
allegations respecting Lord Shelburne's 
disinclination to concede the point, must 
have had a foundation in truth. The 
very principle on which he avowed, 
when addressing the House of Peers, 
that he retained his place in the couu- 



340 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



cils of the crown, seemed scarcely com- 
patible with strict regard to political rec- 
titude. For he declared in the plainest 
language that he was not only adverse in 
his own judgment, to acknowledging the' 
independence of the thirteen colonies ; 
but that whenever such a recognition 
should be extorted from this country, 
"The sun of Britisii glory would have 
set." Yet in the same moment he ad- 
mitted, that as the majority of the Rock- 
ingham cabinet were of an opposite 
opinion, he should acquiesce in the mea- 
sure ; which measure, though destruc- 
tive, as he conceived, to Great Britain, 
he was now ready, in his new capacity, 
if parliament approved it, to carry into 
execution. 

No political imputation, affixed on 
Lord North, had operated with more 
force in his disfavour, on the minds of 
the public, than the assertion of his 
enemies, that he prosecuted the American 
war in opposition to his own conviction, 
from a love of place, or from unworthy 
subservience to the royal will. But to 
a similar charge, the new first minister 
appeared in some measure voluntarily to 
subject himself. He might however 
plead, as he did in fact assert, when ad- 
dressing the House of Peers, that, " how- 
ever dreadful the impending disaster 
would prove, as he believed, to his coun- 
try ; however much he deprecated and 
deplored it, and whatever efforts he had 
made to prevent it ; yet that an over- 
powering and insurmountable necessity 
compelled him to become the agent for 
carrying into effect so destructive a mea- 
, sure." He even succeeded, as we know, 
in surmounting the king's repugnance to 
the final separation of America from the 
British empire. Fox, therefore, if he 
liad not been impelled by animosity to 
Lord Shelburne, and by a determination 
not to remain in the cabinet, unless the 
Duke of Portland was placed at the head 
of administration, might have continued 
in office, without abandoning any prin- 
ciple. He preferred a more violent al- 
ternative. His friends, as well as the 
daily newspapers attached to his party, 
joined in accusing the new first minister 
of having undermined Lord Rockingham 
in the royal esteem, by the most un- 
worthy arts, in order to get possession 
of his oflice ; while political caricatures, 



exhibited in the shops of the metropoh's, 
represented Lord Shelburne habited as 
Giiy Faux, so notorious for the part 
that was assigned him in the " gunpow- 
der plot," under James the First ; hold- 
ing a dark lanthorn in his hand, advanc- 
ing under cover of the night, to blow up 
the treasury. 

Such were the circumstances under 
which commenced that nobleman's ad- 
ministration. Even down to the last 
moment that the House of Commons re- 
mained sitting, Burke, among the queru- 
lous lamentations that he uttered, on 
being so suddenly ejected from his office 
of paymaster of the forces ; — a misfor- 
tune which seemed deeply to afl'ect him ; 
— mingled the loudest exclamations 
against the falsity and defect of principle 
in the first minister. His philippic 
was cut short in the middle, by the ar- 
rival of Sir Francis Molineux, as usher 
of the black rod, sent to summon the 
attendance of the members, at the bar 
of the House of Lords ; where the king, 
already seated on the throne, was ready 
to prorogue the parliament. A singular 
fact, arising out of the late reforms, ac- 
companied this ceremony. Among the 
retrenchments of the royal household 
and dignity, which Burke's bill had 
made, was included, as has been already 
observed, the suppression of the jewel 
office ; the business of which department 
was principally conducted by Mr. Wil- 
liam Egerton, a relation of the Duke of 
Bridgewater, and a member of the House 
of Commons. The bill having so re- 
cently passed into a law, no new official 
regulation had as yet been adopted, for 
the removal or transportation of the 
paraphernalia of the crown. On the oc- 
casion of his majesty going to West- 
minster, to prorogue the two houses, it 
became indispensable to convey thither 
the crown and sceptre, together with 
various other articles of state. The 
master of the jewel office being sup- 
pressed, in whose department these dis- 
positions previously lay ; application 
was made both to the lord steward, and 
to the lord chamberlain, praying that 
orders might be issued to the keeper of 
the jewels in the tower, for bringing 
them to Westminster on the day of the 
prorogation. But those great officers of 
state, not conceiving themselves to pos- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



341 



sess a power of interference, directions 
were at length despatched for the pur- 
pose, from the home secretary of state's 
office. After some consultation held, 
relative to the safest mode of conveying 
the royal ornaments ; none of the king's 
carriages being sent to receive them, 
application was next made to the magis- 
trates at Bow-street, who detaclied four 
or five stout agents of the police, for 
their protection. Two hackney coaches 
being provided, in which the various 
articles were placed ; with a view to 
render the transportation of them more 
private, the procession set out circuit- 
ously from the tower, by the new road ; 
entering London again at Portland-street, 
and so proceeded down to Westminster. 
The blinds were kept up the whole way ; 
and after the prorogation, they returned 
by the same road, without experiencing 
any accident. But it is unquestionable, 
that eight or ten desperate fellows, had 
they been apprised of the circumstance, 
might have easily overpowered the per- 
sons employed, and have carried off the 
jewels. The memorable enterprise of 
Colonel Blood, under Charles the Se- 
cond, who got hold of the crown and 
sceptre, though he ultimately failed in 
retaining possession of them, was in 
fact, a far more hazardous undertaking ; 
as, in order to execute it, he lay under 
the necessity of entering the tower: 
whereas, in the present instance, the at- 
tempt might have been made in the 
street, or in the new road. Any acci- 
dent of the kind, had it taken place, 
would necessarily have thrown some 
degree of ridicule, as well as of blame, 
on a system of economy, productive of 
such consequences in its outset. 

Among the interesting features of the 
session of parliament before us, which, 
on account of a degree of mystery or 
ambiguity accompanying them, greatly 
exercised national curiosity; may be 
reckoned the proceedings commenced 
against Sir Thomas Rumbold. I say, 
commenced, because they never were 
prosecuted to any consummation. This 
gentleman returned, as has been already 
mentioned, from Madras, early in 1781, 
under imputations the most injurious to 
his fame. He was accused of having, 
while governor of that important settle- 
ment, not only amassed by every unbe- 
29* 



coming means, an immense fortune : 
but of first provoking a war with Hyder 
Ally, by acts of imprudent aggression, 
and then of abandoning the country en- 
trusted to his care, with pusillanimous or 
interested precipitation. These charges, 
which were solemnly brought against 
him by Mr. Dundas, lord advocate of 
Scotland, as chairman of the secret com- 
mittee appointed by the House of Com- 
mons, to enquire into the causes of the 
war in the Carnatic, produced a deep 
impression on the public mind. We 
have already seen the steps which were 
immediately adopted by the legislature, 
to lie up and impound Sir Thomas's 
person, as well as his fortune. But in 
addition to these precautions, a bill for 
inflicting on him pains and penalties, as 
a man "who had been guilty of high 
crimes and misdemeanors, was intro- 
duced by Mr. Dundas himself. 

Such a measure, which excited gene- 
ral approbation, appeared to be worthy 
the national justice, exerted in punishing 
a great public culprit. The line of 
active and ambitious policy pursued by 
Hastings, when governor-general of Ben- 
gal, might possibly have led to many 
misfortunes, and might, perhaps, merit 
condemnation. But his motives were 
admitted, even by his enemies, to have 
been splendid and elevated, liowever 
pernicious, as they asserted, in their ope- 
ration or consequences. The mal-ad- 
ministration of Rumbold, on the con- 
trary, seemed only directed to sordid and 
selfish purposes. Every puny, it was 
therefore hoped, would concur in carry- 
ing through such a bill ; and though Mr. 
Dundas, after the termination of Lord 
North's ministry, no longer acted in an 
official situation, yet, in his capacity of 
chairman of "the secret committee," he 
spoke from a greater eminence, and 
might expect universal support. Least 
of all, it was supposed, could the Rock- 
ingham party, who had just come into 
power, who professed to call to a severe 
account, all such as had plundered or in- 
jured the country, and who loudly de- 
manded an enquiry into East India de- 
linquencies, attempt to throw obstacles 
in the path of justice. Under these cir- 
cumstances, all men expected, and most 
men hoped, that the bill in question 
would have speedily found its way 



342 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



through the House of Commons, and 
have finally passed into a law. The 
fact, nevertheless, turned out completely 
otherwise. Meanwhile the session ad- 
vanced : a full attendance, as Mr. Dun- 
cas asserted and complained, could not 
be procured : the house was frequently 
counted out ; and whether from the ope- 
ration of that cause, or from any other 
reason more concealed, no rapid progress 
was made in the business. Sir Thomas 
Rumbold's person and property remained, 
it is true, sequestered or restrained ; but 
beyond that temporary interposition, no 
permanent punishment was inflicted on 
him. 

Men who had anticipated much more 
vigorous and speedy, as well as decisive 
proceedings, and who beheld the sup- 
posed criminal thus elude or escape, as 
it were, the grasp of national pursuit; 
reasoned and commented on the fact. 
Malignity or credulity invented reasons 
for whatever appeared inexplicable 
throughout the transaction. Secret 
springs were asserted to have been touch- 
ed, which had arrested or paralyzed 
the exertions of the prosecutor. Time, 
place, and circumstances, were even par- 
ticularized ; all which, though perhaps 
untrue or imaginary, seemed neverthe- 
less, not only in themselves, possible, 
but so well fabricated, and so minutely 
detailed, as to appear highly probable. 
I shall, however, relate only such facts 
as are unquestionably authentic. 

Rumbold, tiiougli a man of low ex- 
traction, and of a mean education, did 
not by any means want activity, judg- 
ment, or talents. I knew him well. In 
his person he was well made and hand- 
some ; but his features, though regular 
and manly, contained nothing in them 
prepossessing. His successful exer- 
tions, while governor of Madras, in redu- 
cing Pondicherry, had elevated him to 
the dignity of a baronet. On his arrival 
in England, aware of the storm that im- 
pended over him, he immediately con- 
trived to get into parliament; and lie 
soon afterwards brought his eldest son 
into the House of Commons ; by which 
means he came into daily collision 
and communication with those, who 
might either injury, or could defend him. 
That he was not idle, is certain ; and he 
attempted in his place, as a member of 



the house, to justify himself from the 
charges exhibited against him, with some 
ability. In addition, however, to these 
personal efforts, he soon found means to 
conciliate a friend, who was supposed 
to have laboured efficaciously towards 
his extrication. 

That friend, I mean, Mr. Rigby, the 
late paymaster of the forces, having en- 
joyed during a great number of years, 
one of the most profitable places under 
the crown, without any colleague, had 
acquired a large fortune. But his lux- 
urious and expensive manner of living in 
town ; his magnificent seat at Mistley 
Hall in Essex, where he maintained a 
splendid establishment of every kind; 
when added to his purchases of landed 
property, had exhausted even means so 
vast, and left him, as it were, necessi- 
tous in the midst of wealth. In this 
situation of his aff'airs, the sudden ter- 
mination of Lord North's administration, 
not only deprived him of his employ- 
ment ; but in consequence of the system 
of reform adopted by the new ministers, 
and in particular from the regulations 
introduced by Burke, his successor in 
the pay-office, which compelled him to 
pay into the exchequer, the immense 
balances of public money remaining in his 
hands ; Rigby became involved in great 
pecuniary embarrassments. These ba- 
lances having been vested by him in 
mortgages, or in other securities ; and 
the public funds suffering then under 
great depression, it could not be in fact 
an easy matter, to find the means of an- 
swering promptly the demands made 
upon him by government, for repayment. 
Rumbold had brought with him from 
the east, as Verres did from Sicily, very 
ample resources, which he well knew 
how to use, in time of need, for his own 
protection ; and Rigby's situation, which 
was generally understood, might render 
a loan of money peculiarly convenient. 
That gentleman having no children, his 
sister's son was destined to inherit his 
name and property. Rumbold had a 
daughter, whose age and accomplish- 
ments qualified her to be united to hira 
in marriage. The alliance being agreed 
on, it was supposed that by the secret 
articles, the East India governor 
advanced to his friend, such a sum, 
as greatly facilitated those payments af 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



343 



ihe public money, which he was neces- 
sitated to furnish without delay. After 
entering into so close a connection, 
cemented by such binding ties, it might 
be esteemed natural, and even venial, 
that Kigby should lend his reciprocal 
aid to ISir Thomas Rumbold. Though 
no longer paymaster of the forces, 
Rigby still possessed great capacities of 
being useful ; and he was not supposed 
to he under the dominion of any fas- 
tidious scruples. Above all, his intimate 
friendship with Mr. Duadas, wno took 
the lead in the parliamentary prosecution 
instituted against Rumbold, might ena- 
ble Rigby to find means and opportuni- 
ties of diminishing those prejudices, or 
softening those impressions, that ope- 
rated most injuriously against the ac- 
cused person. No proof has indeed 
ever produced, that improper means 
were used to efTect this object ; nor do 
I believe that any such were employed ; 
but the public being in possession of 
certain facts, and observing that the pro- 
ceedings so vigorously begun in parlia- 
ment against Rumbold, seemed unac- 
countably to languish, and eventually to 
expire towards the close of the session 
of 1783, though they were nominally 
renewed when the house met in tiie sub- 
sequent month of December; inferred, 
perhaps very unjustly, that there must 
exist some latent cause, which had blunt- 
ed the edge of the weapon. Rumbold, 
it is certain, was finally extricated ; but 
whether the ostensible reasons assigned 
for deferring the bill of pain and penal- 
ties, formed the only circumstances that 
conduced to his escape ; or, whether 
more efficacious and cogent arguments 
of any kind were used, must always re- 
main matter of conjecture and assertion, 
like many other obscure points of biogra- 
phical history. 

[I5lh — 31st of July.] The session 
being now terminated. Lord Shelburne 
might be regarded as secure in the pos- 
session of his newly acquired power, at 
least for several months. During that 
interval, means, it was naturally ima- 
gined, could easily be discovered, of 
cementing and confirming the ministry. 
Negotiations for peace were already be- 
gun with America, which, if success- 
ful, it was probable, must eventually 
lead to a treaty with our European ene- 



mies. The talents of the first lord of 
the treasury, were considered as emi- 
nently adapted to diplomatic discus- 
sions ; in the conduct of which, his en- 
larged knowledge of the foreign interests 
of Great Britain, and his minute acquaint- 
ance with the continental courts, enabled 
him, it was said, to act at once with 
vigour and perspicuity. If he had lost 
the abilities of Fox and Burke in the 
House of Commons, he had, on the 
other hand, secured and attached to him 
two men, no less able in different ways ; 
Pitt and Dundas. He moreover pos- 
sessed the confidence of the sovereign ; 
who, as all men supposed, would, from 
necessity, if not from inclination, support 
a minister preferred by himself to his 
present office. Lord North might even, 
it was hoped, feel a far stronger dispo- 
sition to join the actual administration, 
whenever parliament should meet again, 
than to unite with the Rockingham 
party, his inveterate enemies. Under 
ihis aspect of public affairs, though 
Lord Shelburne neither stood as high 
in the national opinion, for severe inte- 
grity and probity, as his deceased 
predecessor, the Marquis of Rocking- 
ham, had done ; noF could command 
that parliamentary strength, whicii Lord 
North still in some measure influenced 
or led ; yet many persons considered 
his tenure of office as by no means pre- 
carious, and augured well of its dura- 
tion. 

Burke's invectives against the first 
minister, which continued to the last 
instant that the forms of parliament per- 
mitted, were nevertheless suspended 
while the prorogation put an end to the 
business of the House of Commons. 
However violent he might be in his 
place, as a member of the legislature, 
Burke never carried his complaints to 
the people. But, Fox, who acted no 
less as a demagogue, than as the repre- 
sentative of Westminster; and who al- 
ways seemed to take the Gracchi for his 
model ; anxious to appeal from his late 
dismission by the king, to the popular 
suffrage, convoked his constituents, in 
order to lay before them the reasons for 
his resignation. They met, almost im- 
mediately after the session closed, in 
Westminster Hall, where he reiterated 
all the heads of accusation against Lord 



344 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Shelburne, which he had already de- 
tailed a few days before, in the House 
of Commons : but, the general impres- 
sion, even among that audience, which 
heard him with partiality, seemed ne- 
vertheless to be, that personal ambition 
and rivality, more than real principle or 
patriotism, had regulated his conduct. 
The specious pretence under which the 
meeting was assembled, namely, that 
of petitioning the crown for a more 
equal representation of the people; pro- 
duced, however, as might have been ex- 
pected, an unanimous assent. He then 
dismissed them till the ensuing winter. 
[August.] Sir Samuel Hood, whom 
the victorious admiral in the West In- 
dies, detached a few days after the de- 
feat of De Grasse, with several vessels, 
in pursuit of the flying enemy ; having 
come up with some of them, captured 
two more French line of battle ships, as 
well as two frigates, off the east end of 
the island of St. Domingo. Though 
these eminent naval advantages, secured 
Jamaica from invasion or attack, yet, far 
from regaining any of our insular pos- 
sessions in that quarter of the globe, on 
the contrary, such was our state of ex- 
hausture, that Spain fitted out an expe- 
dition against the Bahama islands, which 
she easily reduced to her obedience. 
But, the attention of the capital and the 
nation became more powerfully, as well 
as painfully attracted, by the catastrophe 
of the " Royal George," which took 
place about the same time, than by the 
loss of any transatlantic settlements. 
This ship, the pride and ornament of 
the British navy, to the disgrace of a 
nation considered as superior to every 
other people in nautical skill, disappear- 
ed in an instant, on the 29lh of August, 
as is well known, at Spithead ; carrying 
with her to the bottom, an English ad- 
miral, and as it was computed, nearly a 
thousand persons of both sexes. I was 
well acquainted with Kempenfeldt, one 
of the most able, as well as scientific 
officers in the British naval service. It 
is impossible, even at this distance of 
time, to reflect on such an event, which 
resulted from the injudicious or careless 
manner of laying down the " Royal 
George," without amazement as well as 
horror. The gloom and consternation, 
diffused by the intelligence over the me- 



tropolis, are hardly to be conceived ; and 

the incredibility of the fact increased the 
sense of the disaster. No parallel cir- 
cumstance is to be found in our naval 
annals : probably not in those of any 
other European nation. In a supersti- 
tious age, it would, no doubt, have been 
considered as ominous of the greatest 
national, or royal misfortunes. That 
tempests, fire, or rocks and quicksands, 
should swallow up and destroy the 
proudest works of human art, is natural ; 
often, unavoidai)le. When Sir Cloudes- 
ley Shovel, under the reign of Queen 
Anne, perished, together with his ship 
and all his crew, wrecked on the Scilly 
islands; or when the " Victory," under 
George the Second, foundered in the 
race of Alderney, with Admiral Balchen, 
and eleven hundred persons on board : — 
such calamities were in the order of 
things, however much to be deplored. 
But, in the present instance, only an 
utter disregard to common prudential 
precautions, could have produced an 
event so unprecedented. Her very name, 
and her superiority in size, as well as in 
strength, to every other ship in the ser- 
vice, she carrying a hundretl guns ; 
added to the bitterness of the reflections 
which her loss occasioned throughout 
the kingdom. Those who recollect that 
the " Queen Charlotte," a man of war of 
the first rale, carrying one hundred and 
ten guns, with an admiral's flag, was 
consumed by somewhat similar negli- 
gence, together with near seven hundred 
of her crew, on the 17th of March, 1800, 
near the port of Leghorn; may find 
ample reason for speculation, on tlie sin- 
gularity of two such disastrous events 
having taken place within eighteen years 
of each other, under the same reign. 

[September.] The melancholy im- 
pression made by the catastrophe just 
related, became, if possible, still more 
strongly excited immediately afterwards, 
by other naval misfortunes equally afflict- 
ing in their nature. If the fact of the 
"Royal George" going down at her an- 
chors, when no danger was even appre- 
hended, stands without precedent in our 
maritime records ; the fatality which 
seemed to pursue the ships of the line 
that had been captured by Rodney on 
the I2lh of April, as well as most of our 
own men of war, accompanying the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS, 



345 



French prizes, on their return from the | that during the gale of wind which 
West Indies ; can scarcely be equalled proved so fatal, her guns breaking loose, 
in modern history. The chain of ship- 1 tore open her side, and accelerated, if 
wrecks and adverse events, that attended ! they did not cause, her final destruction. 
Commodore Anson's expedition round j Tidings of her were long expected, and 

the nation continued to nourish hopes 
for many months, of her re-appearance. 
About this time, while her fate still re- 
mained problematical, a man was brought 
to the admiralty, and there examined, 
who had been taken up at sea, nearly 
senseless and extenuated ; tied to, or 
floating on a hen-coop. He asserted, 
and his testimony appeared to be entitled 
to credit ; that he served on board the 
" Ville de Paris," as a common sailor, 
at the moment when she foundered. 
But few, or no particulars relative to the 
event itself, could be extracted from this 
survivor ; who, as I was assured by a flag 
oflicer that questioned him, possessed 
neither faculties nor memory to recount 
almost any circumstance, except the fact 
of her loss. Admiral Graves, who com- 
manded the fleet, was censured by the 



Cape Horn, under the late reien, which 
so greatly reduced the numbers of his 
squadron ; even the disasters, so pathe- 
tically related in the same work, that 
ruined the fleet of the Spanish Admiral 
Pizarro, nearly in the same latitudes, 
and at the same time; — those calami- 
ties, however extraordinary and tragical 
they appear, yet sink on a comparison 
with the destruction experienced by our 
devoted ships, in 1782, when crossing 
the Atlantic. Captain Inglefield has 
commemorated the fate of the " Cen- 
taur," as well as his own astonishing 
escape, when she foundered with her 
officers and crew. That afl^ecting- nar- 
rative may serve as too faithful a picture 
of the misfortunes experienced by the 
other vessels. The " Ramillies," a 
name proverbially unfortunate in the 



English navy, was set on fire, when it ' popular voice, for having stood some de- 
became impossible any longer either to grees more to the northward, in returning 
navicrate, or to preserve her. One of home across the Atlantic, at that season, 
the French ships of the line-, the " Hec- ' ^han he needed to have done ; or than he 
tor," seemed to be reserved for more ' was warranted in doing by Lord Rod- 
severe trials of every kind ; in the course n«y's orders. But this accusation may 
of which, all that human fortitude, skill, possibly have been more severe than 
and courage, when combined, could just ; though I think I have heard Lord 
eff"ect, was performed by our officers and Rodney himself state the circumstance, 



peamen. They were, almost miracu- 
lously, saved, though the " Hector" ; 
herself perished. ■ 

Over the closing scene of the " Ville : 
de Paris," as well as over the fate of the 
Glorieux," an impenetrable curtain is 
drawn. It is certain that the last named 
vessel, a French seventy-four gun ship, 
commanded by the honorable Captain 
Cadogan, disappeared during the middle 
watch, on the night of the 17t!i or 18th 
of September, after firing many signals 
of distress. Her lights had been visible 



ai)d express his conviction of the inju- 
rious consequences that resulted from 
navigating in too high a latitude, during 
a time of equinoctial gales. 

Happily, the gloom which these me- 
lancholy events diff'used, was speedily 
relieved and dissipated, by transactions 
of the most exhilarating nature. Mi- 
norca, it is true, had surrendered early 
in the summer : but Gibraltar, which 
fortress still resisted every aitack, at- 
tracted, no less from the prodigious 
means employed for its reduction by the 



till that time; but when day appeared, enemy, than from the energy and activ- 
no vestiges of her were discovered, and ity exerted in its defence, the attention 
she doubtless foundered during the ' of all Europe. The two most memorable 
storm. Nor was De Grasse's ship, ori- sieges which are recorded in modern 
ginally purchased with so vast an efl"u- history ; namely, that of Antwerp, under- 
siono'f blood, and herself the pride of the t^^'^en by Alexander Farnese, Prince of 
French navy, ever destined to reach an Parma, under Philip the Second, in the 
English port. The hasty repairs given sixteenth century ; and that of Ostend, be- 
her at Jamaica, could only be slight or, gun by the Spanish general, Spinola, only 
partial; and it was confidently asserted, I a few years later; however illustrious 



346 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



they have each been rendered from the 
long protracted resistance made by the 
besieged, were both finally crowned 
with success. Gibraltar, on the contrary, 
repelled the assailants in the most bril- 
liant manner. All the means that 
human art, expense, and force, could 
collect or combine, by land, as well as 
by sea, were accumulated under its 
walls : while the two branches of the 
House of Bourbon, unconscious of the 
lamentable destiny preparing for them- 
selves in the womb of time, seemed 
to vie in their efi'orts to accelerate its 
fall. Charles the Third, who then 
reigned in Spain, already anticipated the 
completion of an event, which, as he 
justly conceived, would render his name 
and reign immortal in the Spanish 
annals. Under the same fallacious 
expectation, Louis the Sixteenth de- 
spatched his youngest brotlier. Count 
D'Artois, to assist at its surrender : 
while the Barbary powers, though by 
no means indifferent, or. uninterested 
spectators of this great contest, and 
though they are said to have put up 
prayers in all their mosques for our suc- 
cess ; yet quietly expected the result, 
without making the smallest effort in 
our favour. 

If Lord Rodney acquired so much 
personal glory by his victory over De 
Grasse, General Eliott did not establish 
a less brilliant reputation, by his re- 
pulse and defeat of the Spanish floating 
batteries, on the 13th of September, of 
the same year. The American war, 
which at Saratoga, and at York Town, 
displayed spectacles so humiliating to 
the British arms, terminated with the 
most splendid triumphs over our Euro- 
pean enemies ; and this portion of the 
reign of George the Third (like the se- 
cond Punic war in antiquity), exhibits 
between 1777 and 1783, the greatest 
reverses of adverse, and of prosperous 
fortune. While we lost so vast an em- 
pire beyond the Atlantic, we humbled 
with one hand, the French naval force 
in the West Indies ; annihilating with 
the other, the combined efforts of 
France and Spain, which were concen- 
tered for the subjugation of a distant 
garrison, apparently left to its own ca- 
pacities of defence, and cut off from the 
obvious means of reUef. But even after 



the destruction of the Spanish vessels 
and batteries, it seemed still impossible 
to throw into Gibraltar, timely supplies 
of ammunition, competent to recruit the 
expenditure that had taken place during 
the siege. Provisions, fuel, clothing, as 
well as m.any other essential or indis- 
pensable articles, could only be sent out 
from England. Near fifty French and 
Spanish ships of the line, which occu- 
pied the bay of Gibraltar, appeared 
to set at defiance all approach. Not- 
withstanding these apparently insupera- 
ble obstacles, the attempt succeeded, in 
opposition to every impediment. 

[October.] So low had sunk the 
numerical naval force of Great Britain 
at this period, as compared with the 
strength of the enemy, that the utmost 
exertions of the admiralty, under the 
new administration, could only equip 
and send to sea, thirty-four sail of the 
line; which fleet did not quit Spithead, 
till nearly the day on which General 
Eliott had already repulsed and burnt 
the floating batteries, under the walls of 
the besieged fortress. Yet, never was 
the real superiority of our navy in skill 
and science, more evidently demonstra- 
ted, than in successfully throwing suc- 
cours into a place invested by sea and 
land without committing any event to 
hazard, or affording to adversaries so nu- 
merous, the slightest advantage. Lord 
Howe, who conducted and commanded 
the whole enterprise, manifested such a 
combination of tactics and of ability in 
his manoeuvres, as place his name 
deservedly high in the annals of his 
country. If the reputation that he 
attained on this occasion, seems less 
brilliant than the fame acquired by 
Rodney in vanquishing De Grasse, it 
was not on that account less permanent 
or solid. Without engaging, he defied 
the combined fleets; offered battle, but 
did not seek it ; effected every object 
of the expedition, by relieving Gibraltar, 
and then retreated ; followed indeed by 
the enemy, but not attacked. They 
made, it is true, a show of fighting, but 
never ventured to come to close action. 
And with such contempt did Lord Howe 
treat the cannonade commenced by the 
van, composed of French ships under 
La Motte Piquet ; that having ordered 
all his men on board the " Victory," 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

— ♦— 



347 



to lie down flat on the deck, in order 
that their lives might not be needlessly 
exposed, he disdained to return a single 
shot against such cautious or timid op- 
ponents. 

Pigot, who had succeeded to Rodney 
in the ^V'esi Indies, through the favour 
of Fox, in defiance of public opinion, 
by no means emulated his predecessor's 
example of activity and enterprise. 
Though placed at the head of six and 
forty sail of the line, sustained by the 
reputation of a great victory, he neither 
effected nor attempted any object, 
during more than six months that he 
held tiie command. Such inactivity 
seemed to reproach the ministry who 
had sent him thither, and excited se- 
vere animadversions on Fox. In the 
East Indies, and there only, where 
Sir Edward Hughes was opposed to 
Suffrein, France still maintained the 
contest on the water. That active 
and intrepid officer last named, the 
most able of any employed by Louis 
the Sixteenth during the whole pro- 
gress of the war, made repeated, though 
ineffectual efforts, for compelling the 
English squadron to abandon the coast 
of Coromandel. 

[November.] While Lord Howe thus 
placed in security, the most brilliant 
foreign possession belonging to the Bri- 
tish crown in Europe ; negotiations of 
a pacific nature were carrying on at 
Paris, both with America, and with the 
other coalesced powers. The provisional 
articles concluded with the revolted colo- 
nies, which were first signed, did not 
indeed demand either any considerable 
length of time, or superior diplomatic 
talents, in order to conduct them to a 
prosperous termination ; where almost 
every possible concession was made on 
the part of England, merely to obtain 
from America a cessation of hostilities. 
Not only their independence was recog- 
nised in the most explicit terms : — 
Territory, rivers, lakes, commerce, 
islands, ports and fortified places, Indian 
allies, loyalists; — all were given up to 
the Congress. In fixing the boundaries 
between Canada and the United States, 
ideal limits, ignorantly adopted on our 
part, were laid down amidst unknown 
tracts. Franklin, who, as one of the four 
American commissioners appointed to 



manage the treaty, affixed his name to 
the instrument of provisional pacifica- 
tion ; enjoyed, at the advanced period of 
fourscore years, the satisfaction of wit- 
nessing the complete emancipation of his 
countrymen from Great Britain, to effect 
which he had so eminently contributed 
by his talents and exertions. Few sub- 
jects, born and educated, like him, in the 
inferior classes of society, have in any 
age of the earth, without drawing the 
sword in person, obtained so gratifying 
a triumph over their legitimate sovereign, 
or have aided to produce a greater poli- 
tical revolution on the face of the globe. 
[December.] A first minister who 
possessed so slender a portion of popu- 
larity, or of influence over the two houses 
of parliament, as Lord Shelburne could 
command ; would, it was supposed, have 
employed the long interval subsequent to 
the prorogation, in strengthening by 
every exertion, his tenure of power. 
Unless he either regained the heads of 
the Rockingham party, or conciliated 
Lord North, which last measure seemed 
to be more natural ; it was obvious that 
he might, at any moment, be crushed by 
the union of those leaders. On the open- 
ing of the session, it soon however be- 
came evident that no such ministerial 
approximation had taken place, and that 
the administration relied for support, 
upon its own proper strength, or ability. 
But, on the other hand, Lord North and 
Mr. Fox, though both acted in opposi- 
tion to government, yet remained never- 
theless still in complete and hostile se- 
paration. Scarcely did they refrain, on 
every occasion that presented itself, from 
personal reflections on each other. Nei- 
ther the peace made with the American 
States, nor even the recognition of their 
independence by Great Britain, being 
however in themselves complete, till a 
treaty should be likewise concluded 
with France, public attention became 
wholly directed to the issue of the pend- 
ing negotiations with that court. On 
their termination, whether it should 
prove hostile or pacific, all men foresaw 
that the two great parties, who now stood 
at bay, without joining each other, or 
uniting with Lord Shelburne; would 
necessarily take some decisive step, 
most beneficial, or most injurious in its 
results, to the administration. 



348 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Never perhaps at any period of our 
history, did two successive sessions of 
the same parhament, commence under 
circumstances more dissimilar than those 
of 1781 and of 1782. At the opening 
of the former, when the speech from the 
throne announced the disaster at York. 
Town, consternation or depression might 
be legibly traced in almost every coun- 
tenance. America was lost, Gibraltar 
invested, Jamaica menaced, our domi- 
nions in the east nearly subverted. But 
in December, 1782, the clouds had dis- 
persed ; not, however, from the change 
of ministers, but of measures. We no 
longer pursued the delusive phantom of 
subjecting the transatlantic colonies. 
Rodney, whom Lord Sandwich had sent 
out to the West Indies, had vanquished 
and dispersed the French navy. Eliott 
had destroyed the Spanish gun boats 
before Gibraltar. Lord Howe had 
thrown supplies into that fortress, and 
afterwards offered battle to the combined 
fleets. Nor were our affairs throughout 
the peninsula of Indostan, less changed. 
Hyder Ally was driven from before Ma- 
dras. Peace had been concluded with 
the Mharattas ; while Hughes, though 
not victorious, had frustrated all the ef- 
forts of Suffrein to obtain a superiority 
on the coast of Coromandel. The Rock- 
ingham administration had not in the 
slightest degree contributed towards 
these great national advantages. Fox 
had even recalled the victorious admiral, 
to whom we owed the twelfth of April. 
Keppel fitted out his fleets, with the 
stores provided by his predecessor in 
office; and to Lord Sandwich was, in 
fact, justly due the relief of Gibraltar. 
But Keppel had restored in a certain 
degree, that unanimity to which the 
British navy had been strangers during 
the progress of the whole American 
contest. Lord Howe, and Admiral 
Barrington, names deservedly cherished 
in our maritime annals, re-appeared on 
the quarter deck from which they had 
been so long removed. The fleets of 
the House of Bourbon, which, during 
three successive summers had approached, 
menaced, and insulted our coasts, no 
longer navigared the English channel. 
Peace began to dawn upon us, and seemed 
to be at no remote distance. The first 
minister, sustained by the sovereign at 



St. James's, derived no less benefit from' 
the talents of the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer within the walls of the House of 
Commons. While in probity, Pitt 
might be placed on an equality with 
Lord John Cavendish, not the slightest 
comparison could be made between their 
respective talents ; and Lord Shelburne 
derived incalculable strength ' from his 
support. On this apparently firm founda- 
tion stood the ministry at the beginning 
of the session. 

[5th and 6lh December.] — The 
speech pronounced by his majesty from 
the throne on the occasion, may unques- 
tionably be ranked among the most sin- 
gular compositions ever put into the 
mouth of a British sovereign. ^In length, 
I believe, it had no parallel since the 
time of James the First, and certainly it 
would be vain to seek for any similar 
production, since the accession of the 
House of Hanover. Some passages 
seemed more suitable to the spirit and lan- 
guage of a moralist or of a sage, than of 
a monarch. Li the midst of it was in- 
troduced an invocation, or rather a prayer, 
offered up by George the Third to the 
Supreme Being ; imploring his divine 
interference to avert the calamities, 
which the American colonies, in con- 
sequence of their becoming independent 
states, might experience from the sup- 
pression of monarchical power. Burke 
held up this pious effusion of royal cha- 
rity and philanthropy, to great ridi- 
cule. " The king," exclaimed he, " is 
made by his minister to fall upon his 
knees, and to deprecate the wrath of 
heaven from the misguided American 
people, that they may not suffer from 
the want of monarchy. A people who 
never were designed for monarchy ! 
Who in their nature and character are 
adverse to monarchy, and who never 
had any other than the smell of monarchy, 
at the distance of three thousand miles ! 
They are now to be protected by the 
prayers of their former sovereign, from 
the consequences of its loss. Such 
whimpering and absurd piety has neither 
dignity, meaning, nor common sense." 
It must be owned that these comments, 
however severe, were not destitute of 
truth. Other parts of the royal speech 
afforded him equal subject for mirth and 
satire. The king concluding by a de- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



349 



mand on parliament, for the exertion of 
temper, wisdom, and disinterestedness, 
subjoined as his last words, '• My people 
expect lliese qualifications of you, and I 
call for them." " I believe," said 
Burke, " that since the days of Charles 
the First, who advanced into this house, 
and threw himself into the Speaker's 
chair, to find out the members who had 
given him offence; such a strain of va- 
pourinn; and blustering, such an insult 
and indignity has not been offered to us. 
Are we to be slandered or tutored, or in- 
structed in the principles of morals, by 
his majesty's cabinet ministers ?" 



"0 wise ministers! Dii tibi tonso- 
rera donent ! To all except one, who 
has no occasion for such a practitioner." 
The allusion to Pitt's youth, could not 
escape notice. After paying neverthe- 
less some compliments to the integrity 
of the young chancellor of the exche- 
quer, which were all made however at tiie 
expense of the first lord of the treasury ; 
Burke declared that the only proper de- 
scription of the speech, which the 
minister had made the sovereign pro- 
nounce, was to be found in Hudibras, 
when he says, 

" As if hypocrisy and nonsense 
Had got th' advowson of his conscience." 

Nor was Fox less severe in his ani- 
madversions on this first production of 
Ihe Earl of Shelburne in his ministerial 
capacity, though he was more argumen- 
tative, grave, and measured in his cen- 
sures. On General Eliott, and on Lord 
Howe, he bestowed the highest encomi- 
ums: — encomiums, which were re-echoed 
from every part of the house ! Having 
again recapitulated all the circumstances 
that attended and produced his own se- ' 
cession from the cabinet, he endeavoured 
to show that his resignation, by forcing 
the ministers to grant unconditional in- 
dependence to America, had been pro- 
ductive of far greater advantages to his 
country, than he could have rendered by 
remaining a member of administration. 
With great ingenuity and severity he 
pointed out Lord Shelburne's inconsist- 
ent declarations, many times repeated 
in the upper house, that " he who should 
sign the independence of America, 
would consummate the ruin of his own 
30 



country, and must be a traitor ;" now 
contrasted with his act in setting his 
hand to their complete emancipation. 
Such a contradictory language, coupled 
with his opposite system of conduct, 
could only. Fox observed, be properly- 
characterized by two lines which he had 
somewhere read, 

" You've done a noble turn in nature's spite ; 
For tho' you think you're wrong, — I'm sure 
you're right." 

Pitt, however, who, in a speech of equal 
ability, though much less diffuse, an- 
swered Fox on that evening ; having de- 
fended his principal from the heavy im- 
putations afiixed to his political line of 
action, in acknowledging American inde- 
pendence, aftfer his many protestations to 
the contrary ; added, " if I may attempt 
a parody on the lines just quoted, I 
should say, 

" The praise he gives us is in nature's spite. 
He wishes we were wrong, — but, clearly sees 
we're right." 

The promptitude and elegance of this 
retort, made amidst the hurry and dis- 
tractions of a long debate, in a crowded 
assembly, excited no little admiration. 
Nor drd he touch with less delicacy and 
force of reasoning, on the circumstance 
of his own youth ; " a calamity under 
which, he owned, he laboured ; which 
he could not sufficiently lament, as it 
afforded such subject of animadversion 
to his opponents ; but for which defect, 
he pledged himself to atone, by his care, 
industry and assiduity in the public ser- 
vice." If it had not been demonstrated 
already, how great an acquisition Lord 
Shelburne had made in the chancellor of 
the exchequer, the debates of the 5th 
and 6lh of December, would have suf- 
ficiently proved the fact. Courlenay, 
when alluding to it, a few days after- 
wards, observed, " the noble earl at the 
head of the treasury, has shown his 
judgment in securing such an auxiliary. 
Every man reposes confidence in him. 
There is a species of magic in the name 
and lineage of a Pitt, which must pro- 
duce its influence on the nation. The 
first minister, who is himself a great 
philo5.opher, has no doubt been informed 
by Dr. Priestley, that the best mode of 



350 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



correcting and purifying corrupted air, 
is by the introduction of a young vege- 
table." 

Lord North never appeared to me, 
during the whole time that I sate in the 
.House of Commons, whether he was in 
or out of office, in a more dignified and 
elevated point of view, than on the first 
of those two evenings. I mean the 5th 
of December. His position was singular ; 
standing aloof equally from ministers and 
from the Rockingham party ; holding 
the balance between both ; placed on a 
sort of elevation, by the events which 
had taken place since he resigned his 
employment; sustained by the glorious 
victories of Rodney and of Eliott; no 
longer menaced with impeachment; 
animated by steady loyalty to his sove- 
reign, and not less propelled by attach- 
ment to his country. Such was his situ- 
ation, and his language corresponded 
with it ! Perliaps it would have been 
fortunate, if he had continued to occupy 
so advantageous, independent, and patri- 
otic an eminence, without lending an 
ear to the seductions of ambition or of 
resentment, in forming a coalition with 
Fox, as he did only two months later. 
Unquestionably he would have appeared 
more an object of respect and veneration 
to posterity, by persisting in such a line 
of political action ; superior to party, 
watchful over the Constitution, and at- 
tentive only to the great public interests 
of the state ; than by accepting a secon- 
dary situation, as the colleague of Fox, 
under the Duke of Portland. A situation, 
Avhich, when obtained, he was unable to 
retain more than a few months ; and in 
accepting wliicli, he must have made some 
sacrifices of feeling and of recollection, 
if not of principle ! The speech which 
he pronounced on the first day of the ses- 
sion, was every way worthy of himself; 
and breathed the genuine spirit of a 
statesman, who though no longer direct- 
ing the machine, yet superintended its 
movements with undiminished zeal, as 
well as ability. In contradiction to his 
usual style of speaking, he abstained 
from all levity, and refused to avad him- 
self of those resources of wit and hu- 
mour, which he had always at command. 
No sentiment of hostility or of animosity 
towards the new administration, charac- 
terized his expressions. He declared 



that he felt not the most distant inclina- 
tion to oppose the address, or to move 
any amendment, as the advantages ac- 
cruing from unanimity at the present 
moment, would, in a national point of 
view, be incalculable. From the instant 
that he rose till he sate down, not a word 
escaped from his lips, which indicated the 
smallest approach towards the Rocking- 
ham party. On Fox he was even severe, 
when differing from him respecting 
various points of the greatest public im- 
portance. Nor did he spare Burke, for 
his animadversions on \he prayer of the 
sovereign contained in the speech from 
the throne. " Surely, Mr. Speaker," 
said Lord North, " a heart animated by 
patriotic feelings, like that of his ma- 
jesty, must experience the deepest sor- 
row at an act so calamitous to this coun- 
try, as is the relinquishment of America. 
His sensations are truly those of a patriot 
king; and I am assured that he felt far 
less for himself, when he made so great 
a sacrifice, than he felt for his people." 
On the conditions of peace which the 
enemy might offer, or which it became 
the ministers to accept. Lord North ex- 
pressed himself in language of equal 
dignity, wisdom, and moderation. *' To 
just and reasonable terms," said he, " I 
will most cheerfully assent; but should 
France or Spain display arrogance and 
injustice in their demands, every man in 
this assembly, and throughout the nation, 
will, I am persuaded, zealously concur 
in prosecuting the war with vigour." 
— " We unanimously demand an ho- 
norable treaty, or a vigorous war. We 
are ready to negotiate on fair and equita- 
ble principles ; but if in their in.solence 
or imaginary power, the enemy exact 
degrading conditions, we are determined 
to maintain the contest with our lives 
and fortunes." In terms of earnestness 
he recommended to the ministers, atten- 
tion in marking out proper, well defined 
boundaries, between the territory of 
Great Britain and the American fron- 
tier ; but above all, he trusted, that they 
would provide an asylum for the loyal 
and unhappy sufferers, who, throughout 
this long protracted struggle, had remain- 
ed faithful to their native sovereign. 
Over Lord Shelburne he threw a shield, 
and justified his assertion, that " the sun 
of Britain was for ever set, when the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



351 



separation of the thirteen colonies should 
be signed." " That calamitous event," 
observed he, " cannot justly be charged 
to the present first minister, merely be- 
cause he consummates the deed. It is 
we, not he, who must sustain the culpa- 
bility. If the sun of England is indeed 
set, the House of Commons is the magi- 
cian who has brought it down from the 
skies," No part of this admirable 
speech justly attracted more approba- 
tion, than the part in which he replied 
to Fox, who had attributed to Keppel's 
exertions, the advantages which we had 
gained on the element of the water. 
" It is not a little extraordinary," said 
Lord North, "that the same person, 
who, when he came into office, eight 
months ago, drew a picture of our naval 
condition, sufficient to make every man 
tremble in this house ; should now stoutly 
affirm that our navy is equal to combat- 
ing the united fleets of the House of 
Bourbon ! But as ships do not spring 
up, like mushrooms, in a night; — by 
what magic could so great an addition 
be made to our navy within one sum- 
mer, unless the former admiralty, by their 
preparations of ships and stores, had 
facilitated the means of victory ? — I 
would say to the present naval Alexan- 
der, True, you have conquered ; but you 
have conquered with Philip's troops." 
During the whole of the two debates 
which took place at the opening of the 
session, though General Conway and 
Mr. Secretary Townsend occasionally 
rose, yet the defence of the ministerial 
measures principally rested on ilie chan- 
cellor of the exchequer. No adminis- 
tration could commence under fairer aus- 
pices, which was destined to terminate 
so soon ; not any attempt to divide tlie 
liouse being made either by Lord North 
or by Fox, who appeared to be recipro- 
cally animated by the most hostile sen- 
timents. 

[llth December.] Among the wea- 
pons of attack which the Rockingham 
party directed with most success against 
the first minister, was the imputation of 
insincerity or duplicity. It was asserted 
that/ie interpreted the conditional or pro- 
visional articles concluded with the 
American stales, in a different sense 
from the meaning annexed to them by 
oUier members of the cabinet ; Lord Shel- 



burne, it was pretended, regarding them 
as capable of being revoked or annulled, 
in case that the pending negotiations re- 
specting peace between England and 
France, should be finally broken off; 
while Pitt, Conway, and Townsend, 
declared that they were, in every event, 
final and irrevocable. Unquestionably, 
some reasons for doubt as to the inter- 
pretation of the word provisional, might 
be reasonably entertained ; and as the 
war with America might be revived, if 
the independence of the transatlantic 
state was not unconditionally and un- 
equivocally acknowledged by Great 
Britain, Fax endeavoured to probe this 
ministerial wound. He did not indeed 
venture to divide the house upon it. 
nor attempt to slop the supplies, be- 
cause he knew how insufficient was 
his parliamentary strength, for making 
either of those experiments with suc- 
cess. But he endeavoured to extort a 
clear reply from some of the ministers, 
relative to the point under discussion. 
They, on the other hand, refused or de- 
clined making any specific answer during 
the actual state of affairs, and demanded 
time. Burke, in his metaphorical and 
figurative language, compared them to 
the Amphisbaena, which naturalists de- 
scribe as having two heads, one at each 
extremity. " Such a serpent. I hope," 
added he, " exists only in chimera : but 
ministers resemble such an animal. 
They hiss an opposite language from the 
head, and from the tail, so that the na- 
tion is confounded between their con- 
tradictory stories." Even Lord North, 
though he approved of the silence ob- 
served by the treasury bench, under the 
circumstances of the moment ; and though 
he further declared, that if any motion 
was made for compelling the adminis- 
tration to lay the provisional treaty be- 
fore parliament, he would give it his 
negative ; yet admitted that its interpre- 
tation was exceedingly problematical. 
As the Rockingham party was too feeble 
to come to extremities, unless sustained 
by Lord North, Fox contented himself 
therefore with laying on the first minis- 
ter, the heaviest charges of double deal- 
ing in all his proceedings. Powis, who 
joined in these opinions, said that he 
held the three members of the cabinet 
who had seats, in the house, pledged as 



352 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



hostages to the country, for the ratifica- 
tion of the provisional treaty according 
to their construction of it. Such reflec- 
tions thrown on the Earl of Shelburne, 
however they might originate in the 
violence of party, and of political en- 
mity ; yet, as impeaching the candour 
and the rectitude of his public conduct, 
must have been equally painful to that 
nobleman himself, and to his associates 
in the government. 

[12ili December.] Though parlia- 
ment sat for only a very short period 
during the month of December, scarcely 
exceeding a fortnight, previous to tlieir 
adjournment till after Christmas ; yet 
one very interesting debate, which arose 
in the House of Commons, produced a 
material operation on some articles of 
the peace then negotiating with the 
House of Bourbon. Rumours, which 
acquired considerable, if not implicit 
credit, were circulated throujjhout the 
metropolis, staling that Lord Shelburne 
had not only manifested a disposition, 
but had even consented, with the appro- 
bation of the cabinet, to cede Gibraltar to 
Spain, on certain conditions. He had 
indeed very early felt the pulse of par- 
liament on the subject. Mr. Bankes, 
member for (^orfe Castle, who seconded 
the address to the throne, on the first 



yourselves of this commanding station, 
and the stales that border on that sea, 
will no longer look to England for the 
maintenance of its free navigation !" 
Nor did he let pass the occasion of 
wounding George the Third, through 
the sides of the King of Spain. Adverting 
to the opinion which had been given by 
Mr. Bankes, in the course of his speech, 
that " the cabinet of Madrid having as- 
certained the folly and impracticability of 
attempting to reduce Gibraltar, by their 
recent discomfiture, would never again 
employ the forces of the monarchy on 
so vain, as well as ruinous a siege ;" 
Fox exposed the fallacy of such argu- 
ments. " There may be," observed he, 
" near the heart of every prince, a longing 
after some object, which a thousand dis- 
appointments or defeats cannot remove. 
Those who recollect the history of this 
country for near nine years past, will 
agree with me, that it is not easy to con- 
vince men of their follies, even when 
experience has proved them to be such. 
We have persisted through many ruinous 
campaigns, in a war for the subjection 
of the American colonies. What then 
should hinder us from believing, that 
Charles the Third may not persevere as 
pertinaciously in his longing lor the re- 
duction of Gibraltar, as a sovereign 



(lay of the session; and who seems to nearer home was taught to pursue the 
have been more deeply initiated in \he\ phantom of unconditio7ial submission 
secrets, or informed of the intentions oil from America?''' The very truth of 



administration, than the mover of the 
address on that occasion ; alluded in very 
clear and intelligible, though in general 
terms, to the possible, or rather probable 
cession of the fortress in question. He 
accompanied the intimation, with re- 
marks on the great expense, and little 
comparative value or national advantages, 
connected with retaining its possession. 
Fox instantly animadverted with equal 
force and severity, on the idea thus sug- 
gested, which he held up to condemna- 
tion, as an act most pernicious to the 
state, if it should ever be carried into 
execution. In language of energy he 
depictured the respect, which our proud 
position on that isolated rock, excited 
among the European nations. " Cede 
to Sjiain," exclaimed he, " Gibraltar, and 
the Mediterranean becomes a pool ; a 
mere pond, on which the Spaniards can 
navigate at their pleasure ! Deprive 



this observation, which could not well 
be contested, ought to have prevented 
Fox from making it in so public a place. 
Burke, supporting with all the powers 
of his eloquence, the positions advanced 
by his friend, trusted that ministers 
would not dare to sport with ihe feelings 
of the nation, respecting an object so 
justly cherished as Gibraltar. " That 
fortress," said he, " is invaluable, be- 
cause impregnable. The sovereign of 
Spain has not an appendage of his crown» 
equalling it in importance. The capitals 
of Mexico and Peru are not at his dis- 
posal ; and the island of Porto Rico, if 
ofl^ered, would by no means form an 
adequate compensation. Gibraltar is 
not merely a post of pride. It is a post 
of power, of connexion, and of com- 
merce." In terms more measured. Lord 
North appreciated its value. " I will 
not go so far as to asseyt," ob-served hct 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



353 



"that Gibraltar is inestimable, and in no 
possible case ought to be ceiled to Spain. 
If peace cannot otherwise be obtained, 
SHch a sacrifice may become necessary ; 
but its price should be large, and no 
ministers would be justified in resigning 
a possession so honorable, so useful, as 
well as so dear to this country, unless 
for an equivalent of the highest import- 
ance." The offers made by Charles the 
Third, were indeed of such a nature, as 
in the estimation of many able men, 
would have fully justified ministers in 
restoringto the Catholic king, that expen- 
sive fortress. I have been assured, that 
in his eagerness to re-annex Gibraltar to 
the Spanish monarchy, he tendered in 
exchange for it, the Canary Islands, 
together with Porto Rico in the West 
Indies : the former of which possessions, 
from their happy situation in the Atlantic, 
their climate, and productions, might be 
rendered most valuable acquisitions to 
Great Britain ; while the latter island 
must be considered as scarcely inferior 
to Jamaica in extent, fertility, and poli- 
tical importance. Gibraltar, however 
dear to the national vanity, and what- 
ever flattering recollections the late glo- 
rious defence might awaken, could not, 
it was imagined, be put in competition 
with the Canaries and Porto Rico. In 
a commercial point of view, no compa- 
rison could indeed be made between the 
two possessions : but as an object of 
national consideration, respect, and 
power, we shall probably admit that 
Gibraltar would have been ill exchanged 
for any Atlantic, or West India islands. 
I am of that sentiment in 1818, though I 
am ready to confess that I thought other- 
wise in 1782. 

Sir George Howard, who was him- 
self a general officer, having nevertheless 
unexpectedly provoked, and brought 
forward in the House of Commons, a 
discussion relative to that fortress, and 
the possibility that its cession or aliena- 
tion to Spain, might be in contemplation ; 
it soon appeared, that men of all parties 
were imbued with partialities so warm 
and violent in its favour, and such indig- 
nation was manifested at the bare idea 
of ceding it, even for any equivalent 
however valuable, that the intention was 
relinquished. Nothing could assuredly 
have been further from Sir George's in- 
30* 



tention, who was an excellent courtier, 
than to have agitated any subject, which 
in its results might embarrass the coun- 
cils of the crown. But General Conway 
having moved the thanks of the house to 
General Eliott, for his glorious defence 
of Gibraltar, Howard proposed adding, 
" the most valuable and important for- 
tress of all our foreign territories." 
These few words operated like the apple 
of discord, and afforded to opposition an 
ample field for declamation. Lord North 
was not present on that evening, but 
Fox instantly availed himself of the oc- 
casion. Sir George finding, that while 
he had only intended to place General 
Eliott's public merits in the fairest point 
of view, by demonstrating the importance 
of his services, tlie motion had produced 
a great political question, would willingly 
have withdrawn his amendment. Fox 
however expressed the utmost disincli- 
nation to consent. ♦' I do not, myself," 
said he, " credit the reports of an in- 
tended cession of Gibraltar, because I 
am convinced that there is not in the 
cabinet a single man who dares to give 
it up. The amendment, if it should be 
carried, will convince the public at large, 
how false are these rumours: but it 
will likewise prove to the Spanish govern- 
ment, that the nation is not disposed to 
permit of such a cession." Burke main- 
tained the same arguments ; and Mr. 
Daniel Parker Coke declared, that he 
would rather cut off his right hand, than 
ever consent to restore Gibraltar. Sir 
George Howard's amendment was never- 
theless finally withdrawn, by consent of 
the house ; but the sul)stance of the de- 
bale having been taken down in short 
hand, by a person stationed in the gal- 
lery, and immediately communicated to 
Lord Shelburne ; he despatched a mes- 
senger with it, the next morning, to our 
minister at Paris, Mr. Fiizherbert, now 
Lord St. Helens : enjoining him to lay 
it before the Count de Vergepnes, and 
the Count d'Aranda. I know from good 
authority, that the latter nobleman, who 
was then the Spanish ambassador at the 
court of Versailles, had received the most 
positive instructions not to sign any 
peace with Great Britain, however 
favourable the terms might be in other 
respects, unless the cession of Gibraltar, 
constituted one of the articles of the 



354 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



treaty. Finding nevertheless, after the 
commnnicalion above mentioned, that no 
equivalent would be accepted for its res- 
titution ; and that the British cabinet did 
not dare to do it in violation of public 
opinion ; d'Araiida, in disobedience to 
these orders, finally affixed his name to 
the act, taking on himself the risk and 
the responsibility. 

[13ih — 23d December.] Previous to 
the adjournment of the House of Com- 
mons before Christmas, Fox made an-, 
other ineffectual attempt to compel the 
production of the provisional treaty with 
America. The debate which took place 
on this occasion, being in fact the last 
that arose of an important nature, pre- 
vious to the peace with our European 
enemies ; and consequently, previous to 
the union of Lord North with the 
Rockingham p-arty ; was distinguished 
by some very interesting circumstances. 
Fox grounded his motion for laying the 
treaty in question, before the house on the 
notorious disagreement between the first 
lord of the treasury, and his colleagues 
in the cabinet, on its acceptation ; Lord 
Shelburne declaring it to be revocable, if 
peace should not be finally made with 
France, while others of the ministers 
maintained it to be, in every event, 
final. Such a discordant exhibition of 
sentiment on so important a point, 
seemed to call for some explanation or 
disclosure on the part of administration. 
Fox, however, well aware how weak 
was his numerical strength within those 
walls, unless sustained by Lord North ; 
after endeavouring to justify his demand 
of the treaty, on principles of public ex- 
pediency ; added, " I expect support in 
my motion, though I do not court it. I 
do not indeed know whetlier I may cal- 
culate on the aid of the noble lord in the 
blue ribband, seated below rae ; as by a 
strange mode of reasoning, he brings 
himself to vote with ministers, though 
he totally disagrees with them in opi- 
nion." The treasury bench preserving 
a profound silence, Mr. Thomas Pitt 
moved the order of the day ; at the 
same lime advising and adjuring his mi- 
nisterial friends, not to violate their oath 
as privy comicillors, since nothing ex- 
cept misconstruction and misrepresenta- 
tion could arise from their explanations. 
At this period of the discussion Lord 



North presented himself to the Speaker's 
notice, and delivered one of the most en- 
tertaining speeches ever heard in that 
assembly. Never, I believe, was more 
wit crowded into so narrow a compass ! 
Every sentence conveyed the most deli- 
cate irony, or the most contumelious, 
yet amusing, ridicule. He began by 
lamenting that Mr. Thomas Pitt's whole- 
some and sage advice to his friends, on 
the subject of observing discretion and 
secrecy, should have come too late to be 
of any use, they having alreaily been 
guilty of divulging their opinions. Hav- 
ing expressed his concern that it was 
impossible to agree with a divided 
cabinet, collectively ; he said he would 
nevertheless agree witli them partially^ 
and vote for the order of the day : as he 
should at least be sure of coinciding 
with those members of administration 
who sate opposite to him. " For," 
added he, " though I perfectly agree with 
the right honorable gentleman (Fox), 
in all his statements and principles, yet 
I cannot ihink the present moment a sea- 
sonable one for producing the provisional 
articles." With inconceivable humour 
he contrasted, and exposed the difl'erent 
versions of the treaty ; first, as present- 
ed in the king's speech from the throne, 
at the opening of the session ; next in 
Lord Shelhurne's language ; and lastly, 
in the declarations of the other minis- 
ters. " I prefer, however," said he, 
" ihe edition of this matter, as we have 
it on royal paper, before all the subse- 
quent editions, cum jiotis variorum, 
which have been since published." On 
the subject of that oath, to the strict ob- 
servance of which the members of the 
cabinet were entreated to adhere, he 
made some observations so hulicrous, as 
put all gravity to flight. " If," observed 
he, " this mysterious treaty depended 
on no contingency whatever, it would 
resemble, not a privy counsellor's oath, 
of which we have heard so much to-day : 
but a much less serious oath, of which 
we have all heard, and which some of us 
may probably have taken. I mean, the 
oath administered at Highgale, by which 
a man swears that he never will drink 
small beer, when he can gel stronu-, unless 
he likes ihe former best ; nor ever kiss the 
maid, when he might kiss the mistress, 
unless he chuse the maid in preferenceJ'' 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



355 



Continuing, or rather, resuming his 
speech, as soon as tlie house had reco- 
vered from the violent effect of this 
simile on their muscles, he directed 
his artilier}'' of jests against the cabinet, 
of which three members were present. 
" It has been asserted," observed Lord 
North, "tliat the contradictory opinions 
of ministers might be reduced to some 
certainty, by subjecting them to the 
wisdom of this assembly. I cannot 
think so : — for surely the present cabi- 
net is liie place where we might expect, 
of all others, unanimous agreement on 
matters of state policy. It is composed of 
eleven men, of distinguished talents, im- 
mense wisdom, consummate experience, 
and determined firmness. This assem- 
blage of genius has besides as many 
more agents or commissioners now em- 
ployed at Paris, on the important work 
of peace. If such men are not able to 
fix the determinate import and meaning 
of the treaty before us ; how can we ex- 
pect it to be done within our walls ? I 
have heard this house called the temple 
of eloquence, of reason, of freedom, and 
of fame ; but I never yet knew it to be 
called the temple of concord." As, 
however, though Lord North had held 
up the administration to ridicule, and 
had so pointedly spoken against them, 
he nevertheless declared his intention 
to vote for them ; I believe, Fox would 
not have divided the house, if General 
Conway had not provoked him to it, 
by asserting on his legs, " that the 
member who had originated the debate 
would not dare to take the sense of the 
house, well knowing by how small a 
minority he would be attended into the 
lobby." Irritated at such an insinua- 
tion, of which he expressed his indig- 
nant sense, Fox persisted ; and a divi- 
sion taking place on Mr. Thomas Pitt's 
motion for the order of the day, the 
Rockingham party could only muster 
forty-six votes. Government, support- 
ed by Lord North and his adherents, 
exhibited a triumphant majority of two 
hundred and nineteen, thus carrying the 
question by one hundred and seventy- 
three. It is difficult to determine with 
any certainty, the respective numbers 
that voted with administration, and with 
Lord North, on that evening. I should 
however estimate the followers of the 



latter, at seventy to eighty. That^he 
could incline the balance to which ever 
side he pleased, was evident. He ap- 
peared indeed, throughout the whole de- 
bate, not only pre-eminent in talents of 
every description; but as the arbiter of 
the scene. Like Henry the Eighth, he 
might have assumed for his device, 
" Cui adhsereo, prseest.^'' Nor could 
Fox avoid perceiving that his own way 
into the cabinet, unless he chose to 
serve under Lord Shelburne, must lie 
through Lord North's assistance, and 
could be effected by no other mode. 
That nobleman, since the day on #hich 
he resigned his power, had not occupied 
a more dignified place in the public eye, 
and in parliamentary estimation. These 
facts, and the reflections to which they 
necessarily gave rise, produced within 
two months, the memorable coalition. A 
few days subsequent to the above de- 
bale, an adjournment of the two houses 
of parliament took place till the 23d of 
January. 

ri783, January.] Throughout a con- 
siderable part of the month of January, 
the greatest fluctuation of public opinion 
prevailed relative to the final success of 
the treaties agitating at Paris ; and as 
late as the 18lh, the queen's birth-day, 
the prevalent ideas in the drawing-room 
were generally adverse to the probabdity 
of a favourable issue ; but, five days 
afterwards, intelligence arrived in Lon- 
don, that peace had been sio-ned at Ver- 
sailles. Lord Keppel, either from re- 
pentance of his conduct in having quitted 
Fox after the Marquis of Rockingham's 
decease ; or suspicious of the approach- 
ing dissolution of the actual ministry ; or 
(as he asserted afterwards on the debate 
which took place in the House of Peers), 
disapproving the articles of the treaty 
recently concluded ; immediately re- 
signed his employment of first lord of 
the admiralty. He was succeeded by 
Lord Howe, and early in the month of 
February, the Marquis of Carmarthen 
was named embassador to the court of 
France. Though the House of Com- 
mons met on the 21st of January, pur- 
suant to its adjournment, yet no business 
of moment was brought forward, either 
by ministers, or by their opponents, 
during the considerable interval of near 
a month which elapsed, previous to the 



356 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



day fixed for discussing the articles of 
the peace in both houses of parliament. 
They had intermediately been exchanged 
and ratified by the two governments. A 
more than ordinary interest was excited 
on the subject, throughout the nation ; 
the stability or dismission of the adminis- 
tration, evidently depending on the par- 
liamentary approval or disapprobation of 
the treaty. In the House of Lords, 
there seemed to be, indeed, little danger 
of incurring a vote of censure. But it 
was otherwise in the lower house, where 
the jiiinister, in addition to his own 
slender personal strength, and the indi- 
viduals holding offices under the crown, 
could only expect support, either from 
persons inclined to maintain indifferently 
every government ; or from those inde- 
pendent members, wlio, disregarding all 
motives of party, might be induced to 
approve the treaties, on the ground of 
their abstract merits, and their just 
claim to national gratitude. 

Facts such as these, which were pal- 
pable to all, could not possibly escape 
the attention of him who was most deep- 
ly interested in their result. And it has 
always appeared to persons uninformed. 
one of the most inexplicable events of 
our time, that Lord Shelburne, who 
must have perceived the great improba- 
bility of his being able to maintain him- 
self in power, after the conclusion of 
peace, without the aid of one or the 
other of the two great parlies in opposi- 
tion ; should nevertheless have allowed 
parliament to meet for the express pur- 
pose of discussing tlie merits of the 
peace, without conciliating previously 
the leaders of either side. Was he then 
indiff'erent to the preservation of that 
office, which he had acquired with so 
much address, and not unaccompanied 
with a degree of obloquy ? No person can 
believe or suppose it. Neither his adhe- 
rents nor his enemies, ever maintained 
such an opinion. How therefore are we to 
interpret a conduct so contrary to all the 
dictates of ambition, policy, and self-in- 
terest? In order to explain it, 1 shall 
stale such circumstances as have been 
related to me by individuals possessing 
information, which will at least throw 
considerable light upon the subject. 

It seemed certainly most natural, that 
of the two parlies excluded from power, 



Lord Shelburne should have addressed 
himself to that body of men, which still 
considered Lord North as its head. — 
To many of the individuals composing 
it, I know that he did in fact make ad- 
vances, either personally or by his 
friends. Mr. Orde, the secretary, in 
whose department lay the management 
of the House of Commons, was not idle 
during the autumn of 1782. The 
American war being terminated, the 
principal object of disunion between the 
late, and the present, first minister, was 
at an end. Lord Shelburne was moreover 
known to have pertinaciously resisted the 
concession of independence to America. 
His reluctance and pretended duplicity, 
or rather his ambiguity, relative to grant- 
ing unconditional independence to the 
thirteen colonies, formed one of the 
most prominent points of accusation 
against him, on the part of Fox and the 
Rockingham party. It could not be 
doubted that the king, who, availing 
himself of favourable circumstances, had 
elevated the first lord of the treasury, to 
the place that he held : and who depre- 
cated no event so mucli, as being a 
second time compelled to take Fox into 
his councils ; would secretly approve, 
and would sincerely promote any mea- 
sure tending to exclude him from ad- 
ministration. Of all political unions that 
could be eff'ected with a view to strength- 
en the ministry, and alliance between 
Lord North and Lord Shelburne, it was 
therefore assumed, must be most agree- 
able to the sovereign. Nor, as I have 
been assured, did there exist any insur- 
mountable personal antipathies or im- 
pediments between those two noble per- 
sons, which could have prevented such 
an event taking place. But though they 
might have been willing to coalesce, 
there were other individuals in the go- 
vernment not possessed of so tractable or 
so conciliating a disposition. Mr. Pitt, 
and the Duke of Richmond, both inflexi- 
bly refused to sit in cabinet with Lord 
North ; and they remained firm upon 
the point. 

Partial as I am to the memory and 
character of that amiable nobleman, I 
am far from blaming their determination. 
They considered Lord North as the 
minister, who during many years had 
carried on and supported by his parlia- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



357 



mentary ability, a contest become hope- 
less, which had precipitated Great Bri- 
tain into disgrace, as well as debt. His 
subserviency to the royal will or wishes, 
even if proved, would only in their eyes, 
have aggravated his culpability. Tliey 
regarded the loss of our American colo- 
nies as the necessary consequence of his 
councils, or of his administration. He 
was besides accused by them, of having 
made parliament the corrupt instrument 
of his policy, and of having purchased 
the support which he received in both 
houses. Political principle therefore 
dictated and produced their refusal to as- 
sociate him to their ministry. Such an 
obstacle was neither to be surmount- 
ed, nor to be removed. The Duke of 
Richmond might, indeed, have been 
dismissed, without apprehension of its 
producing veiy injurious results of any 
kind; but Mr. Pill was essential to the 
ministerial existence and duration. His 
high character and his 7iarne, joined to 
his eminent talents, formed Lord Shel- 
burne's best security for carrying any 
measure through the Houseof Commons. 
Neither Townsend nor Conway pos- 
sessed the eloquence, ability, or heredi- 
tary weight, that met in the chancellor 
of the exchequer. If, therefore, in order 
to gain Lord North, the first lord of the 
treasury had thrown Pitt into opposition, 
no exertions could have long resisted 
his and Fox's united attacks, fighting 
side by side. And the house itself 
would probably, nay infallibly, have re- 
probated such a junction, when attained 
by the expulsion of Pitt from power. 
These causes prevented any attempt 
being made to gain Lord North's sup- 
port, by admitting him and his principal 
friends to places in the cabinet; and his 
friendship, it was obvious, could not be 
obtained on inferior terms. 

r^lst January — 15lh February.] 
The strongest indications were mean- 
while given on the part of Fox's adhe- 
rents, as well as by some of the friends 
of Lord North, that they intended to 
attack and to arraign the treaties of 
peace just concluded. No sooner had 
the preliminaries signed between Eng- 
land and the two branches of the House 
of Bourbon, together with the provi- 
sional articles made with America, been 
brought down to the House of Com- 



mons, and read by the clerk ; than Mr. 
Eden instantly rose, to express the feel- 
ings of concern, or rather, of indignation 
and distress, with which the fifth arti- 
cle of the American treaty inspired 
him. It regarded the royalists, who, as 
appeared from the nature of the pro- 
visions, were abandoned by Great Bri- 
tain, and left exposed to the severest 
treatment from the provincial assemblies. 
This circumstance took place on the 
27lh of January. Four days later. Fox, 
in answer to some remarks which fell 
from General Conway, on the subject 
of the recent pacification ; observed, 
that though he did not mean to antici- 
pate the consideration of the treaties, for 
which discussion a proper time would 
be appointed, yet that they did not con- 
sider it to be as good a peace as might 
have been made by ministers. Eden 
entered his protest on the same even- 
ing, against the cession of a vast portion 
of Canada, comprehending no less than 
eighteen thousand square miles ; declar- 
ing it to be his opinion, that in disse- 
vering so large a territory from the 
empire, administration had violated a 
a positive act of parliament. On the 
lOth of February, Fox, while alluding 
to the preliminaries, said, that they did 
not bear on their face, their justification. 
Lord Nugent, though generally disposed 
to support government, yet spoke in 
lanujuage of the utmost violence on the 
subject of the loyalists. " If his ma- 
jesty's ministers," exclaimed he, 
" have omitted any personal exertion in 
favour of those unfortunate men, no 
punishment can be adequate to their 
crime. Their blood alone can wipe 
away the stain inflicted on the honour 
of their country. Governor Johnstone 
repeated these denunciations, in scarcely 
milder terms : while Sheridan, who 
already seemed to fix on Pitt, ns an 
object of his personal reprehension and 
attack whenever a favourable occasion 
arose, exhorted the chancellor of the 
exchequer not to speak in so high a 
tone from the treasury bench. " If," 
added Sheridan, " he and his colleagues 
had held as lofty a style to the enemies 
of Great Britain, during the late discus- 
sions relative to peace, as they do here, 
they would not be compelled to stand so 
much on the defensive, as they probably 



358 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



must do, when the examination of the 
preliminaries comes before us." Every 
circumstance announced a determina- 
tion to push matters to extremity, and if 
possible, to drive the ministers from 
their posts, for having sacrificed the 
honour, as well as the interests of Great 
Britain, in the recent treaties. 

Lord Shelburne, conscious of the 
approaching danger, and desirous of 
averting a parliamentary conflict so 
doubtful in its issue, caused overtures of 
a conciliatory nature to be made to 
Fox ; offering to replace him in his 
late office, and to provide for his friends 
or connections who had followed him 
out of power after Lord Rockingham's 
decease. The king was induced, though 
reluctantly, to allow and to approve of 
the proposals, on the ground of state 
necessity ; it being esteemed a less 
serious evil, to admit Fox into the cabi- 
net by negotiation, than to incur the risk 
of his entering it by storm. In the first 
case, he would remain still in a mino- 
rity, while the treasury would be com- 
pletely independent of him ; whereas in 
the second event, he would dictate the 
law. But Fox, though he professed 
himself willing to make a part of an ad- 
ministration formed upon a broad basis, 
and therefore disposed to listen to the 
proposition, exacted one indispensable 
preliminary; namely, Lord Shelburne's 
dismission, or resignation. Unless the 
treasury were placed in the hands of the 
Duke of Portland as the new recog- 
nised head of the Rockingham party ; 
and unless Lord Shelburne were wholly 
excluded from a place in the cabinet, he 
peremptorily refused to accede to any 
terms of accommodation. With all the 
other principal individuals composing 
the ministry, he declared his readiness 
to act; but personally to Lord Shel- 
burne, his repugnance continued insur- 
mountable, and could not be removed 
by any eff'orts. 

In embracing this determination, it 
seems impossible to doubt that he was 
more impelled by passion ; — in using 
which term, I mean rivality, party feel- 
ings, and personal aversion to the first 



on a great state question of the deepest 
importance, namely, the grant of uncon- 
ditional independence to America; yet 
was consummated from resentment and 
precipitation. Probably he regretted it 
when too late ; — for, it was proved by 
facts, that, whatever Lord Shelburne 
might have meditated or even declared, 
relative to not conceding independence 
to the transatlantic colonies, he was 
over-ruled, and compelled by the cabi- 
net to carry into execution that humi- 
liating measure. Nay more, we have 
the authority of General Conway, when 
addressing the House of Commons, on 
the subject, for asserting, that the first 
minister not only overcame and subdued 
his own reluctance in declaring the 
American states independent ; but by 
his arguments or persuasions prevailed 
on the king his master, to surmount his 
strongly rooted antipathy to the same 
act of renunciation. Fox, indeed, al- 
ways asserted and maintained, that his 
resignation of office had produced more 
benefit to the country, and had operated 
more powerfully to force Lord Shel- 
burne's acquiescence on the point in 
question, than he could have done bv 
remaining a member of the cabinet. But» 
it is evident that he did not lie under 
any necessity of throwing up his em- 
ployment, or of sacrificing his principles. 
It never arrived at that alternative, for 
which he ought to have waited, before 
he came to extremities. If he had tem- 
perately and steadily opposed the first 
minister : appealing to his colleagues. 
Lord Keppel, Conway, and the Duke of 
Richmond, for support; sustained as he 
was, by Lord John Cavendish ; the 
Earl of Shelburne must have given way 
or he would have been left in a minority. 
No doubt. Fox's secession and appeal to 
the House of Commons, or rather to the 
nation, forced the first minister, as well 
as his colleagues, to concede unequivo- 
cally independence to America. But, if 
Fox had been more master of himself, 
and less under the dominion of anger, or 
of the desire to dictate in the cabinet, he 
might have eff'ected his object by a me- 
nace of resignation, and vet have retained 



lord of the treasury ; than by moral or | the seal. In forming an alliance with 



political principle. Even his secession 
from the cabinet, in July, 1782, though 



It originated in a difference of opinion ciple, and at the same time shocked pub 



Lord North, as he soon afterwards did, 
he made a far greater surrender of prin- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



359 



lie opinion much more, than he could 
possibly have done by acting with Lord 
Shelbiirne, whatever measures had been 
adopted by administration. 

Such, as I have always understood, 
were the leading principles or circum- 
stances, on which was subsequently 
reared that celebrated junction between 
Lord North and Fox, which, from its 
extraordinary nature, and more extraor- 
dinary edecls, has obtained in English 
history, by way of distinction from all 
other political unions or alliances ever 
contracted in our time, the name of " the 
coalition^ The proscription of Lord 
North by Pitt, and of Lord Shelburne by 
Fox, of necessity drove the two exclu- 
ded ministers into each other's arms ; at 
once obliterated all past causes of offence 
between them ; and impelled tiiem, 
banishing every retrospect, as well as in 
some measure setting general opinion at 
defiance, only to look, forward to the joint 
possession of power. As the 17th of 
February stood fixed for the considera- 
tion of the articles of peace, in both 
houses of parliament ; and as Lord N orth 
disapproved of many of those articles, no 
less strongly than Fox ; it became ob- 
vious that they must, in all cases, divide 
together on that night, against the ad- 
ministration. And if they should find 
themselves in a majority, as was highly 
probable, it seemed to follow that the 
ministers must retire from office. But 
in order to avail themselves of their 
triumph, and to form a new administra- 
tion, some mutual understanding, if not 
some principles of permanent accommo- 
dation, became absolutely necessary to 
both individuals. Otherwise, however 
victorious they might prove in parliament, 
they would probably derive no benefit 
from their superiority ; and Lord Shel- 
burne, though vanquished in the House 
of Commons, mightstill contrive to retain 
his seat in the cabinet, as first minister. 
These considerations, in themselves 
most forcible, acquiring hourly strength 
as the day approached for the discussion 
of the peace, produced some symptoms 
of mutual tendency towards reconcilia- 
tion. Never, perhaps, did two men 
exist, more inclined by nature to oblivion 
of injuries, or to sentiments of forgive- 
ness, than Lord North and Fox ! The 
latter, whatever might be his defects of 



character, possessed in an eminent de- 
gree, placability and magnanimity of 
mind. "■ Amicitise sempiternx, inimici- 
tiae placabiles" was a maxim always in 
his mouth. The former, too indolent to 
retain the burthen of enmity, and con- 
scious that Fox's hostility towards him, 
had always been more political than 
personal ; gladly deposited his resent- 
ments, his recollections, and his injuries, 
at the feet of his interest and ambition. 
Both equally concurred in the necessity 
of agreeing on some plan of concerted 
action, before they took their places, 
side by side, on the opposition bench. 
Hitherto, though Lord North usually or 
always sate there. Fox continued to 
speak from the third bench, as did Burke. 
But however deeply they might be im- 
pressed with these feelings, they never- 
theless abstained from any direct inter- 
view, leaving all matters to the interven- 
tion of mutual friends. The honorable 
George Augustus North, eldest son of 
Lord North, then member for Harwich, 
and afterwards himself Earl of Guildford, 
acted as the negotiator for his father, on 
this occasion : while the honorable 
Colonel Fitzpatrick, Fox's intimate friend 
and companion, conducted the treaty on 
the other part. Mr. North by no means 
wanted talents; but in address, capacity, 
and accomplishments, the latter possessed 
an infinite superiority. Each, actuated 
by a warm desire to conduct the business 
to a successful issue, exerted his utmost 
efl^orts for the purpose. Two or three 
days elapsed in conferences and discus- 
sions : nor was it till a very late hour of 
the night of the 16th of February, that, 
after many visits to and fro, between St. 
James's street and Grosvenor square, 
where Lord North then resided, they 
finally settled the outlines of a conven- 
tion ; by which, on the part of the two 
principals it was stipulated, that if they 
effected a change of administration, the 
treasury should be given to the Duke of 
Portland ; that Lord North should like- 
wise take a cabinet office; that a fair 
partition of the spoils, in other words, 
of the great posts and emoluments of 
the state, should be made between the 
two parties, who agreed henceforward to 
coalesce. And, lastly, that in the debate 
of the approaching evening, they should 
speak, act, and divide in concert. 



360 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



[17th February.] Such were the 
general preliminaries of the " coalition." 
Many difficulties on both sides, which 
impeded the progress of the negotiation, 
protracted its termination ; nor did either 
Lord North or Fox retire to rest, till 
four or five o'clock in the morning, 
when the business was at length con- 
cluded. Fox, accustomed to pass the 
greater part of the night at Brookes's, 
appeared in the House of Commons with 
his usual freshness, on the ensuing even- 
ing; and manifested during the debate 
that ensued, neither inattention, lassitude, 
nor fatigue. But Lord North, whose 
natural somnolency was increased, by 
having sat up for so many hours of the 
preceding night, under circumstances of 
considerable agitation, as well as by the 
prodigious heat arising from a crowded 
house; — after taking his seat near his 
new ally, on the opposition bench, found 
himself so overcome by sleep, that its 
effect became irresistible. Unwilling, 
probably, to exhibit such a spectacle, at 
such a moment, which would have ex- 
cited matter of animadversion, or of ri- 
dicule, to both parties ; he at length 
quitted his seat, and came up into the 
gallery. I had placed myself there ; im- 
mediately over the treasury bench, every 
partof the house below being filled. Lord 
North having seated himself by me, made 
various efl'orts to keep himself awake ; 
but to accomplish it, exceeded his power. 
As the discussion had already taken a 
very personal turn ; severe sarcasms, as 
well as reproaches, being levelled from 
the treasury bench, against the unnatural 
coalition just formed ; particularly by 
Mr. Dundas, <vho stigmatized it with 
the strongest epithets of contumelious 
reprobation ; he requested me to awaken 
him, as often as any such expressions 
should be u«ed by ministers. I did so, 
many limes; but when he had listened 
for a few minutes, he as often involun- 
tarily relapsed into repose. Al the end 
of about an hour and a half, during the 
greater portion of which time he seemed 
scarcely sensible to any circumstance 
that passed, he began to rouse himself. 
By degrees he recovered his perception ; 
and having heard from my mouth, some 
of the most interesting, or acrimonious 
passages that had taken place while he 
was asleep, he went down again into the 



body of the house, placed himself by 
Fox on the floor, and made one of the 
most able, brilliant, as well as enter- 
taining speeches, that I ever heard him 
pronounce within those walls. No man 
who listened to it, could have imagined 
that he had lost a single sentence of the 
preceding debate, or that his faculties had 
been clouded by fatigue and want of rest. 
Lord John Cavendish, whom Fox al- 
ways selected for special and important 
occasions ; as his high character for in- 
tegrity and uprightness, spread a sort of 
veil over the irregularities of his party ; 
moved an amendment on that night, to 
the address proposed by the friends of 
administration. Lord John's amendment 
was however couched in terms so guarded, 
with a view to secure as many votes as 
possible, that it might rather be termed 
a hesitation in approving, than any direct 
censure on the peace. Even Lord North, 
who afterwards proposed a second 
amendment, in which he recommended 
the American loyalists to his majesty's 
consideration ; implied, more than he 
asserted, that they had been forgotten or 
abandoned by the framers of the articles 
of pacification concluded with the thir- 
teen colonies. The coalition, avowed 
by Fox, was not only defended with the 
boldness and decision that marked his 
character ; but he retorted on the lord 
advocate, all the acrimonious expressions 
which fell from the latter, upon the sud- 
den union of two such inveterate oppo- 
nents. Mr. Townsend, as secretary of 
state, excelled himself in his defence of 
the peace, and may really be said to have 
in some measure earned on that night, 
the peerage which he soon afterwards 
obtained. I never saw him display so 
much animation, nor heard him manifest 
such ability. Nor was Pitt wanting to 
himself, or to his party. But all their 
efforts proved unavailing to sustain an 
administration, which having been ori- 
ginally established on too shallow founda- 
tions, had received no subsequent rein- 
forcement. After a debate, protracted 
till near eight o'clock in the morning, 
they were left in a minority of sixteen. 
Only nine votes therefore, taken from 
the coaliii'on, and transferred to ministers, 
would have given them a majority ; and 
above four hundred and thirty members 
voted on the occasion. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



361 



Many curious and interesting circum- 
stances, some among them of a personal 
nature, took place in the course of that 
long discussion, which were calculated 
to make a deep impression on the me- 
mory. Povvis, first of any individual 
who rose to speak, assumed the exist- 
ence of a political union between Lord 
North and Fox ; reasoned upon it as a 
fact consummated, and reprobated it in 
terms of the severest irony, or condem- 
nation. ♦' Tile house now beholds," 
said he, " for the first time, the lofty de- 
fenders of royal prerogative, allied with 
the zealous worshippers of the majesty 
of the people. The most determined 
supporter of the inlluence of the crown, 
joins hands with the purifier of the Con- 
stitution, the reformer of the household." 
With great ability, and still greater can- 
dour, Powis pointed out the defects and 
concessions of the treaties just concluded ; 
expressed his regret that such features of 
the work should excite his disapproba- 
tion ; but added, " yet, considering the 
whole collectively, and the national po- 
sition at the present moment, lam ready 
to give my full assent to the address 
moved, and to declare my perfect satis- 
faction." If similar sentiments, supe- 
rior to the spirit of party, had animated 
the assembly at large, Lorth Shelburne 
would have kepi his oflice. So guard- 
edly couched, indeed, was the amendment 
which Lord North moved, that Mr. 
Townsend offered to agree with it, if the 
noble lord would vole for the address : 
but, the secretary of state's proposal met 
with an iiistaul rejection. Burke an- 
swered Powis's animadversions on the 
junction between Lorth North and Fox, 
the principles of which union he justi- 
fied ; though as to the fjct, he neither 
denied, nor admitted it. " Thos« per- 
sons, however," observed he, " who 
hold that opinion, and censure so vio- 
lently ilie alliance; have only to direct 
their eyes to the treasury bench, where 
they will behold a learned lord sitting 
between the chancellor of the exchequer 
and the secretary of state." Dundas in- 
stantly rose, and in a speech of consi- 
derable length, as well as of great ability, 
full of most galling personalities to Fox, 
contrasted his former denunciations of 
Lord North while first minister, with 
his present line of political action. He 
31 



desired Fox to recollect his own asser- 
tions, that " almost any peace ought to 
be made, in order to extricate the coun- 
try from its embarrassments, and to dis- 
solve the combination of powers leagued 
against us." Nor did Dundas omit to 
remind him of his pretended decla- 
ration, that " he had a peace in his pock- 
et ;" as well as his assertions of the 
ruined state of the navy, which incapa- 
citated us for continuing the contest with 
our European enemies. On the newly 
consummated union between the two 
chiefs of opposition, and on the sickly off- 
spring of their political embrace, namely, 
the motions submitted to the house, he 
indulged in the keenest sarcasms. 

Lord North's speech on that night, 
was worthy a statesman, who had been 
the minister of a great empire. In a 
masterly manner, without any mixture 
of passion, disdaining his usual appeals 
to ridicule, he reviewed consecutively 
all the features of the peace, and demon- 
strated the vices or errors interwoven 
throughout almost every article of the 
three treaties. VVhde he was engaged 
in discussing one of the most serious 
points of the question under examina- 
tion ; a dog which had taken shelter, and 
concealed himself under the table of the 
House of Commons, made his escape, and 
ran directly across the floor, setting up 
at the same time a violent howl. Itocca- 
sioned a burst of laughter, and might 
have disconcerted an ordinary man. But 
he who knew how to convert the most 
awkward occurrences, to purposes of ad- 
vanlao-e; having waited till the roar which 
it produced, had subsided ; and preserv- 
ing all his ijravity, addressed the ctuiir. 
" Sir," said he to the Speaker, " I have 
been interrupted by a new member ; 
but as he has concluded his argument, I 
will now resume mine." Governor 
Johnstone, with his characteristic vio- 
lence of tone and language, declaimed 
against various stipulations or cessions 
contained in the American treaty ; which, 
he asserted, could only have been made 
by gross ignorance, geographical and 
political. Amonff others, having men- 
tioned the restitution of the two Floridas 
to Spain, he accused ministers of an 
utter unacquaintance with the value, 
the productions, or the ixaval and com- 
mercial importance of those provinces. 



362 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



" I was, myself," added he, " governor 
of West Florida, and I know its conse- 
quence. As to East Florida, it can boast 
of one of the finest harbours on the 
globe, infinitely superior to the Havan- 
nah ; more capacious, more safe, and 
more healthy." The secretary of state, 
wiio sate opjiosile to him, express- 
ing by his looks an(l| gestures, the asto- 
nishment which these encomiums ex- 
cited, " I perceive clearly," exclaimed 
Johnstone, " that the right honorable 
secretary is ignorant of the existence of 
this bay. I vvill tell him where it is 
situate, and how it is named. The har- 
bour to which I allude, is that of Spirito 
Santo, or Tampa, situate on the bay of 
Mexico. Its possession would be inva- 
luable to Great Britain." Townsend 
did not attempt to deny that he was un- 
informed upon the subject; nor probably 
was there another individual within the 
walls of the house, except Johnstone, 
who possessed any accurate know- 
ledge of the bay in question. Similar 
acts of ministerial ignorance are to be 
found in almost every treaty between 
nations. 

Fox neither distinctly avowed, nor 
still less did he deny his junction willi 
Lord North. " That such an alliance 
has actually taken place between us," 
said he, in reply to Dundas's acrimoni- 
ous remarks, " I can by no means aver: 
but, if it should be formed, I see not any 
ground for arraigning our conduct, or 
stigmatizing it as an unnatural union. 
That I shall concur on this night, with 
the noble lord in the blue ribband, is 
very certain. The American war, and 
that only, constituted the subject of en- 
mity between us. It is now terminated, 
and with it has ceased our hostility." 
Then, having contrasted the honorable, 
open, and manly character of his new 
ally, with the evasions, subterfuges, and 
insincerity, which he imputed to the 
actual first minister; he endeavoured to 
justify himself from some of the impu- 
tations laid to his charge by the lord ad- 
vocate. Nor will I deny that in my 
judgment he exculpated himself fully on 
almost every point. " I never said," 
replied he, "that I had a peace in my 
pocket : words falsely attributed to me. 
But I averred that there were persons 
empowered by America to treat of peace 



who had applied to the Duke of Rich- 
mond and Lord Keppel, by whom I 
was authorized to mention it in this 
house. The learned lord challenges me 
to produce the peace that I had projected 
to make, when I was secretary of slate. ^ 
Will any of the king's ministers give me 
the same defiance 1 I dare them to do it. 
They know what it is : — for they have 
it in the foreign ofRce. If, on inspection, 
it disproves my assertion, let them take 
advantage of it : and let them hold me : 
up to public condemnation, as a man f 
capable of advising my sovereign, to 
make, if it be possible, a worse and 
more ruinous peace than the treaties now ■ 
on the table." To Dundas himself per- 1 
sonally. Fox addressed some of his se- 
verest animadversions. "The learned 
lord," said he, " informs us that he is 
always ready to support any govern- 
ment, whose principles he approves. I 
believe that he is sincere in his assertion ; 
and in order that he may always be able 
to support administration, he will take 
care invariably to approve of their prin- 
ciples, whatever they may be, or who- 
ever may become ministers." 

But the circumstance, which, above 
all, rendered that evening memorable, as 
well as entertaining, was the altercation 
which arose between Sheridan and Pitt. 
It may be said to have originated with the 
former, who adverting to an antecedent 
debate, during the course of which, the 
chancellor of the exchequer had objected 
to the production of a depending treaty, 
on the ground that such an act had no 
precedent on the journals of parliament ; 
Sheridan treated his assertion with great 
asperity, not unnccompanied with ridi- 
cule. " If," said he, " the right honor- 
able gentleman's youth and very early 
political exaltation, had allowed him 
lime to look for precedents, or to attain 
a knowledge of the journals, his discre- 
tion might have imposed some restraint 
on his precipitation. He would not then 
have manifested so much indignation at 
the questions put to ministers, and 
which it became their tluly to satisfy. 
These facts convince me that he is more 
of a practical, than an experienced poli- 
tician." Indignant at the style and lan- 
guage of Sheridan's reprehension, and 
perhaps hoping to crush at once an ad- 
versary so galling, Pitt no sooner rose to 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



363 



address the house, than he directed all | Judes, I may, by an act of presumption, 

allempt to improve on one of Ben Jon- 
son's b^st characters, the Angry Boy in 
the Mchymisty The admiration ex- 
cited by a repartee so keen and so 
prompt, cannot easily be conceived. 
Pitt never returned a second time to the 
charge, mounted on the same horse : 
but a degree of mutual alienation seemed 
always to subsist between him and 
Sheridan, founded on the incompatibility 
of their characters, tempers, and hu- 
mours. No two men were indeed ever 
cast in more dissimilar moulds. On the 
respective superiority of their intellec- 
tual endowments, I shall not venture to 
decide, or to pronounce. Both were 
the prodigies of their day. 

Lee, the late solicitor general, arising 
at a very advanced hour of the morning, 
as he was apt to do, exhausted his vehe- 
mence, or rather, his rage, on the first 
minister ; whose character, as well as 
his administration, and in particular, the 
peace just concluded, which he denomi- 
nated " a dismemberment of the empire, 
disgraceful, wicked, and treacherous," 
he loaded with epithets of condemnation. 
On Lord North, as a statesman of in- 
corruptible integrity, manly, and supe- 
rior to artifice or evasion of every kind, 
he was as profuse in his panegyrics, as 
he was indecorous and violent towards 
the Earl of Shelburne. Nor did Lee 
omit to express his approbation of the 
coalition, as a political union calculated 
to produce benefits to the country. 
During the whole lime that I sale in par- 
liament I never was present at a speech 
more personally abusive, or which would 
have better justified interruption. Ken- 
yon, who was placed opposite to him on 
the treasury bench, and who was com- 
posed of as tough, as coarse, though not 
as boisterous materials ; unable to support 
such a string of invectives, without 
manifesting his indignation, severely re- 
prehended his learned friend, for " the 
swaggering language" to which he had 
recourse ; strongly reprobating at the 
same time, Lee's expressions relative to 
the first lord of the treasury. No dispo- 
sition being however shown to retract, 
or even to modify them, Rigby inter- 
posed with an apology for Lee, as being 
a young member. Like his friend 
Dundas, Rigby spoke and voted on that 



the force of his eloquence towards that 
quarter. " There is no man, sir," said 
he, when commencing his speech, " who 
admires more than I do, the abilities of 
that honorable member," fixing his eye 
on Sheridan ; " the elegant sallies of his 
mind, the pleasing effusions of his fancy, 
his dramatic turns, and his epigramatic 
allusions. If they were only reserved for 
the proper s/oo-e, they would no doubt en- 
sure, what his distinguished talents al- 
ways have acquired, the/j/ai«/t7s of his au- 
dience ; and it would be hisrecompense, 
suiplausu guilder e theatri. But this place 
is not the proper scene for exhibiting 
such elegancies, and I must therefore 
call the attention of the house to more 
serious considerations of public import- 
ance." 

If Pitt had pronounced this animad- 
version, so pointed, classic, and per- 
sonal, at the close, not at the commence- 
ment of his discourse, arid had instantly 
sat down; probably even Sheridan 
would have found himself unequal to 
replying on the instant, and the chan- 
cellor of the exchequer might have 
obtained at least a temporary triumph. 
But the length of time that he remained 
on his legs, gave his opponent leisure 
for meditating a proper answer. Ordi- 
nary individuals would have sunk under 
the reproof, or would have displayed 
more resentment, than wit or compo- 
sure. The reference to his theatrical 
occupations, was no doubt illiberal, as 
well as calculated to oppress any, except 
a man constituted like Sheridan. He, 
on the contrary, found in the attack, 
matter of advantage over his adversary 
and of exaltation to himself. Rising as 
soon as Pitt had finished, and having 
prefaced with a few words, under 
pretence of explanation, " With regard," 
said he, " to the particular species of per- 
sonality which has just been introduced, 
I need not comment on it. The house 
will have appreciated its taste, its point, 
its propriety. But let me assure the 
person who has had recourse to it, that 
whenever he may think proper to repeat 
such allusions, I will meet them with 
perfect good humour. Nay more, — 
encouraged by the encomiums bestowed 
on my talents, should 1 ever again en- 
gage in the occupations to which he al- 



364 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

♦ 



night wilh ministry ; but since his dis- 
mission from the pay-office, he seemed 
to have lost much of liie imposing man- 
ner and style of speaUing, which 
formerly characterised him when ad- 
dressing the house. Great anxiety and 
agitation pervaded the ministerial 
benches, wlien at length the division 
took place. As no accurate opinion 
could be formed previous to the conclu- 
sion of the debate, on which side the 
members would preponderate, the result 
when announced from the chair, excited 
as much exultation among the adherents 
of Lord North and Fox, as it spread dis- 
may through the ranks of administra- 
tion. 

I composed one of the majority, on 
that memorable occasion. But I owe it 
nevertheless to truth and to candour, 
which are the only guides or principles 
that I recognise, to acknowledge, that 
when 1 consider the articles of the 
peace concluded by Lord Shelburne, 
after the lapse of thirty years, I am in- 
clined to view it through a much more 
favourable medium, than I did at the 
time. Unquestionably, of the three 
treaties, namely, those signed with 
France, Spain, and America; — for, 
wilh Holland no definitive convention 
had been arraigned; — the American 
treaty was much the most humiliating, 
as well as injurious to Great Britain. 
Besides the unconditional recognition of 
the independence of the colonies, and 
the cession of so many fortified places, 
which it is difficult to suppose that the 
Americans could ever have taken from 
us by force of arms ; our abandoning 
the loyalists seemed, in the estimation 
of people, the most dispassionate, to 
affix a degree of degradation and dis- 
honour on the nation itself. To Spain 
we likewise ceded East Florida, in addi- 
tion to West Florida and Minorca, of 
both which, that power had already ob- 
tained possession. But in recompense 
for these sacrifices, it must be remem- 
bered, that France restored to us all our 
captured islands in the VVest Indies, 
with the single exception of Tobago ; 
while we possessed nothing to ofTer her 
in return, except the restitution of St, 
Lucie, The stipulations made respect- 
ing our {possessions in the East Indies ; 
those concluded relative to the gum 



trade, carried on along the coast of 
Africa; and the articles regulating the 
right of fishery on the banks of New- 
foundland ; — if not favourable or ad- 
vantageous in themselves, might yet 
have been signed between two crowns 
treating nearly on equal terms. Nor 
when we consider the exhausted state 
of England at the close of the Ame- 
rican war, could they justly be re- 
garded as unbecoming us to concede, in 
order to dissolve the formidable combi- 
nation then leagued against this country, 
which was sustained by the armed neu- 
trality of the Baltic powers. 

While, however, I thus readily admit 
Lord Shelburne's title to national appro- 
bation, if not gratitude, for the peace of 
January, 1783, though 1 voted against 
it as a member of the House of Com- 
mons, 1 must maintain, and 1 trust satis- 
factorily to prove, that if Lord North, 
instead of going out, as he did, in March, 
1782, had remained in office ten months 
longer, he would have concluded at least 
as advantageous, if not a more beneficial 
treaty. We shall in fact find, on ex- 
amining the subject, that Lord North 
either adopted or laid down all the foun- 
dations, on which his successor in office 
reared that superstructure. In other 
words, we must be compelled to per- 
ceive, that Lord Shelburne only used 
the materials left or provided him by 
his predecessor. The peace rested on 
seven distinct grounds or principles, of 
which the first was the recognition of 
American independence. But Lord 
North manifested a much greater readi- 
ness to obey the wishes of the House of 
Commons on that leading point, than was 
afterwards shown by Lord Shelburne, 
who did not yield till he was outvoted in 
the cabinet: whereas Lord North, after 
General Conway's successful motion of 
the 22d of February, declaring " the 
attempt to reduce the colonies to obedi- 
ence by force, impracticable," immedi- 
ately took measures for the purpose. 
On the 5th of March, a fortnight before 
he laid down his power, Wallace, then 
attorney general, moved in his place for 
leave to bring in a bill, " to enable his 
majesty to conclude a truce or peace 
with the revolted colonies in America." 
Fox afi'ected to treat it wilh derision, 
because he feared its operation on parlia- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



365 



nient and on the public mind might pro- 
long tlie existence of an administration 
which he had so nearly run down : but 
no impartial man questioned the first 
minister's sincerity ; and the victory of 
Congress in compelling Lord North, 
who had so long made war on them, to 
treat with America as a sovereign power, 
would have been more gratifying to the 
States than the same triumph obtained 
over any other minister of Great Bri- 
tain. 

The second cause that produced peace, 
was Sir George Rodney's victory over 
De Grasse ; which event, at once over- 
turning all the plans of Vergennes in 
the VVest Indies, secured Jamaica from 
any further attack on the part of France. 
Of this splendid victory, though Fox 
reaped all the benefit, Lord North and 
Lord Sandwich had unquestionably the 
whole merit. We may even safely 
assert or assume, that if the Rockingham 
administration had forced their way into 
office three months earlier than they 
did, the action of the 12lh of April, 
1782, would never have taken place, or 
might have had a very different termina- 
tion. It is not pretended that Pigot pos- 
sessed any other merit than his con- 
nexion wilii Fox, cemented at Brookes's 
over the faro table. The measure itself, 
of sending him out to deprive Rodney of 
the command, excited just, as well as 
general indignation : nor did he per- 
form a single act of energy after his arri- 
val, which could have accelerated or 
facilitated the negotiations of peace ; 
though Fox adniilied in the House of 
Commons, during the debate of the 21st 
February, 1782, that he was at the head 
of a fleet superior to the enemy, and ade- 
quate to every offensive or defensive 
operation. Eliott's destruction of the 
Spanish gun-boats before Gibraltar, on 
the 13lh of September; by overwhelm- 
ing all the projects of Charles the Third 
for the reduction of that fortress, laid 
the third foundation of the treaty, as it 
disposed the cabinet of Madrid to termi- 
nate the war. Happily, Fox did not 
recall Eliott, as he had done Rodney, 
nor send Burgoyne to supercede him. 
Lord Howe's most able manreuvres in 
supplying Gibraltar with stores of every 
kind, notwithstanding the combined op- 
position of France and Spain, formed 
31* 



the fourth groundwork of the peace. In 
the nomination of that great naval officer 
to the command of the fleet, and in that 
measure solely, had Lord Shelburne any 
participation or share, as contributing to 
terminate the contest. Nor would it be 
candid to deprive him of the merit which 
he may thereby claim ; but neither ought 
we to forget that Admiral Darby had 
efiected the same service in the prece- 
ding year, under Lord North's adminis- 
tration, and had relieved Gibraltar in 
defiance of nearly similar impedi- 
ments. 

The three last foundations of general 
pacification, were laid in the east ; 
where, as early as 1778, Lord North 
had ably anticipated the French machi- 
nations, by gelling possession of Pondi- 
cherry. Of tliese leading causes, the 
most essential, perhaps, may be deemed 
the separate peace made with the Mha- 
rattas : a measure exclusively due to 
that first minister, who in the spring 
of the year 1781, sent out Mr. Mac- 
pherson (since governor general of Ben- 
gal, and created a baronet), as a mem- 
ber of the supreme council. 1 know 
that his secret instructions were, to en- 
deavour by every exertion in his power, 
and even, if necessary, by making con- 
siderable sacrifices, to terminate the 
Mharatla war. In compliance with 
those directions, on his arrival at Ma- 
dras in October, 1781, without waiting to 
consult Hastings, who was then at a dis- 
tance from Calcutta, Mr. Macpherson, to- 
gether with Lord Macartney, Sir Edward 
Hughes, and ihe Nabob of Arcot,Mahom- 
med Ally, acting together in concert, ad- 
dressed letters jointly to the Peshwah, at 
Poonah, expressing to him, in the name 
of the sovereign and ministry of Eng- 
land, their sincere and ardent inclination 
to peace. It followed in a very short 
space of time, and flowed immediately 
from this source. Lord Sandwich, who 
sent oui Sir Edward Hughes to com- 
mand the British fleet in the East In- 
dies, may claim the principal or exclu- 
sive merit of having laid the sixth basis 
of the pacification of January, 1783. 
For, though liial naval commander did 
not vanquish Suffrein, as Rodney de- 
feated De Grasse, yet he repulsed the 
French admiral, when we were inferior 
to him in number of ships ; disabled the 



366 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



enemy's vessels, and finally compelled 
him to postpone his projects of co-opera- 
tion with Hyder Ally ; thus protracting 
llie contest till intelligence of a general 
pacification reached India. 

The last groundwork of peace, was 
due to Hastings, acting as governor ge- 
neral of Bengal, in conjunction with the 
supreme council ; for the promptitude 
with which, after Hyder's successful 
irruption into the Carnatic in 1780, they 
despatched Sir Eyre Coote with military 
and pecuniary supplies, to the aid of that 
nearly subverted presidency. He first 
arrested the progress of the Sultan of 
Mysore, and finally compelled him to 
retreat across the mountains of the 
Ghauts, into his own dominions. The 
vast fabric of British power in the east, 
originally convulsed by the errors or in- 
capacity of the Bombay government, de- 
graded by Rumbold's mal-administration, 
and perhaps exposed to hazard by Has- 
tings's plans of ambition or aggrandize- 
ment ; was ultimately perserved and 
strengthened. When we fairly examine 
and appreciate these facts, we shall see 
that though Lord Shelburne signed, or 
rather concluded the peace of 1783, yet 
Lord North's administration made it. 
In fact, though no minister, however 
able or popular, could have longer pro- 
secuted the war for subjugating the co- 
lonies, after near seven years of a ruin- 
ous and disgraceful contest ; any minis- 
ter, however moderately endowed with 
talents, having in his hands the means 
possessed by Lord Shelburne, might have 
terminated the struggle with our Euro- 
pean enemies, on niaking the recogni- 
tion of American independence. Un- 
questionably Lord Shelburne obtained 
from the French government, great res- 
titutions in the West Indies : but the 
enemy kept possession of Tobago, and 
we restored St. Lucie ; which last island, 
considered as a military post, was ines- 
timable to France. Powis's declaration 
on this <;reat national subject, which he 
made in his place, when addressing the 
house, on the 21st of February, 1783; 
has always appeared to me to comprise 
in it, every thing that can be said with 
justice, either for, or against the peace 
in question. His words were nearly 
these : " With respect to the treaties 
just concluded, I have already admitted 



that there are parts of them, which I 
wish not to have seen. But neverthe- 
less, such is the condition of the country, 
such the state of our finances, and so 
powerful is the confederacy united 
against us, that I am ready to accept the 
peace, such as it is, and to say that it 
deserves parliamentary approbation." 
Few members of that assembly, united 
to a sound judgment, so much imparti- 
ality and public principle, as distinguish- 
ed Mr. Powis. 

Spain reaped the principal benefit of 
the treaty ; as, in addition to Minorca, 
she retained or acquired the two Flori- 
das : these advantages were however 
dearly purchased by her severe losses 
before Gibraltar, in men, money, and 
ships. Louis the Sixteenth, besides 
Goree and Senegal on the Coast of Af- 
rica, which possessions rendered him 
master of the gum trade ; recovered the 
islands, of St. Pierre and Miquelon, 
situate in the river St. Laurence. Pon- 
dicherry, together with the French fac- 
tories throughout Hindostan, were like- 
wise restored by us : but Holland in re- 
compense for her unwise, as well as un- 
just aggression lost Negapatam, her only 
settlement of importance on the coast of 
Coromandel. America triumphed in the 
contest; and the greatest statesmen whom 
England had produced, though they con- 
curred in scarcely any other political opi- 
nion, yet agreed on the point, that with 
the defalcation of the thirteen colonies 
from the crown, the glory and greatness 
of Britain were permanently extinguish- 
ed. This sentiment pervaded Lord 
(;)halham's last speech, pronounced on 
the 7ih of April, 1778. " I will never 
consent," exclaimed he, " to deprive 
the royal ofi"?pring of the House of 
Brunswic, the heirs of the Princess So- 
phia, of their fairest inheritance. Where 
is the man who will dare to advise such 
a measure?" He considered it as a 
(consummation pregnant with the great- 
est national misfortunes. Lord Shel- 
burne even surpassed him in expressions 
of despair, at contemplating the conse- 
quences inevitably resulting, as he con- 
ceived, from the loss of America. Not 
once, but many times, he repeated this 
sentiment, in the House of Peers, previ- 
ous, as well as subsequent to, his be- 
coming first minister. On the 10th of 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



367 



July, 1782, when constituted first lord 
of the treasury, he declared that " when- 
ever the British parliament should re- 
cognize the sovereignty of the thirteen 
colonies, the sun of England's glory was 
for ever set. — He loolied for a spark at 
least to be left, which might light us up 
in lime to a new diiy. But if indepen- 
dence were once conceded, if parliament 
consiiiered that measure to be advisable, 
he foresaw in his own mind that Eng- 
land was undone." It seemed impossi- 
ble to clothe his ideas of despair, in 
stronger or more energetic language. 
Lord George Germain entertained, as I 
know, similar apprehensions. Speaking 
in the House of Commons, on the 12th 
December, 1781, he maintained, as a 
position admitting of no doubt, that 
" from the instant when American inde- 
pendence should be acknowledged, the 
British empire was ruined." 1 heard 
Dunning make almost the same declara- 
tion, on that very night. Although he 
spoke and voted with opposition, yet he 
concurred with the colonial secretary in 
opinion, that the ruin of the country 
wouhl be accomplished, whenever Ame- 
rica should be recognized as independ- 
ent. Here we have four individuals, all 
distinguished by pre-eminent talents, 
denoumang national ruin, as inseparable 
from the loss of America. The same 
sentiment had impressed all classes of 
men throughout the country. How are we 
to account for the non-fulfilment of these 
predictions? How was the threatened 
calamity averted; and by what mea- 
sures was Great Britain, after losing thir- 
teen colonies, rendered more formidable, 
wealthy, commercial, and great, than 
before her misfortunes ? Three causes 
appear to me to have principally pro- 
duced so extraordinary a phenomenon, 
which has no parallel in the history of 
nations. 

The first and leading cause was, the 
preservation of liie British Constilulion. 
Lord North, thouorh he lost armies, com- 
mercial fleets, garrisons, islands, and 
provinces ; yet defended and preserved 
the palladium of civil liberty. He trans- 
mitted to Lord Rockingham, in March, 
1782, as he had received from the Duke 
of Grafton, in January, 1770, that invalu- 
able possession, inviolate. No minister 
of George the Third more highly esti- 



mated its blessings, or held its preserva- 
tion nearer his heart. When, on the 
21st of February, 1783, Sir Cecil VVray, 
then member for Westminster, accused 
him of blindly maintaining the preroga- 
tive of the crown on all occasions ; he 
justified himself, in language equally 
dignified and convincing, from the impu- 
tation. I was present, and heard him. 
" 1 do not know, nor can I conceive," 
said Lord North, " on what premises, 
the honorable member forms his logical 
conclusion. I certainly have frequently 
asserted, and I have uniformly main- 
tained, the prerogative oi parliament to 
bind and legislate for those colonies, 
which were then united to Great Britain, 
by every bond of duty and obedience. 
But I defy him, or any man, to specify 
a single instance in which I ever attri- 
buted to the crown, any other preroga- 
tive than is vested in it by our Constitu- 
tion ; or than a king of this country is 
acknowledged to possess by every sound 
Hhig, and by all those authors who 
have written on the side of freedom. I 
never difl, nor ever wished to extend the 
power of that branch of the legislature, 
one inch beyond the limits prescribed to 
it by law. And however loudly clamour 
has been raised against me, as a minister 
who desired to govern only by the influ- 
ence of the crown, I triist, the charge 
has been already found wholly untrue." 
Our obligations to him are great and in- 
delible : for never perhaps did any 
minister surmount more severe attacks 
than he endured. The losses and dis- 
graces of the American war, followed by 
heavy annual loans, gave rise to meet- 
ings and associations, whose professed 
object was not only a change of adminis- 
tration, but to efl'ect reforms and altera- 
tions in the parliamentary representation. 
These convocations of freeholders, which 
began in the county of York, towards 
the end of 1779, soon spread over the 
kingdom, and were adopted in the capital, 
at an early period of the year 1780. 

Their resolutions, patriotic in profes- 
sion, and perhaps in their intention, 
were not the less revolulionarj' in prac- 
tice. Like the clubs at Paris in 1790, 
they immediately appointed correspond- 
ing committees, whose duty it was to 
prepare plans of association for amelio- 
rating the Constitution. Men of the 



368 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



highest rank, of the largest property, and 
of llie most unsullied character, carried 
along by the torrent, and impatient to 
overturn the ministry, lent themselves to 
the accomplishment of this work. As 
early as February, 1780, Sir George Sa- 
vile, when presenting in the House of 
Commons, the York petition, accompa- 
nied it with language such as Ireton or 
Fleetwood might have used, when ad- 
dressing the rump parliament in 1652 : 
Language calculated to intimidate, and 
appealing obviously to external inter- 
ference. These menaces were outdone 
by Sir James Lowther, in April of the 
same year, on bringing up the petition 
from Cumberland. He, whom "Junius" 
denominates " the little contemptible 
tyrant of the north," threatened in his 
place, that if " the grievances enume- 
rated were not redressed, the subscribers 
would withhold the taxes ;" thus atteinpi- 
ing to overawe the legislative body 
whom he addressed. Fox, as mig4u 
well be imagined, far exceeded his adhe- 
rents, in the violencre of his appeal to 
the people. On the 6th of April, 1780, 
the corresponding committee having 
convened the inhabitants of Westminster, 
in Palace Yard, Fox read, and commented 
on the report presented by that com- 
mittee ; while the Dukes of Devonshire 
and of Portland were present at his side : 
but the Marquis of Rockingham absented 
himself. Government having very pro- 
perly ordered out a body of the military 
force, for the protection of parliament, 
and suppression of tumult or violence ; 
Fox proceeded so far as to declare in 
the House of Commons, that " if soldiers 
were thus let loose on the constitutional 
assemblages of the people, all who at- 
tended them must go armed." The 
Cardinal de Retz, when conducting the 
Parisian populace, and attempting to 
overlurti the first minister of that day, 
held and practised precisely the same 
doctrine. So would Mirabeau have done 
in our time ; or Sir Francis Burdett, and 
Home Tooke. 

Even previous to the actual commence- 
ment of the American war, as early as 
1774, attempts were made by the ene- 
mies of government, to excite the ship- 
wrights and other artificers in the royal 
dock yjirds, to associate, to remonstrote, 
and in fact to assume a deliberative pub- 



lic character. I was present in the' 
House of Commons, when Sir Hugh 
Palliser related and detailed this curious 
fact, respecting which, no man could 
speak with more accuracy, as he presided 
at the navy board when the transaction 
took place. Mr. Minchin, member for 
Oakhampton, a gentleman whom I very 
particularly knew, having brought for- 
ward a discussion relative to the condi- 
tion of the navy, in the month of March, 
1781, with a view to criminate Lord 
Sandwich, then first lord of the admiral- 
ty ; Sir Hugh, in justification of that 
nobleman, stated broadly, that " the 
enemies of the country had found means 
to frustrate his plans for regulating the 
dock yards, on new principles of great 
public utility." In fact, the workmen 
were secretly instigated to insubordina- 
tion. " Associations,'''' Palliser de- 
clared, " were formed among them. 
Remonstrances, clothed under the name 
of petitions, were transmitted to the navy 
board ; committees were appointed. 
Nay, deputies or delegates were sent up 
to London, empowered by their consti- 
tuents to treat with the commissioners of 
the navy, in the nature of a Congress.''^ 
Notwithstanding the laughter which the 
word Congress produced from both 
sides of the assembly, when it was pro- 
nounced ; yet Burke, anxious to efface 
the impression made by the narrative of 
Palliser, endeavoured to render it ridicu- 
lous ; and justified parlicidarly the as- 
sociations formed, as well as the petitions 
presented ; which were, he said, intended 
for preventing the lavish expenditure of 
tiie public money. But Bamber Gas- 
coyne instantly stood forward to protect 
his friend, Sir Hugh. Gascoyne, with 
whom I was well acquainted, represented 
at that lime the borough of Truro, and 
had besides a seat at the admiralty board. 
He possessed a clear and sound under- 
standing, with a most convivial disposi- 
tion ; though not a very cultivated mind, 
nor highly polished manners. Rough, 
frank, and manly, he was not intimidated 
by Burke's eloquence. In terms the 
most positive, he confirmed Palliser's 
account of the delegates ; adding, that 
" the whole mischief was ellected by 
the enemies of England, whether foreign 
or domestic, he would not assert; who 
stimulated the inferior orders of people 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



369 



to associate, to form committees of cor- 
respondence, and to throw the nation 
into a ferment." Indignant at such a 
charge, which involved himself and all 
the opposition leaders, in the gnilt of 
acts approaching to treason, Burke, 
starting up, called Mr. Gascoyne to 
order : hut he, appealing to the chair 
against the interrupiion, Hiirke, scarcely 
under the dominion of reason, exclaimed, 
that " if the honorable gentleman pro- 
ceeded any further, in accusing that side 
of the house with such nefarious pro- 
ceedings, he would move to have the 
words taken down." Far from being 
terrified at this menace, or affected by 
the cries uttered from the opposition 
benches, of" Take down ! Take down !" 
Gascoyne, with perfect calmness assured 
the house, that no clamour would deter 
him from performing his duty. He then 
repeated verbatim his preceding words ; 
declaring, that if any gentleman now 
wished to have them taken down, he 
would assist him by pronouncing them 
distinctly a third time. But not an in- 
dividual rose, and Gascoyne was per- 
mitted to continue his speech without 
further molestation. Yet Fox was pre- 
sent at this scene, the particulars of 
which I relate as they passed under my 
own eyes. 

How subversive of the Constitution, 
and how destructive of all subordination 
to government, were Fox's avowed 
opinions, while he was in opposition, 
on the right of the people to appoint i 
delegates, and tliereby to dictate their | 
pleasure to parliament; was apparent: 
from his speeches or declarations on \ 
various occasions. I recollect one in j 
particular, that I witnessed, the impres-i 
sion of which will not easily be erased 
from my mind. On the 2d of April, f 
1781, Mr. Buncombe, one of the two j 
representatives for the county of York, \ 
having, in the absence of Sir George \ 
Savile, presented a petition to the House | 
of Commons, from several associated 
counties, signed by certain freeholders, 
whom he denominated deles^ates ; Daniel 
Parker Coke (the Andrew Marvel of 
that time), strenuously opposed its re- 
ception. He approved indeed highly, 
he said, the object of the petition, and 
would support it: but not the nomina- ' 
tion of delegates, whom he considered to i 



be altogether unconstitutional, as well as 
dangerous. In this sentiment he was 
sustained by Powis, member for the 
county of Northampton. Dunning, on 
the other hand, whose law always ap- 
peared to me to be under the control of 
h\s politics ; and who did not then fore- 
see how soon he should be translated to 
the upper house of parliament, as well as 
to a place in the cabinet, and to the 
chancellorship of the Duchy of Lant-as- 
ter ; i^ndertook to defend the legal or 
constitutional right of the subject to no- 
minate delegates. But Fox rising in 
his place, far exceeded him in boldness 
of affirmation, and in violence of lan- 
guage. " I will not sit here, Mr. Speak- 
er," exclaimed he, " and hear the asser- 
tion, that it is unconstitutional or illegal 
to appoint delegates ; or that those dele- 
gates so named, should petition parlia- 
ment. I consider it, on the contrary, 
not merely as a correct and authorized, 
but as a laudable measure, in the present 
condition and circumstances of this coun- 
try. By what law is it declared to be 
unconstitutional, for the people of Eng- 
land to name delegates who shall reside 
in London, and watch over the conduct 
of their representatives? And who 
shall presume to impede those delegates 
so constituted, from petitioning parlia- 
ment in loyal and respectful terms? 
Do they lose the privilege of a freehol- 
der, because they assume the title of a 
delegate? — Certainly not. I should 
have been ready to sign the petition now 
brought up, in my delegated capacity ; 
and I would have defended it in my re- 
presentative character, within the walls 
of this house, as a faithful representative 
of the people." Whether such opi- 
nions are patriotic, or factious ; whether 
they can be maintained and acted upon, 
without inevitably producing confusion ; 
whether any man can assume two public 
characters of a political description, the 
duties of which may be incompatible and 
contradictory; — are questions which 
must be left to every person's decision. 
These principles appear to me to be, not 
merely democratic or republican, but 
subversive of all good government: fit 
only for the jacobins of France in the 
beginning of the revolution ; or for the 
modern reformers, the JVutsons, the 
Thistlewoods, the Brandreths, and the 



370 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



other advocates of insurrection, who wish 
to overturn the present order of things. 
Fox, indeed, was wholly guiltless, I am 
persuaded, of any such inienlion. His 
only aim was, by means of this scafibld- 
ing, to drive Lord North from power, to 
force his own way into the closet, and to 
compel the king to change his adminis- 
tration. But, his ambition, like that of 
Pitt, was not under the control of judg- 
ment, self-command, and moderation. 
George the Third very properly availed 
himself of Fox's errors, to expel him 
from ihe cabinet, which he twice entered 
by storm. 

Nor were these delegates the only ad- 
versaries with whom Lord North had to 
contend, whendefendingthe Constitution. 
" The coldest bodies," says Junius, 
" warm with opposition ; the hardest 
sparkle in collision." Burke, who, ten 
years later, drew forth his powerful ar- 
tillery in defence of monarchy, lent him- 
self too much, at this period of his poli- 
tical life, it must reluctantly be owned, 
to the machinations of party. Many of 
his parliamentary speeches between 
1779 and 1782, breathe the spirit of fac- 
tion, blended with intemperance of lan- 
guage, sometimes descending even to in- 
vective. Dunning, though brought up to 
the bar, and possessed of an ample for- 
tune acquired by his profession, yet 
levelled a vital blow at the Constitution 
of his country, when, on the 24th of 
April, 1780, he moved in the House of 
Commons, " not to dissolve parliament, 
or to prorogue the session, till proper 
measures should be adopted for dimi- 
nishing the influence of the crown, and 
correcting the other evils complained of 
in the petitions." Algernon Sydney, or 
General Ludlow, the most determined 
republicans of the seventeenth century, 
could not have made a proposition more 
subversive in its results of monarchical 
government. It is obvious that if such 
a resolution had passed, the king would 
have stood in the situation of Charles the 
First in 1641 : as the parliament would 
have been placed in the very position of 
the House of Commons, at that awful 
period of our history. Happily, Dun- 
ning's motion was rejected by a majority 
of fifty-one votes, in a very full house. 
Fox, irritated to the most violent degree 
at the subversion of his hopes to drive 



Lord North from power, attributed his 
disappointment to the operation of minis- 
terial corruption among the members 
who voted on the occasion. It unques- 
tionably resulted, however, from the 
alarm excited among the moderate, in- 
dependent part of the assembly, who de- 
sired, indeed, to limit and to reform, but 
not to annihilate the power of the crown. 
No man can doubt, that if the preroga- 
tive of prorogation and of dissolution had 
been taken from the sovereign, till every 
alleged grievance had been redressed, 
the Constitution must have been from 
that moment subverted ; and a renewal 
of the calamities of Charles the First's 
reign must almost inevitably have fol- 
lowed. To Lord North, therefore, sus- 
tained by the king's firmness of charac- 
ter, we owe our preservation from all 
the evils of a republican, if not a revolu- 
tionary form of government. Since 
1688, down to the year 1792, when we 
were menaced with the siill greater hor- 
rors of French fraternisation, it may be 
safely asserted that the British Constitu- 
tion never incurred so imminent a dan- 
ger of subversion as in 1780. 

To Mr. Pitt we are indebted for the 
second leading cause or principle of our 
national resuscitation and recovery, after 
losing America. His institution of the 
sinking fund of a million sterling, in the 
spring of 1786, by its beneficial opera- 
tion on the public credit, commerce, and 
finances, might be said to revivify the 
state, and still continues to dispense with 
augmenting powers its salutary influence. 
The third source of our prosperity came 
from the east, where, without a meta- 
phor, the sun of Britain rose, as it set 
in the west. Since 1783, our acquisi- 
tions and possessions in that portion of 
the globe have been perpetually in a 
slate of progression. All our losses on 
the Delaware and on the Chesapeake, 
have been more than compensated by 
our conquests on the Ganges, or on the 
coasts of Coromaudel and Malabar. 
The augmentations of territory in Oude, 
as well as in Corah and Dooab, inclu- 
ding Delhi itself, the metropolis of the 
Mogul princes ; the seizure of the Car- 
natic ; the dissolution of the Mysore 
monarchy in the person of Tippoo Sul- 
tan ; the reduction of Ceylon, of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and of the Island 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



^7! 

173 



of Mauritius, not to mention many in- 
ferior objects of attention : these prodi- 
gious accumulations ofcommerce, power, 
and vvealili, have obliterated almost the 
recollections of the American struggle, 
and have closed all the wounds caused 
by that unfortunate war. An annual 
revenue of more than fifteen millions 
sterling, raised in India, payable, not in 
paper, but in specie ; together with the 
trade of the east continually poured into 
our harbours, have enabled us, after con- 
tending for nearly twenty years with the 
power of France, successively wielded 
by Robespierre and by Bonaparte, to ter- 
minate the conflict in the most triumphant 
manner. I return to the progress of 
public affairs. 

However readily I admit that the 
treaty of 1783 may be entitled to national 
approval, yet the members of that ad- 
ministration, at the head of which Lord 
North had so long presided, might, 
nevertheless, be fully justified in se- 
verely arraigning a peace, which relin- 
quished to America almost every point 
or object, for the maintenance of 
which they had contended from 1775, 
down to 1782, They might justly feel 
indignant at the dereliction of the loyal- 
ists ; at the evacuation of New York 
and Charles Town; and at the sacrifice 
of immense tracts of territory, extending 
through near twenty degrees of latitude, 
and as many of longitude ; including In- 
dian nations our allies, and containing in- 
calculable commercial advantages. When 
Lord Sackville and Lord Stormont, in 
the House of Peers, compared such a 
treaty with past periods of our history ; 
when they accused the ministry of doing 
acts more culpable, than even Lord Ox- 
ford and Lord Bolingbroke had commit- 
ted at Utrecht: they might at least be 
considered as speaking with consistency, 
and in conformity to their avowed prin- 
ciples. But I own that it seems more 
difficult to conceive, and to explain, 
upon what ground Fox could justly re 
probate such preliminaries. He had 
loudly and repeatedly declaimed, for 
successive years, on the indispensable 
necessity of obtaining almost any peace, 
however comparatively bad it might be, 
as imperiously demanded by the fallen 
condition of Great Britain. 

I perfectly remember, as early as the 



beginning of the month of March, 1781, 
when during a debate relative to the 
loan concluded by Lord North, the pros- 
pect of peace being incidently mentioned 
as a probable event. Fox eagerly seized 
the occasion to declare that " he was 
ready to support almost any terms that 
the enemy would offer for a general 
peace : meaning thereby to include 
France, Spain, and Holland, as well as 
America." He added, " that while the 
national concerns were conducted by the 
ministers of that period, no peace could 
be bad." Yet he declaimed, if possible, 
with more vehemence and asperity 
against the Earl of Shelburne, than he 
had done against Lord North. He, who 
considering the Americans as originally 
justified in resisting the mother country, 
had often undertaken tJieir defence in 
the House of Commons; while he al- 
ways stigmatized the loyalists with 
every opprobrious or contemptuous epi- 
thet. He, whom I had myself heard 
declare from the same side of the houi-e, 
not twelve months before, on the 5th 
day of March, 1783, that " whenever he 
should enter into any terms with an in- 
dividual of Lord North's cabinet, he 
would rest satisfied to be called the 
most infamous of mankind." Adding, 
that " he never could nourish the idea of 
coalescing with ministers, who had 
proved themselves devoid of honour and 
honesty ; as, in the hands of such men, 
he would not for a moment entrust his 
own honour." To varnish over, there- 
fore, so complete a change of language, 
sentiments, and system, required all 
those talents, that bold eloquence, and 
disregard of, or superiority to public 
opinion, which met in him,. I never 
indeed regarded him as animated by any 
oilier motives, in his opposition to the 
peace of 1783, than ambition and desire 
of power. Personally odious to the 
king, as he well knew himself to be, on 
account of his private irregularities, not 
less than from the line of political action 
which he had embraced during mapy 
years ; he beheld no mode or chance 
of speedily entering the cal)inet, 
except by uniting at once with Lord 
North. Those persons who think that 
abilities such as his, ought not to have 
been lost to his country, or excluded from 
the councils of the crown ; will however 



372 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



jtee cause probably, to justify in some 
degree, his sacrifice of political principle, 
to an over-ruling necessity. But it be- 
came apparent by the events that soon 
followed the coalition of 1783, how dif- 
ferent a sentence the majority of the na- 
tion passed on that memorable union. 
The people beheld in it, a complete re- 
nunciation of every object for which Fox 
had affected to contend ; and they re- 
garded, not merely with inditTerence, 
but with satisfaction, his subsequent ex- 
pulsion from office. 

Lord North's junction with the party 
which had so long opposed him, has 
always appeared to me to admit of much 
more palliation in every point of view, 
than the conduct of Fox and his adhe- 
rents. The former nobleman, by no 
means in ver^ affluent circumstances, 
encumbered with a numerous family, 
saw himself proscribed and excluded 
from the cabinet, for having unsuccess- 
fully maintained the prerogative of the 
crown, and the supremacy of parliament 
against the American insurgents. In this 
situation, unprotected by the sovereign, 
who was unable to extend any assistance 
to him; and unpopular with the nation, 
because he had been unsuccessful ; Fox 
opened his arms, and offered him an al- 
liance. Was he bound to reject it, and 
thus pass a sentence of political ex- 
clusion on himself? But even if he had 
so done, worse evils presented them- 
selves in prospect. A union between 
Fox and Pitt, if it had taken place, 
would have eventually produced, in all 
probability, his own impeachment, and 
that of oilier members of his cabinet. 
Nor could he have found any effectual 
security from such a prosecution, either 
in the royal authority, in the adherence 
of the House of Commons, or in the 
affection of the country. He might have 
been made the victim and the sacrifice 
for the loss of em[)ire : for the disgraces, 
defeats, capitulations, and ruinous ex- 
penditure, of an unfortunate war. Fox 
and Burke had a hundred times menaced 
him with the block. Pitt, who, it was 
evident, entertained smiilar opinions re- 
specting his administration, did not at all 
conceal them. 

Powis, when declaiming against the 
coalition recently made between Lord 
North and Fox, on the 21st of Fe- 



bruary, observed, that •♦ to the ill-timed 
lenity of Lord Shelburne's administra- 
tion, it could alone be imputed, that the 
noble lord in the blue ribband enjoyed 
his present situation of impunity. For, 
if those inquiries which had once been 
in contemplation, had been carried into 
effect, the House of Commons would 
not have witnessed on the present occa- 
sion, the extraordinary and unnatural 
alliance formed against ministers." Sir 
Edward Asiley, one of the representa- 
tives for the county of Norfolk, who, 
though a man of no shining ability, 
justly excited respect as a country gen- 
tleman, expressed similar opinions on 
the same night. So did other members 
of the house, upon various occasions. 
Sir Charles Turner, in his homely 
Yorkshire dialect, exclaimed, " The 
noble lord in the blue ribband is the 
author of all our misfortunes ! If he 
and his colleagues had been impeached, 
as it was the duly of this house to have 
done, other ministers would have been 
deterred from treading in thieir steps. 
But now they see that delinquency forms 
the high road to preferment, and if any 
man of talents within these walls, will 
sell his conscience, I will ensure him a 
peerage. The commission of political 
crimes leads infallibly to titles, pen- 
sions, and ribbands. By accepting the 
overtures of the Rockingham party, 
Lord North therefore at least secured 
his personal safely, and opened to him- 
self an avenue to the resumption of 
power. It was not. as I have always 
thought, the act of uniting with Fox, 
that in itself disgraced him ; but the too 
ready subserviency with which he after- ' 
wards lent himself to every measure, 
which that enterprising and ambitious 
statesman, having again forced his way 
into the cabinet, thought it necessary to 
adopt, in order to maintain himself in a 
situation, which he had attained in con- 
tradiction to the wishes of his sovereign. 
[2ist February.] The victory ob- 
tained by the new coalition, over mi- 
nisters, in the House of Commons, 
however flattering it might be to their 
hopes, yet being by no means decisive ; 
and the peace having been approved 
in the upper house though only by a 
small majority of thirteen ; — in order 
to compel Lord Shelburne's resignation, 



i 



Historical MEMoms. 



373 



il became necessary to express in more 
affirmative language, a parliamentary 
•disapprobation of the preliminaries. 
For this purpose, four days after the 
first debate, a second discussion took 
place, when a motion or resolution to 
ihe effect above mentioned, was brought 
forward ; Lord John Cavendish lending 
himself again to introduce the business. 
It was indeed a service of some danger 
and delicacy, requiring all the reputation 
which that nobleman enjoyed for politi- 
cal rectitude, to protect his friends 
from the imputations excited by the 
coalition. Mr. Secretary 'I'ownsend, 
in the course of the debate that ensued, 
paid many compliments to Lord John's 
candour and honesty of intention, at the 
expense of his understanding, or rather, 
of his linnness. " I have," observed 
he, " the most implicit reliance on the 
integrity and honour of that noble per- 
son ; who, from the dictates of his own 
generous mind, would not act uncandid- 
ly by any administration : but he may 
be led aside, in consequence of the re- 
spect winch he entertains for others, who 
know how to choose their man, when- 
ever they want any business to be effect' 
ed, which is not evidently right in itself. 
I am perfectly convinced that my noble 
friend is not the author of the resolutions 
that he has proposed; and if ministers 
were to be judged by his head and 
heart, I should not fear to make the 
treaties just concluded, appear to him a 
real blessing to this country." Lord 
John endeavoured to justify the recent 
coalition, against the severe animadver- 
sions of Powis, and of other members j 
who had generally voted with the Rock- ; 
ingham party; by comparing Fox's j 
union with Lord North, to the adminis- 1 
traiion formed in June, 1757, when the i 



Fox's speech, though it displayed ad- 
mirable ability, as well as prodigious 
information, embracing all the great in- 
terests and possessions of the empire, 
commercial or political, in its range ; 
yet wanted, as 1 thought, that triumph- 
antspirit which commonly animated and 
characterized his eloquence. He, no 
doubt, anticipated the event of the even- 
ing, as almost certain; and consequently 
beheld before him, the way open into 
the cabinet. But he had sacrificed, if 
not public principle, at least, public 
opinion, to gratify his ambition. When 
he looked round him, many vacancies 
were visible on the opposition benches ; 
where, in place of his former friends, he 
now saw only the adherents of Lord 
North, so lately his bitterest adversaries. 
He was unquestionably sensible to the 
circumstance, and he laboured hard to 
erase the unfavourable impression, which 
he well knew, his junction with a noble- 
man whom he had so lately reprobated, 
must excite in every mind divested of 
party feelings. — *' 1 believe,"' said he, 
" that there is scarcely an individual 
within these walls, who would give to 
the present first minister, his free and 
spontaneous support. Has he not made 
in every quarter of the globe, conces- 
sions the most important, without even 
a pretence of any equivalent ? Then 
let not my coalition with the noble lord 
near me, be considered as resulting in 
any degree from the res angusta doini. 
Such a motive never can inlluence men 
of integrity. Nor let it be asserted that 
such a junction against a minister, is un- 
consliuiiional. For, while we admit in 
the most extended sense, the king's pre- 
rogative of ministerial appomimeni, the 
people can by their privilege annul the 
nomination. It is onlv a coalition, that 



first Mr. Pitt coalesced with the Duke i can repair the decayed system of admi- 
of Newcastle, whom he had during ! nistration, and give il the lone of vigorous 
many years opposed and reprobated, i exertiim. By it we shall reijain ilie lost 
But however analogous in many re- 1 confidence of the nation, and give effect 
spects thai transaction might be, yet ill to the springs of government. The ob- 
certainly failed in carrying the moral i noxious part of the cabinet mu-it recede 
conviction to the minds of his hearers, I from the presence of the sovereign. Ue 
which Lord John aspired to produce by ^ possesses neither the sanction of the 



his comparison. 

The peace was again attacked and de- 
fended on its own proper merits, at great 
length, will equal ingenuity, asperity, 
and profound knowledge of the subject. 
32 



people, nor of parliament." Such was 
Fox's language on that memorable night. 
Those who heard Mr. Pitt address ttie 
house on the same evening, cannot easily 
forget the impression made upon his audi- 



374 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ence, by a speech which might be said 
to unite all the powers of argument, elo- 
quence, and impassioned declamation. 
He seemed to fight, indeed, as Caesar 
did at Munda, not merely for empire, or 
for power; but for life. After defending 
article by article, the treaties concluded ; 
he finished by deprecating " the ill- 
omened and baneful alliance" which 
had just taken place between Lord North 
and Fox, as teeming with pernicious 
efi'ects of every kind to the country. 
Then reverting to the consequences 
which it might produce personally to 
himi^elf, he professed his readiness to 
retire to a private station without regret. 
Alluding to so material an impending 
change \n his own condition, he ex- 
claimed, 

" Fortuna saevo Iseta negotio, et 
Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax, 
Transmutat incertas honoics, 
JNunc niihi, nunc alii benigna. 
Laudo manentem : si celeres quatit 
Pennas, resigno qu® dedit." 

With a presence of mind which never 
forsook him, he here paused ; and, con- 
scious that the words of the Roman 
poet immediately following, " et men 
virtute me invoivo,'^ might seem to im- 
ply a higher idea of his own merit or 
disinterestedness, than it would become 
him to avow, he cast his eyes on the 
floor. A moment or two of silence 
elapsed while all attention was directed 
towards him from every quarter of the 
house. During this interval, he slowly 
drew his handkerchief from his pocket ; 
passed it once or twice across his lips ; 
and then recovering as it were from his 
temporary embarrassment, he added with 
emphasis, striking his hand on the table, 

■ probamque 



Pauperiem sine dote qasero." 

Perhaps a more masterly and beauti- 
fulpiece of oratorical acting, is not to be 
found in antiquity. Even if we suppose 
the whole passage to have been studied 
and prepared, yet the delicacy of the omis- 
sion is not less admirable. I believe, 
however, tliat both the lines which he 
cited, and the one which he suppressed, 
were all equally suggested to him by his 
feelings and his judgment at the time. 



Its effect on that part of the house which 
perfectly understood it, corresponded to 
its merit. But Mr. Pitt, who well knew 
how large a pari of his audience, espe- 
cially among the country gentlemen, 
were little conversant in the writings of 
the Augustan age, or familiar with Ho- 
race, always displayed great caution in 
borrowing from those classic sources. In 
the lapse of near fourteen years that I 
have heard him almost daily address the 
House of Commons, I question if he 
made in all, more than eight or ten cita- 
tions. Fox and Sheridan, though not 
equally severe in that respect, yet never 
abused, or injudiciously expended the 
stores of ancient literature that they pos- 
sessed. Burke's enthusiasm, his ex- 
haustless memory, and luxuriant imagi- 
nation, more frequently earned him 
away into the times of Virgil and Cicero : 
while Barre usually condescended, 
whenever he quoted Latin, to translate 
for the benefit of the county members. 

I have already said that tlie chancellor 
of the exchequer excited admiration by 
his speech in defence of the peace. 
There was indeed, throughout the whole 
of that most eloquent address, a pathos, an 
emotion, and an anmialion, of which, even 
in hitn, I hardly ever witnessed any simi- 
lar exhibition, while I sale in parliament. 
If Lord Shelburne's ministry could have 
been propped or preserved, ii must have 
been upheld by such a man, and by such 
exertions. Over Fox and Lord JNorth, 
Pitt seemed to assume a moral superior- 
ity ; and, if I may so express myself, to 
look down upon them from the eminence 
on which he stood : — not the eminence 
of power or of office, but of conscious 
rectitude, untainted with party spirit, and 
disdaining to sacrifice principle for place ; 
i while he beheld thern floundering in the 
I mire of ambition. Addressing himself 
to Fox, at the commencement of his 
I speech, " The trium[)hs of party," ex- 
I claimed he, " with which the right ho- 
norable gentleman seems so liighiy elate, 
shall never seduce vie to commit any 
act, which even suspicion can condemn. 
/ will never engage in political enmities, 
without a public cause. / never will 
forego such enmities, without the public 
approbation. Nor will / ever be ques- 
tioned and cast off in the face of this 
assembly, by one virtuous and dis- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



375 



satisfied friend. These, the permanent 
triumphs of reason and princi[)le, 
over the profligate inconsistencies of 
party violence; these, the triumphs of 
virtue over success itself, shall not only 
be mine on the present occasion, but 
throughout every future condition of my 
life." 

The coalition, though supported by 
superiority of numbers, and conducted 
by extraordinary talents, as well as ener- 
gies; shrunk, as I thought, under the 
castigation thus inflicted, to which Fox 
made no reply. After having depictured 
in a masterly manner, not less lucid and 
distinct, though less verbose than Fox ; 
the fallen slate of the British empire and 
of its resources, at the beginningof 1783 ; 
he alluded with surprising delicacy 
and beauty, to its widely diflerent posi- 
tion in 1763, when the great Earl of 
Chatham, his father, had placed it on the 
summit of national glory. Could his 
majesty's present ministers," said he, 
" thus surrounded, as we are, with scenes 
of calamity, attempt to dictate terms of 
pacification to the confederate powers? 
— Even the Dulch had not been disarm- 
ed or conciliated by the humiliating lan- 
guage of the late foreign secretary. 
Should we have persevered from day to 
day, in throwing the desperate die? 
Can the articles of peace now accepted, 
sufTer in any serious comparison with 
the treaty of Paris ? — There was, in- 
deed, a time, when this country might 
have dictated conditions to her enemies ! 
And if an imagination, warmed witli the 
power and prosperity of Great Britain, 
could have diverted any member of the 
present cabinet, from a painful percep- 
tion of the truth, I may, I hope, without 
presumption, have been entitled to that 
indulgence. I well recollect how much 
my childhood was animated by the reci- 
tal of England's victories. I was in- 
structed by one, whose memory I must 
ever cherish and revere, that at the ter- 
mination of a contest, widely different 
from the present, we had prescribed the 
terms of, peace to submissive nations. 
This was the aera of our splendour ; in 
contemplating which I may be allowed 
to feel a more than common interest. 
But that aera is fled ! We are now 
under the mortifying necessity of adopt- 
ing a tone and language corresponding 



with our altered condition. All the vi- 
sions of our power and pre-eminence 
have passed away." 

Nobla and affecting as was this pic- 
ture, drawn by such a hand, and on such 
an occasion ; I am not sure whether 
it was not outdone by other passages, 
in the course of the same evening. His 
two portraits, of Lord Shelburne. and of 
Lord North, liiough I may not altogether 
admit their truth in every particular, were 
master-pieces of talent. " From the 
complexion of this evening's debate," 
observed Pitt, " it appears obvious that 
the motions originate, rather in the 
desire of driving the Earl of Shelburne 
from the treasury, than in any convic- 
tion that ministers merit censure for the 
concessions made in order to obtain 
peace. Concessions arising from an in- 
s\irmountable necessity, and imputable 
solely to the cabinet of which the noble 
lord in the blue ribband was the head. 
The minister who now presides in the 
councils of the crown, like every other 
individual eminent for ability, and placed 
in high office, becomes naturally an ob- 
ject of envy. The obloquy, to which 
his capacity and his elevation subject 
him, has been created and circulated 
with equal meanness and address : but 
his merits are as much above my en- 
comiums, as the arts to which he owes 
his defamation are beneath my notice. 
When, bereft of power, he descends 
into life, without the invidious appen- 
dages of place ; mankind will view him 
through a different medium, and perceive 
in him qualities richly entitling him to 
their esteem." — " My particular share 
of the censure pointed against ministers, 
I will support with fortitude, because I 
have not acted wrong. My own heart, 
a monitor which never yet did, and I 
trust, never will deceive me, constitutes 
my asylum against clamour and faction. 
I felt no extraordinary eagerness to come 
in, and I shall experience no reluctance 
to go out, whenever the public may 
think proper to dismiss me from their 
service." — "I repeat, that whatever 
may appear humiliating or inadequate, 
in the treaties now laid upon the table, is 
exclusively and wholly chargeable to the 
noble lord in the blue ribband. His pro- 
fusion of the public money, his notori- 
ous temerity and pertinacity in prosecu- 



376 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ling ihe war for reducing America to 
submission ; — a contest wliich origina- 
ted ill iiis pernicious and oppressive 
policy ; when added to his utter inability 
for filling the station which he occupied ; 
— these circumstances have rendered 
peace, almost of any description, indis- 
pensable for the extrication of the state." 
I will fairly confess, that though I voted 
against ministers on that night, yet Mr. 
Pitt never appeared in my eyes, an ob- 
ject of more just admiration, than when 
on the point of laying down his power. 
Such, I believe, to have been the senti- 
ment universally felt, not less by his op- 
ponents, than by his supporters. 

While however I do him this justice. 



in capacity must have been my officia? 
conduct, I trust it will be admitted that 
I never wanted zeal to promote the true 
interests of my country, according to my 
conception of them. And notwithstand- 
ing the asperity with which he frequent- 
ly treated me, as well as my measures, 
I do not recollect his ever charging me 
with the direct want of integrity. I 
know his temper to be warm ; but he is 
of a generous nature, open, sincere, and 
manly. While 1 admire the vast extent 
of his mind, I can rely with security, on 
the goodness of his heart. And our 
principles, which were adverse, being 
now congenial, we shall unite all our 
energies in the cause of Great Britain."' 



I cannot pass over in silence the part We must admit that a more eloquent 
which Lord North performed, on an occa- , and able defence of the coalition^ could 
sion whichdemandedall hisexertions. He I not have been pronounced. The pub- 
rose soon after Pitt concluded, and rarely I lie, nevertheless, viewed it through 
have I witnessed, even from him, an ex- { other optics, and considered it as a mu- 
hibilion of greater talent. " The last I tual sacrifice of political principle, 
speaker," observed he, " whose amaz- | A minority o^ seventeen, \n which the 



ing eloquence has so deeply impressed 
and affecied every person in this au- 
dience, does me the honour to select me 
as the object of his thunder. And it 
constitutes no slender presumption of 
my innocence, that I have heard him 
thunder without experiencing any dis- 
may. I have even listened to his 
thunder, with equal astonishment and 
delight. But I call on him, and on 
every individual who hears me, to attest 
my declaration, that I have never aban- 
doned in a single instance, my charac- 
ter, my connections, or my political 
principles. I have been, and I am 
ready to meet, without subterfuge or 
evasion, the most scrupulous inquiry 
into every action of my life. I am 
ready, even at this instant, to stand 
forth, and to bid defiance to every spe- 
cies of investigation. Conscious of my 
rectitude of intention, I labour under no 
apprehension, either of incurring cen- 
sure, or of deserving punishment." 
Then alluding to his junction with Fox, 
after having spoken of his abilities, in 
terms of the warmest panegyric. Lord 
North added, " it is true that during 
my administration, when I was vilified 
and abused, as every unfortunate mi- 
nister must be, he often ran me hard, 
and made me the object of his severe 
animadversioji.. Rut h,owever deficient 



ministry remained at the close of the 
debate, which took place at a very late 
hour, and in a very crowded House of 
Commons, where near four hundred 
members voted ; seemed to secure the 
triumph of the coalition. Yet as no di- 
rect censure had hitherto been passed 
upon the administration ; and as the 
condemnation expressed relative to the 
peace, was couched in very moderate 
terms ; simply slating that " the conces- 
sions made, were greater than our adver- 
saries were entitled to demand ;" it did 
not by any means follow, that a change 
in the government would take place. 
Lord North himself had sufficiently de- 
monstrated, during the two sessions of 
1779 and 1780, how little eflfect a ma- 
jority had, in compelling him to retire 
from office: and the political, if not 
moral disapprobation, felt at the recent 
junction of two men who had so long 
condemned and reprobated each other, 
pervaded to a certain degree, all ranks. 
Of this mortifying fact, Fox very early 
received the most unequivocal proofs, 
Powis had commented, on it v'ith great 
acrimony. Sir Cecil Wray, Fox's col- 
league for Westminster, rising in his 
place, during the debate which we have 
just reviewed ; exclaimed, " 1 am told 
that a coalition has taken place with that 
ministry, to vyhose rpal.-adrn.i,nislrati,otj, is, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



377 



alone imputable the distressed condition 
of the country, which render necessary 
the present peace. What opinion may 
be entertained by other gentlemen, I 
know not : but for my own part, I 
solemnly declare, I never will support 
an administration so composed, nor any 
administration, of which Lord North 
forms a part." Mr. Buncombe, one of 
the two representatives of the county of 
York, expressed himself, if possible, in 
stronger language, only three days after 
the debate of the 21st of February. 
Having presented a petition to the house 
from near ten thousand freeholders of 
Yorkshire, demanding a more equal re- 
presentation in parliament ; he took oc- 
casion to say, that " it would be with 
reluctance, he should support any admi- 
nistration, of which Lord North was a 
member." Burke, no doubt thinking to 
efface the impression, instantly stood 
up, and remarked with some asperity, 
that "as to parliamentary support, it 
ought neither to be given, nor to be 
withheld, on account of men, but of 
measures." " Adding, " the honorable 
gentleman appears to be of a different 
sentiment, as he informs us, he will 
consider men and not measures." Dun- 
combe, however, not intimidated by the 
correction, observed, that " he might 
have expressed himself incorrectly in 
making use of the term reluctance.'" 
"I will, therefore," continued he, 
" amend it, and declare that I never will 
lend my support to such an administra- 
tion. In thus speaking of the noble 
lord, I vvisli to have it understood, that I 
have in view, the measures, as weU as 
the man ; for, from his past measures, I 
appreciate the man." 

Mr. Walter Stanhope, then member 
for Hull, retorted on Burke for his ver- 
satility. " I own it astonishes me," 
said he, " to find that the noble lord's 
defender, is the very person who has 
more than once declared him a fit object 
of impeachment; nay, who went so far 
as to assert in this house, that he had an 
impeachment ready drawn in his pocket." 
Such were the humiliating reflections or 
animadversions, to which the coalition 
gave rise, among men most attached to 
Fox, and to the Rockingham party ! Mr. 
Hill, who represented Shropshire, and 
who was afterwards better known in the 
32* 



I annals of parliament, as Sir Richard ; 

I accustomed to borrow his allusions from 
holy writ, compared the junction of 
Lord North and his new associate, to 
the union between Herod and Pontius 
Pilate. Even Sir Charles Turner, a 
man devoted to Fox, and who so impli- 
citly adopted all his political opinions, as 
in general to retain none of his own, yet 
recoiled at the union ; of which he ex 
pressed himself, when addressing the 
house, in that plain, unadorned, but em 
phatic style, natural to him. " The 
coalition,'" exclaimed he, " has astonish- 
ed the whole nation, and no individual 
more than myself. I am sorry for it, as 
my worthy Iriend Charles has materially 
injured himself by it. He has lost much 
of his popularity. The noble lord 
with whom he has coalesced, is undoubt- 
edly the best of men, considered as a 
private character : but as a minister he 
has been most unfortunate. 1 reprobate 
therefore the alliance between them. It 
will turn out ill, and never answer the 
expectations of its authors." Even the 
very majority which had disapproved of 
the treaties, as inadequate to our just ex- 
pectations, yet might not follow up their 
vote by any personal attack on ministers; 
or if they did, might fail to carry the 
house with them. And in that event, 
the coalition would remain seated, as be- 
fore, on the opposition bench, without 
deriving any benefit from their late suc- 
cess. A first lord of the treasury, who, 
to conscious integrity, joined fortitude 
and resources of character, seemed ex- 
empt from any necessity of resigning, on 
account of the danger of impeachment ; 
and might still, by protracting the strug- 
gle, terminate it advantageously to him- 
self. Such were the opinions at that 
time generally entertained, and the ex- 
pectations formed, both in, and out of 
parliament. 

[22d — 28th February.] But all these 
political speculations were suddenly 
overturned by Lord Shelburne's imme- 
diate resignation. Without wailing for 
any broader hint, or trying by any exer- 
tions to perpetuate his possession of 
power, he retired from ministry, as stt 
many of his predecessors had done (liaring 
the present reign. There has always 
appeared to be something mysterious or 
unexplained, it> the motives, which im- 



378 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



pelled him thus precipitately, if not pre- 
maturely, to abandon a situation which 
he had attained with so much labour, as 
well as address, and from which he can 
scarcely be said to have been driven. So 
singular a fact was variously explained 
or interpreted at the time. As even his 
opponents neither atlribnled to him, want 
of ambition, nor any defect of firmness, 
it became requisite to discover and to 
assign other reasons for his conduct. 
Reports injurious to his political reputa- 
tion, were industriously disseminated by 
his enemies;: which, from the syste- 
matic hostility exhibited in their diffu- 
sion, I believe to have been williout 
foundation. Pitt himself may, indeed, 
be said to have involuntarily given some 
weight to them, by his own line of con- 
duet towards Lord Shelburne : — for, 
though scarcely ten months elapsed, be- 
fore Pitt came again into power, yet he 
never associated that nobleman to any 
share of it, nor ever offered to give him 
a place in the cabinet, as lord president, 
or as lord privy seal. So pointed an 
exclusion of the man, who had first call- 
ed him up to the councils of the sove- 
reign, and placed him there as chancellor 
of the exchequer, at three and twenty, is 
not easily explained. It is true that 
Pitt pronounced, as chancellor of the 
exchequer, from the treasury bench, the 
highest encomiums on his principal, 
(luring the course of the discussions that 
took place relative to the peace. In his 
memorable speech of the 21st of Febru- 
ary, l>e even alluded, as we have seen, 
with indignant warmth, to the " arts of 
defamation" which Lord Shelburne's 
enemies adopted, for the purpose of de- 
grading him in the national estimation : 
arts, of which Pitt professed his scorn, 
as well as his conviction of their f;ilse- 
hood. But his actions seem to have 
contradicted his professions. 

I have however been assured that Pitt, 
when he was made first lord of the trea- 
sury, and chancellor of the exchequer, 
in December, 1783, did offer Lord Shel- 
burne a seat in the cabinet: — a propo- 
sition which was declined by the latter, 
as he conceived it impossible for Pitt to 
maintain himself in office, against a de- 
cided majority in th« House of Common?. 
"When he had ultimately surmounted all 
oppositioa,, atid wa^s become estiablished 



in power, he therefore did not esteem it 
necessary to reiterate the offer. Lord 
Shelburne, offended at his exclusion 
from any place in administration, com- 
plained of it to the king; adding, that 
" he who had first introduced Mr. Pitt 
into the cabinet, found himself now ne- 
glected by his former e/et'C." But his 
majesty replied, " My lord, I believe^ 
Mr. Pitt was the only man who could 
have aided you so essentially as he did, 
on your being placed at the head of the 
treasury, after the Marquis of Rocking- 
ham's decease." I have reason to think 
that this anecdote is correct and well 
founded. That towards the end of 1784,. 
Pitt advised his majesty to raise Lord 
Shelburne to the rank of a British mar- 
quis, must be admitted. But that title 
was understood to be given (like the 
Earldom of Lonsdale, conferred by Pitt 
on Sir James Lowther, earlier in the 
same year), as payment in full from the 
first minister, for all past obligaiions or 
services. Lord Shelburne, after his re- 
signation, seemed in fact to be regarded 
as politically extinct, though still in the 
full enjoyment of all his faculties of body 
and mind, nor at all supposed to want 
ambition. The Marquis of Lansdown, 
as a peer of parliament, sometimes took 
a part in the debates of the upper house ; 
but he never openly aspired again to 
become first lord of the treasury, nor 
even to enter the cabinet. 

[1st — 6th March.] Throughout ihe 
whole proceedings of the ministerial 
chai>ge that took place at this time, there 
was something personal, which attached 
exclusively to himself. He resigned, 
almost immediately after the second 
debate, of which I have spoken ; but 
the administration was by no means on 
that account,»at an end. Pitt, far from 
following his example, remained in 
office more than five weeks, as chancellor 
of the exchequer, after the first lord of 
the treasury had retired ; a circumstance 
unprecedented in our history! — Nor 
can there be any doubt that he might 
have retained his situation under the cott' 
lition, if he would have submitted to sit 
in cabinet, and to act with Lord North : 
but his principles were too inflexible to 
accommodate themselves lo circum- 
stances. Lord John Cavendish,, far 
fr,om forming any obstacle,, would, hays- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



379 



lent every facility to Pitt's continuance 
at the head of the exchequer. Fox him- 
self, in the course of his speech on the 
21st of February, expressly staled the 
fact. " Can my noble friend," said he, 
*' who brings forward the present resolu- 
tion, be considered as a man ambitious 
of power? He who has always been 
known rntiier to avoid, than to court, 
official employment ? If he has any 
blemish to set off his eminent virtues, it 
is that of receding from those places, 
where his ability and integrity might 
render essential service to his country." 
Througliout the two debates in the lower 
house of parliament, on the peace. Lord 
Shelburiie formed, if not the exclusive, 
yet the principal object of attack. Even 
those members who most severely repro- 
bated the junction of Lord North and 
Fox, expressed the greatest indifference 
on the subject of the first lord of the trea- 
sury, and his tenure of power. " As to 
the present premier," said Sir Cecil 
Wray, " I know little of him, and various 
reasons induce me to wish him out of 
office ; but not lor having concluded the 
treaties on the table." Powis speaking 
on the same subject, on the night of the 
21st, observed, that " if the removal of 
the first minister, constituted the prin- 
cipal object of the motion, he considered 
it as already sufficiently decided." " The 
division," added he, " on the former 
agitation of the present question, four 
days ago, may have given a pretty broad 
hint to the noble lord, that he is by no 
means so popular as he had imagined." 
Powis's language on the 6lh of March, 
when alluding to the state of ministerial 
affairs, was still more pointed, '' The 
administration," remarked Powis, has 
been for some lime burning in ihe socket, 
and has at last become extinct. But 
perhaps in one point of view, this is no 
national misfortune; — for when I re- 
flect who is at the head of the ministry, 
I may say, it would be better to have no 
head at all." Widely different were his 
expressions relative to the chancellor of 
the exchequer. "In the dissolution of 
the present cabinet," continued he, 
" there is however one circumstance 
deeply to be regretted : I mean, the loss 
which the public will suv«tain by tlie re- 
treat from office of a gentleman, whose 
spleadid abil,itL€& may adotn any situa- 



tion. It is to be hoped that be will not 
remain long unemployed. Great talents 
are public properly, and therefore the 
public ought not to be deprived of them." 
An extraordinary and anomalous interval 
of time followed Lord Shelburne's resig- 
nation, during which the functions of 
government may be said to have sufiered 
a suspension ; while the king, the 
ministry, and the candidates for power, 
stood looking at each other. William 
the Third never displayed more steadi- 
ness or determination, at any period of 
his life, eitlier when Prince of Orange, 
or after his elevation to the crown of 
England, than George the Third mani- 
fested, throughout the whole of " this 
interregnum," as it was denominated. 
Though his first minister, from whatever 
motives, had quitted him, he did not 
abandon himself, or forsake those indi- 
viduals who remained faithful to him. 
On the contrary, he made the most des- 
perate efforts to avoid passing under a 
yoke, which he considered as equally 
painful to'himself, and pernicious to his 
people. 

The coalition, having twice defeated 
administration in the House of Com- 
mons, and having compelled Lord Shel- 
burne to retire, considered the business 
as effected, and their triumph secure. 
Resting, therefore, on their arms, with- 
out attempting to push their advantages 
farther, they waited till the king should 
send to the two leaders, in order to form 
anew ministry. But in this expectation, 
however natural, they greatly deceived 
themselves. That prince, as if conscious 
that Lord Shelburne constituted the prin- 
cipal, and the most vulnerable object of 
attack, — having disembarrassed his coun- 
cils of the weight that encumbered them, 
endeavoured to repair the breach, and to 
form a new rampart against Lord North 
and Fox. It might perhaps have been» 
imagined ihal the presence of the former 
nobleman in cabinet, and the share of 
power which must necessarily be allot- 
ted to him and his friends, in the forma- 
tion of a new government ; would have 
tratiquillised the king's mtnd by affording 
a security against the attempts or charac- 
ter of the latter statesman. But he knew 
by the experience of many years, the- 
pliability and easiness of Lord North's- 
nature ;, nor was he u.nacq_uainled withs 



380 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the energy of Fox's mind, or unapprised 
of the efforts th:it he would probably 
make, in order to cement and to per- 
petuate that elevation which he had now 
nearly attained with so much difficulty. 
The king, who considered Fox as a 
man ruined in fortune, of an incorrect 
moral conduct, and surrounded with a 
crowd of followers resembling him in 
these particulars, deprecated, as the 
severest misfortune to himself and to 
his subject-;, the necessity of taking such 
a person, however eminent for capacity, 
into his confidence or councils. When 
we consider these circumstances, we 
shall not wonder at the long, though in- 
effectual resistance made by his majesty, 
before he submitted to receive the law 
from the coalition. 

[6th March.] Previous lo Lord Shel- 
burne's resignation, and the dissolution 
of his ministry, various pensions having 
been granted lo various eminent indivi- 
duals, particularly one to the chancellor, 
and a second to Lord Grantham, Powis 
brought the subject before the house. 
Pitt stated the circumstances attending 
these grants, officially, from the treasury 
bench ; and a very animated, as well as 
personal discussion arose, in which Fox 
took a most prominent part. He was 
peculiarly severe on Lord Thurlow, 
whom he supposed to form, by his ad- 
vice to the king, the principal impedi- 
ment to the formation of a new adminis- 
tration. " I have long lived," said he, 
" on terms of sincere private friendship 
with that noble person, who unquestion- 
ably possesses great abilities : but I am, 
nevertheless, of opinion that they are 
exerted in a manner most injurious to 
the true interests of thi.s country." — 
" We are told," continued he, " by the 
chancellor of the exchequer, that when 
Lord Grantham accepted the office of 
secretary for the foreign department, 
his majesty promised him a pension of 
two thousand pounds a year, whenever 
he should leave the office. What is 
this, except bribing persons by pensions 
to assume employments, for the accept- 
ance of which ihey betray no iivcli na- 
tion ? By such expedients, the crown 
can always form an administration, with- 
out regarding either the approbation of 
parliament, or the confidence of the 
people." Having thus animadverted on 



one secretary of state, he turned round 
upon the other, Mr. Townsend, who 
on that very day had been raised to 
the peerage, by the title of Lord Syd- 
ney. " No man," observed Fox, " en- 
tertains a higher esteem for him than I 
do, or more sincerely wishes him loaded 
with honours. Yet it seems a little ex- 
traordinary, that the sovereign should 
think proper to remunerate those minis- 
ters who have assisted in making a 
peace, which, the more I contemplate 
it, the more cause of wonder do I find, 
at any secretary of state having affixed 
his signature to such treaties." From 
the absent, reverting to those who were 
present, he next attacked Dundas, who 
had recently obtained the place of keeper 
of the signet in Scotland. After declar- 
ing that he meant nothing invidious, or 
personally offensive. Fox added : " All 
the world, nevertheless, wonders at so 
strange a fact, as giving a man an office 
for life, on condition of his taking 
another, the treasurership of the nav}', 
which may be regarded as nearly a sine- 
cure. So absurd, as well as lavish a 
waste of the public money, has, I be- 
lieve, no precedent." Towards the 
conclusion of his speech, he once more 
fastened upon the chancellor, " whose 
injurious influence," Fox declared, "the 
kingdom felt at the present moment." 
Adding, " If those pernicious exertions 
had not been made, I fully believe an 
administration would have been formed 
some days ago, which would have united 
the confidence of this house, and the 
affection of the people." 

No sooner had Fox concluded, than 
the lord advocate rose, and having ex- 
plained the circumstances that attended 
his acceptance of the place of treasurer 
of the navy, a situation which, he can- 
didly admitted, was not one suited to 
him, he subjoined, " I will not, how- 
ever, say that I am unfit for the office 
which I have obtained in Scotland ; and 
as his majesty has been pleased to 
honour me with a patent place, I do 
assure the right honorable gentleman, 
that I never will dishonour the patent, by 
carrying it to market." Dundas's allu- 
sion in these last words, to the sale or 
exchange negotiated by Fox with Mr. 
Charles Jenkinson, to whom he sold the 
clerkship of the Pells in Ireland, waa 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



381 



too pointed, as well as personal, to be 
passed over in silence. He instantly 
replied, that the transaction in question 
had in it nothing dislioiiorahie. " I 
received," said he, " the patent in ques- 
tion from my father, as a part of my 
fortune, alloij-ether unconnected with the 
ministry of that dav, who first applied to 
me on the subject. I consented to ac- 
commodate government, thouffb on very 
injurious conditions for myself, as I 
parted with a thincr of considerably 
greater value than I received in return. 
This is the whole affair, and no man 
except the learned lord ever thought it 
dishonorable ordisgraceful in the slightest 
degree." Rigby confirmed Fox's state- 
ment in the most ample manner. " I 
was acquainted," observed he, " with 
every part of the bargain, which was 
perfectly honorable ; and in which there 
could be only one thing censurable, 
namely, that the possessor of it gave 
away his patent for less than its worth." 
George Byng added, that tiie place had 
no sooner passed out of Fox's posses- 
sion, into the hands of Mr. Jenkinson, 
than its value became augmented to the 
amount of full a thousand pounds a year. 
Here the matter dropped : but Rigby 
having stated in the course of his speech 
that, " though he did not approve of the 
late coalition, yet he was ready to sup- 
port any administration, whether formed 
on a broad or on a narrow basis, which 
might rescue the country from its present 
deplorable state ;" Conrtenay exposed 
the declaration to much derision. " I 
give the worthy gentleman entire credit 
for his assurance," said he, " and I am 
persuaded he is animated by no other 
motive except to preserve peace and 
unanimity ; to maintain the proper equi- 
librium between the crown and the peo- 
ple : but, above all, to retain, down to 
the last moment possible, every balance 
in his hands." 

[7th ^22d March.] During the 
course of the month of March, every 
measure was adopted on the part of the 
king, that promised to frustrate the hopes 
of the new confederates. Earl Gower, 
to whom the place just vacated by Lord 
Shelburne, was offered, manifested the 
utmost readiness to accept it, if the pro- 
bable means of maintaining himself there, 
could be demonstrated, Rutj by what 



expedient could a minority of the House 
of Commous, be converted by him at 
once into a majority 1 The difficulties 
being considered as insuperable, the ex- 
periment was therefore at length aban- 
doned. Meanwhile the coalition, indig- 
nant at so long a delay, began to mani- 
fest symptoms of impatience. The 
House of Commons having adjourned 
for some days, after the debate of the 
21st of February, on a motion to that 
purpose, made by Mr. Dundas, with the 
view of allowing time for a new minis- 
terial arrangement ; Lord Mailland 
called on the lord advocate to state the 
reasons, why a successor had not been 
appointed to the Earl of Shelburne. 
This fact took place on the 28th of Feb- 
ruary : but, no reply being returned to 
Lord Maitland's enquiry, either by the 
person to whom the question was ad- 
dressed, or from any individual seated 
on the treasury bench, though Pitt him- 
self was present, the subject proceeded 
no further. Things remained in this 
state during more than a fortnight, it be- 
ing perfectly understood that his majesty 
was occupied in unceasing exertions, to 
prop or to recreate the administration. 
At length, on the 18th of March, Mr. 
Coke, member for the county of Nor- 
folk, having given notice that if no mi- 
nistry should be formed in the course of 
two days, he would move an address to 
the crown, on the subject ; the king, con- 
ceiving it dangerous, as well as useless, 
to protract the contest, sent his com- 
mands to the Duke of Portland and Lord 
North, to wait upon him at St. James's. 
I have been assured that at the audience 
which took place, his majesty offered to 
concede every point in litigation, except 
one ; namely, that Lord Thurlovv should 
not be deprived of the great seal. If 
that nobleman, he said, were permitted 
to remain in office, he would allovv the 
new ministers to dispose of all other 
employments at their pleasure. But, 
no arguments could induce the coalition 
to relax upon so essential an article. 
Fox equally disliked and dreaded the 
chancellor, whose intractability, when, 
added to his influence over the royat 
mind, in a place which rendered him 
the director of his sovereign's con- 
science; exposed the new candidates for 
office, to perpetual danger^ They ia- 



382 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



sisted peremptorily on putting the great 
seal into commission. 'I'heir proposition 
being as firmly rejected by his majesty, 
the conference terminated without any 
progress or beneficial result. 

Just at this critical juncture died the 
honorable Dr. Frederick Cornwallis, 
archbishop of Canterbury ; a man of 
amiable character, though not distin- 
guished by the eminent virtues of Til- 
lotson, or the talents of Laud. The 
king, who well knew that the coalition, 
or in other words, that Fox had destined 
that great ecclesiastical elevation, for 
Shipley, bishop of St. Asaph, or for 
Hinchcliffe, bishop of Peterborough ; 
probably, for the former of them ; and 
who was also aware that if he wished 
to dispose of it, himself, he had not an 
hour to lose ; immediately sent for Dr. 
Hurd, bishop of Worcester. That ex- 
cellent prelate, whose piety and learn- 
ing rendered him one of the ornaments, 
as well as pillars, of the Anglican church, 
having wailed on his majesty, was in- 
formed by him that the see of Canter- 
bury had become vacant ; and that, as 
he knew no person, in his opinion, more 
worthy to fill the metropolitan chair, he 
wished the bishop to accept it. He 
added, that in the actual position of 
public affairs, when he might, every 
day, be compelled to take new ministers 
into his councils, he hoped that the 
bishop would interpose no unnecessary 
delay. But Dr. Hurd, far from desiring a 
dignity so much sought after, besought 
the king to excuse him for declining it; 
slating, that neither his health, nor his 
frame of mind were adequate to the ex- 
tended duties of the metropolitan see, 
though equal .to fulfilling the more 
limited functions of his own diocese. 
His majesty having, not without great 
reluctance, yielded to these reasons, then 
insisted that the bishop should at least 
name the person, whom he conceived 
most proper to succeed Dr. Cornwallis. 
Hurd, without long hesitation, mentioned 
Dr. Louth, bishop of London ; and a 
messenger was instantly despatched to 
find him, at his house in St. James's 
square. The bishop arriving in a very 
short time, had no sooner entered the 
closet, than the king made him the same 
proposition which he had done to Hurd. 
Extraordinary as it may appear, he met 



from that prelate with a similar refusal; 
and one not less sincere, as well as in- 
flexible, than the former. In this unex- 
pected predicament, the king addressing 
himself to them both, said, " My lords, 
I will not press either of you further : 
but before you leave this room, you must 
recommend a proper successor to the 
deceased archbishop; and whomsoever 
you shall agree to name, I will accept." 
The two prelates having requested to be 
allowed a short time for consulting to- 
gether, after a few minutes deliberation, 
without quitting the royal presence, 
united in nominating Dr. John Moore, 
bishop of Bangor. Being sent for to 
St. James's, on his arrival, to his no 
small astonishment, he learned the tea- 
sons for which he had been summoned 
to court. He accepted the preferment ; 
but the requisite forms incident to the 
conge cVelire, and other ceremonies in- 
dispensable to the election, prevented 
the translation from being completed 
before the second of the following 
month; — the very day on which the 
king having surrendered at discretion, 
the coalition actually took possession 
of the government. 

Dr. Moore, whom we have beheld 
during two and twenty years, archbishop 
of Canterbury; and who owed his ele- 
vation to that high dignity, to the joint 
recommendations of Hurd and Louth ; 
was a prelate of an irreproachable life, 
added to a solid understanding. But 
his first advance in the ecclesiastical 
profession, arose from one of those acci- 
dents, which (whatever Juvenal may 
have said to the contrary), sometimes 
seems to determine, no less than merit, 
the colour of our fate. The Duchess 
Dowager of Marlborough, after the late 
duke's decease in 1758, having occasion 
for a tutor to superintend the education 
of her youngest son, the present Lord 
Robert Spencer; applied to the Dean of 
Christ Church, Oxford, requesting him 
to recommend a proper person to her 
for the purpose. I have been assured, 
that Mr. Moore, then a servitor of that 
college, of very obscure birth and con- 
nections; happening to cross the quad- 
rangle, at the precise moment of this 
application ; it immediately occurred to 
the dean's mind, that he would answer 
the description of the tutor demanded 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



383 



by the duchess. He hesitated neverthe- 
less for some time, whether he should 
malve the proposition to Mr. Moore; 
her Grace having |)ositiveiy insisted on 
his stipiihuing, liiat whatever individual 
she should receive into her family, in 
quality of preceptor to her son, should 
not be admitted to have the honour of 
dining ai her table. The offer, when 
made by the dean, was however accept- 
^ed under that exclusion : but so rapid 
became Mr. Moore's progress in lier 
per.x-onal esteem, no less than in her 
affection, that within a very short time 
she found herself unable to iline without 
him. Her preference assumed even so 
decided a character, as to leave him no 
room to doubt of her inclination, if he 
had encouraged it, notwithstanding the 
prodigious disparity of their respective 
situations in life ; to have bestowed her 
hand on him in marriage. Instead of 
thus acting, as a man of narrow or sel- 
fish views would have done, his sense 
of honour and delicacy of sentiment, led 
hiin to communicate tlie advances made 
him by the duchess, to her son, the late 
duke. A conduct so highly disinterested, 
and principles so elevated, could not fail 
ultimately to meet their just reward. 
By the Duke of Marlborough's interest, 
being promoted in the church, he was 
in progress of time made dean of Can- 
terbury ; from which situation he soon 
became bishop of Bangor ; passing 
through no other intermediate episcopal 
state, till he attained to the metropolitan 
dignity. Such an impression indeed 
had his merit and character produced, 
while he remained at Canterbury, that 
on his promotion to the see of Bangor, 
all those persons who come to take 
leave of him, expressed their full con- 
viction of his returning to them again as 
archbishop. " We console ourselves, 
Mr. Dean,'' said they, " for losing you 
at present, by the contident expectation 
which we entertain of your speedy re- 
storation to us." I return to the course 
of public affairs. 

On the complete failure of the first at- 
tempt, already mentioned, which his 
majesty made to form a new administra- 
tion, many propositions were sugtresled 
to prop and renovate the still existing 
ministry, however difficult such a work 
might justly be esteemed under the ac- 



tual circumstances. Mr. Fitt, desirous 
to meet the king's wishes on a point 
which coincided with all his own objects 
of personal elevation and ambition, suf- 
fered himself to be persuaded to promise 
that he would accept the post of first 
lord of the treasury, in addition to the 
office of chancellor of the exchequer ; 
and during twenty-four hours, he might 
be said to have in some measure actually 
lield both these offices. But at the end of 
a short time, finding it impracticable, after 
a full examination, to set up any govern- 
ment which promised duration, or which 
could make head against the coalition in 
the House of Commons, he reluctantly 
retracted his engagement. Reduced al- 
most to despair by so many disappoint* 
ments, and unable to effect his emanci- 
pation, the king unquestionably medi- 
tated the extraordinary project of visiting 
his electoral dominions, and relinquish- 
ing, for a time, to. the coalition the 
power of which they had forcibly pos- 
sessed themselves. But on communi- 
cating his intentions to the chancellor, 
that minister, far from encouraging the 
proposition, gave it his strongest disap- 
probation. " There is nothing easier, 
sir," said he, with his characteristic 
severity of voice and manner, *' than to 
go over to Hanover. It may not, how- 
ever, prove so easy to return Irora 
thence to this country, when your ma- 
jesty becomes tired of Germany. Recol- 
lect the precedent of James the Second, 
who precipitately embraced a similar ex- 
pedient. Your majesty must not think 
for a moment of adopting so imprudent 
and hazardous a step. Time and pa- 
tience will open a remedy to the present 
evils." The king, liappily for himself, 
acquiesced in Lord Thurlow's wise and 
wholesome advice. 

[24th March.] While these interest- 
ing scenes passed at St. James's, the 
House of Commons, completely in the 
hands of the coalition, proceeded, though 
with great apparent caution and external 
testimonies of respect, to press the sove- 
reign by every constitutional means that 
he would put an end to the interregnum, 
which Fox denominated, in the strong 
language familiar to liim, '* the most in- 
solent domination that ever disgraced a 
free country." Mr. Coke, after re- 
peated delays, having moved an address 



384 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS* 



\o his majesty, entreating him " to form 
ail admiiiisiraiion entitled to the confi- 
dence of the people ;" one of the most 
interesting conversations, rather than 
debates, took place, at which I ever 
assisted, near four hundred persons 
being present. It was opened by the 
member for Norfolk, in niild and tempe- 
rate language ; but the Earl of Surrey, 
who seconded the motion, did not ob- 
serve equal delicacy or reserve in his 
expressions, which, as 1 thouglit, had 
always a tincture in them of democracy. 
" I admit," said he, " that a high re- 
s|)ect IS due to the sovereign ; but not 
less respect is due to the people. It is 
impossible to go on longer without a 
government; and therefore, exception- 
able as the present motion may be, 1 
shall support it, because I am convinced 
if this house does not call for an admi- 
nistration, the people will demand it in a 
manner painful to the crown, and injuri- 
ous to the public interests." Various 
individuals having inveighed in animated 
terms against the coalition, Fox rose in 
order to justify the measure, and at the 
same time to state his opinions on the 
actual condition of the country. "What- 
ever," observed Fox, " may be his ma- 
jesty's private feelings or opinions at the 
present moment, wlien all government is 
suspended, he never can act wrong, un- 
less he is ill advised. It becomes, tiiere- 
fore, proper to declare from whom he 
could receive that injurious advice ; and 
the channel through which it comes, 
cannot be matter of doubt. The nation 
has now remained near five weeks in a 
state without precedent, and without 
ostensible ministers." — " If ever there 
was a time that imperiously demanded 
the oblivion of former animosities and 
ancient prejudices, it is the present 
moment, 'i'lie situation of the country 
renders indispensable a coalition Ol 
parties ; and in order to attain an object 
SO salutary, by composing an adminis- 
tration on a broad, as well as a perma- 
nent basis, / a?n ready to shake hands 
even with the persons opposite to me, no 
less than with the noble lord in the blue 
ribband near me ; thus forming out of 
the three parties such a government as 
the public may regard with confidence.'" 
Having denied, in the strongest terms, 
that the delay in composing a new ad- 



ministration had arisen from any disputes 
between the two heads of parlies recently 
united, he launched out into severe re- 
flections, or more properly to speak, ac* 
cusalions, against the individuals who 
during more than a month had governed 
the country. " A government," con- 
tinued Fox, *' not conducted by avowed 
ministers, by a first lord of the treasury, 
or by secretaries of slate, those instru- 
ments and puppets of other agents ; but 
by the persons themselves who have 
hitherto been supposed to possess secret 
influence, and who now stand forward 
as the private advisers of his majesty to 
act in opposition to the wishes of his 
people, and to the declared sense of one 
house of parliament." 

Even if the iiitenlion of these words 
could have been mistaken, Fox, by fixing 
his eyes on Jeiikinson, who was present 
when he pronounced them, rendered 
their application obvious to every hearer. 
Then alluding to the chancellor, " If," 
continued he, " we would know who 
has governed the kingdom, and ill ad- 
vised the sovereign, we have only to re- 
pair to the upper house. There, the 
great adviser may be seen in his true 
cliaracter. We shall there find sullen- 
ness, delay, impediments to public busi- 
ness of every kind, and all the features 
that characterise the present interreg- 
num." Charges so invidious, as well 
as personal, were not suffered to remain 
without an immediate reply. Governor 
Johnstone starling up as soon as Fox 
had concluded; with his characteristic 
impetuosity of gesture and language, re- 
torted on Fox the impuiaiions with which 
he had loaded Lord Thurlovv. After 
passing the highest encomiums on the 
talents, firmness, and integrity of that 
great law officer, whom, he said, he con- 
sidered as one of the pillars of the slate ; 
he reminded Fox of the eiilogiums which 
he had pronounced on this very noble- 
man, when composing a member of Lord 
North's adminisiraiion. ''Did he not 
tlien declare," exclaimed Johnstone, 
" that the chancellor formed the only 
exception to the cabinet of that period ; 
who alone ought, from his superior en- 
dowments of mind and of character, to 
be continued in his high office, after the 
dissolution of that ministry.'" With 
more temper, calmness, and command 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



385 



of himself, Jenkinson vindicated the line 
of conduct vvhich he had held under the 
existing circumstances. He was heard 
with general and profound attention. 
" I stand up," said he, " to refute the 
insinuation of being an evil adviser of 
his majesty, and to deny tiie existence 
of secret intluence behind tlie throne, in 
the unwarrantable sense of those expres- 
sions. But the prerogative of tlie crown 
is not so limited, as to proscribe any 
privy counsellor from having access to 
the presence of. the sovereign, or to pre- 
clude him from offering his advice, ii 
called on to deliver his opinion. If his 
majesty is graciously pleased lo command 
my attendance, I am compelled in duty 
lo obey the summons. 1 confess that 
during the last five weeks, 1 have been 
with him more than once. I never went, 
except on official business ; nor did 1 
ever use any secret influence. That idea 
IS only a trap for the credulous multi- 
tude. It exists solely in imagination, 
and is now started merely for political 
purposes, to which the members of this 
house cannot be strangers." — 1 appeal 
lo the noble lord in the blue ribband, 
seated near the right honorable gentle- 
man, with whom I had the honour of 
serving for ten years ; whether my as- 
sertion is true or false ; and whether that 
pretended secret influence so insidiously 
suggested, ever had any real existence. 
Not only do I ap[)eal to the noble lord, 
but I invoke him to declare it ; and so 
implicit is my reliance on his innate 
principles of honour, that I submit lo 
abide by his determination." 

Convincing as this defence may be es- 
teemed, and as I regard it, yet Fox by 
no means acquiesced in the truth or 
solidity of its reasoning. " I admit," 
said he in reply, " that in his capacity of 
a privy counsellor, the right honorable 
member is entitled to offer the king Ins 
advice. He has a right so to do: but 
not to give it in secret. There lies the 
rub. Let the advice be public, and in 
the face of the council. There can then 
be neither cause of suspicion, nor can it 
be productive of injury. As the matter 
stands, it assumes a widely diH'erent 
aspect." Lord North, when called upon 
by Jenkinson, could not remain silent 



suavity of his disposition, he endeavoured 
to justify his union with Fox, as being 
an act founded on public expediency, if 
not absolute necessity. " Those per- 
sons," observed he, *' who reprobate 
the present coalition, forget that it is 
almost impossible to tind in this assembly, 
any individuals now acting together, who 
have not differed materially on great and 
important points. The administration 
existing, — if we can be said to have 
any ; — is so composed. And when it is 
considered that there are three great par- 
ties in the nation, two must unite, in 
order to form a coalition. All men seem 
to agree, that an administration ought to 
be constituted on as broad a basis as pos- 
sible Perhaps it is meant a ministry 
composed of all tlie three parlies. If 
such be their meaning, I have not any 
objection to coincide with them in opi 
nion. The divided and distracted state 
of the empire, demands a combination 
of all eminent abilities." Alluding 
finally to the appeal made by Mr. Jen- 
kinson, " I am called on," added he, 
" by a friend, to declare whether, during 
my administration, I ever found any 
secret influence lurking behind the 
throne, subversive of my measures or 
intentions. I will freely avow that I 
never did. I have frequently, while in 
office, received advice from that right 
honorable gentleman : but I never knew 
that he had given any secret advice to 
his sovereign, which he was not ready 
publicly to justify, if the occasion de- 
manded it." No declaration could be less 
equivocal, nor better calculated to unde- 
ceive the believers in sei^ret influence. 
But the opinion, which dated from a 
very early period of the king's reign, had 
taken too deep a hold of the public mind 
and was sustained with too mui'h art, to 
be eradicated, although by such testi- 
monies. Even at the present day, that 
conviction is by no means extinct. 

Pitt may be said to have terminated 
the discussion under our review ; and 
never, not even on the 21st of the pre- 
ceding month, when on the point of 
laying down his official situation, dul he 
appear to me more an object of just ad- 
miration ! Lord North and Fox having 
formed their political union, had, both. 



In the progress of a speech conceived ! successively, in the course of addressing 
with great ability, and tempered by the the house on that evening, offered to re- 
33 ' 



386 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ceive him into their coalition. It rested 
with him to have composed one of the 
new triumvirate, in which he assuredly 
would not have occupied the meanetil 
place. He mitfht have continued at the 
head of the exchequer under the Duke 
of Portland, as he had been under Lord 
Shelburne. The odium of the coalition 
could not have attached to him, who had 
not contributed in the most remote de- 
gree to its formation. Power, and office, 
and the emoluments of place, lay open 
to him, and seemed to solicit his accep- 
tance ; while, on the other side, he be- 
held the thorny path of the law, or a 
more sterile and unproductive attendance 
on j)arliament, as his only certain re- 
sources. From his official and splen- 
did residence in Downing street, he must 
remove lo Chambers in one of tlie inns 
of court. His fortune was narrow, and 
his ambition immeasurable. Yet, placed 
in a situation so trying to human na- 
ture, his elevated mind, superior to 
circumstances, aided by a judgment far 
beyond his years, enabled him to appre- 
ciate, and to reject, the glittering pro- 
position. Perhaps he foresaw that an 
alliance, such as had been made between 
two heads of party so discordant ; — an 
alliance equally odious to the sovereign, 
and to the majority of the nation ; — 
however apparently solid might be its 
foundations, could prove of no duration. 
Probably he even anticipated, at no re- 
mote distance of time, his own future 
ministerial triumph over the two new 
allies. Yet even admitting these facts, 
his line of conduct does not excite less 
astonishment, nor detract from his pre- 
eminent merit. 

In his reply to the offers of the two 
coalition chiefs, he seemed to be impelled 
and animated by feelings of a higher de- 
scription than mere power could satisfy, 
unless accompanied by self-approbation, 
and conscious rectitude. " There are 
persons," said he, " who can easily re- 
concile to their minds, the sacrifice oi' 
old principles, and who with ease adopt 
new rules of conduct. However such 
modes of acting, may agree with tried 
constitutions and lonji habits of change, 
I am as yet loo young to relinquish my 
opinions, and to conform my ideas to the 
tide of interest, or lo the triumphs of 
parly. I have formed one great princi- 



ple which regulates my conduct, and 
which has taken loo deep root in my 
bosom, to be erased even by myself. 
The honorable gentlemen on the oppo- 
site benches, talk of extinguishing ani- 
mosities, and modifying or changing 
their political opinions, just as ihey 
would change their gloves. The same 
acts or measures which to-day they re- 
probate, to-morrow they applaud. Those 
persons, whom in the morning they hate 
and condemn, they esteem it honorable, 
conscientious, and palrio.lic, to take to 
their bosom in the evening. Such maxims 
are repugnant to my nature. I cannot 
coalesce with men, whose sentiments 
are diametrically opposed to my own ; 
because, if they come over to my ways 
of thinking, I can place no- confidence in 
them ; and if 1 were to adopt their prin- 
ciples, I should act against my honest 
judgment. Parties, so constituted, can 
have no long continuance. There may 
be a seeming harmony, while their inte- 
rests point the same road : but, only a 
similarity of ideas can render political 
friendships permanent." — '' I therefore," 
continued he, " think it indispensable 
for me explicitly lo declare, that / can- 
not incbice myself to adopt the mode of 
reasoning, by which the present grand 
coalition is defended or justified ; and 
that my principles will not conform 
themselves to the present times. 1 was 
a witness of the involuntary applause 
extorted by this lofty and disinterested 
declaration, which at once extinguished 
every hope of Pitt's uniting with ihe 
coalition. He preferred lo reserve him- 
self tor future occasions of coming for- 
ward in public life, rather than lo pur- 
chase present office, by the dereliction 
of those rules of action, which he had 
laid down for his guidance, in, and out 
of parliament. No reply to so hostile 
and decided an avowal, was made by 
either of the opposition chiefs ; but, 
iVlr. Coke's proposed adtiress to the 
throne, being put, was carried, though not 
unanimously, yet without any division, 

[25tli — 31st March.] His majesty, ne- 
vertheless, having given a vague and in- 
explicit answer lo the addres.-;, by which 
no information was in fact conveyed re- 
lative to the appointment of new minis- 
ters. Lord Surrey agitated the subject 
again on the27tli ; and after complaining 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



387 



of the injurious consequences that re- 
sulted to the state, from a suspension of 
all government, concluiiecl by a notice, 
or rather a menace, that, if the vacant 
offices were not filled up within four 
days, he would move for an enquiry into 
the cause of such delay. Lord North, 
on the other hand, deprecated all inter- 
ference in the present state of the busi- 
ness, as disrespectful to the sovereign, 
whose gracious message claimed, he said, 
the gratitude of the house. The month 
of March meanwhile rapidly approached 
its termination ; nor was it till the 31sl, 
that the king, having exhausted every 
effort for reconstructing an administra- 
tion, of which Pitt would have formed 
the head ; finding the experiment hope- [ 
less, as well as impracticable, reluctant- ^ 
ly accepted his resignation. Lord Sur- 
rey rising in his place on that day, just 
at the time when Pitt entered the house, | 
instantly demanded of him, whether any 
new ministers were yet appointed, or 
what steps had been taken for the pur- 
pose ? His reply, which informed the 
house that he was no longer chancellor 
of the exchequer, gave rise to a conver- 
sation of no common interest, and of 
considerable length, during which, 
many curious facts were communicated 
from various sides of the assembly. The 
lord advocate of Scotland, as an excuse 
for the long period of time which had 
elapsed since the resignation of the first 
lord of the treasury ; ingenuously avowed 
that his majesty had fully designed to 
place Mr. Pitt in that office, and to form 
li new government under his auspices : 
— a determination which the king had 
only relinquished within two hours of 
the moment when he was occupied in 
addressing the house. A declaration so 
mortifying to the coalition, did not pass 
unnoticed or uncensured by Fox. After 
inveighing indirectly against Pitt, as the 
principal cause of so culpable a suspen- 
sion of the functions of government ; and 
stating that while he remained at the 
head of the exchequer, he must be held 
responsible for every measure performed 
in his official capacity; Fox seized the 
occasion offered, to renew the charge of 
secret influence against Mr. Jenkinson. 
Sir William Dolben, when alluding to 
the mention which had already been 
made of that pretended interference, in 



the course of a late debate ; having ob- 
served that he should call for more than 
mere insinuation or assertion to convince 
him of its reality. Fox triumphantly ap- 
pealed to Jenkinson's own admission. 
" The fact," exclaimed he, " at which, 
down to the present time, suspicion has 
only glanced, exultation has avowed. I 
have not only learned more than 1 ante- 
cedently knew, but more than 1 ever 
expected to have heard. I have learned 
that a privy counsellor, though he is not 
a minister, may offer his sovereign ad- 
vice, and not be accountable for its effects. 
Surely, this house will never sanction a 
doctrine so replete with danger to the 
state. How are we to know the nature 
of the advice given, except by its effects ? 
And if that right honorable gentleman 
has given advice to his majesty in the 
present instance, he is the culpable per- 
son. The noble lord in the blue rib- 
band, near me, when called on by him, 
on a recent occasion, to declare whether 
he ever found any of his plans or mea- 
sures frustrated by a concealed influence, 
answered, I allow, in the negative. But 
it must be remembered that the indivi- 
dual in question was a friend and sup- 
porter of that administration. What 
would the consequence be, if a ministry, 
whose views and principles were op- 
posed to his, should find their objects 
subverted, and all their projects over- 
turned, by a person not in any way re- 
sponsible for his advice? How could 
they act in such a case ? A virtuous 
administration would have no other 
alternative than to signify their disap- 
probation of the interference, by the re- 
signation of their employments." I 
confess that these observations have al- 
ways appeared to me to grow out of the 
British Constituiion, which demands, as 
a primary principle, responsibility. 
Pitt offered no reply to that part of Fox's 
speech ; but he reiterated in the most 
decisive terms, his fixed determination to 
hold himself wholly unconnected with any 
political description of men. " I will 
abide," said he, " by the declaration which 
I made on a former occasion. I will take 
no active part, either for or against any 
party; but shall be wholly guided in my 
conduct by the measures pursued. It 
; will not be without the utmost reluctance 
I that I shall oppose any administration 



388 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



whatever ; nor will I do it, unless im- 
pelled by a strong conviction of their 
acting injuriously to the public interests." 
Having staled that he held liimself re- 
sponsible for every act performed by 
him as chancellor of the exchequer, 
down to the moment of his resigi^.ation ; 
he concluded by deprecating Lord Sur- 
rey's motion as precipitate, and recom- 
mending that it should be withdrawn 
without a division. 

Lord North was by no means silent 
during this interesting debate, the JMSt 
which took place on the stale of public 
affairs, in the lower house of parliament, 
previous to the coalition assuming pos- 
session of the government. With equal 
eloquence and ability he endeavoured to 
show that the arguments urged against 
a junction of parties, on the ground of 
antecedent differences of opinion, were 
futile, and incapable of being maintained 
by men of candour, or of enlarged minds. 
He must, nevertheless, have felt how 
much more dignified and elevated was 
his position, while holding the balance, 
as he might in some measure be said to 
do, between Pitt and Fox, than when 



Sir William, while he manifested his 
dissatisfaction at the bare idea of inva- 
ding the constitutional prerogative of the 
sovereign, added : " The independent 
country gentlemen, who have uniformly 
supported the noble lord in the blue 
ribband, have done it from approbation 
of his principles, not from his political 
power or influence. If, therefore, he 
expects a continuance of their support, 
after his junction with the party which 
so long opposed him, he must act in a 
manner consistent with his former 
character and professions , " 

Fox, aided by Burke, exerted all his 
powers of persuasion in proving to the 
house the insuperable necessity of his 
coalescing with Lord North. Endea- 
vouring to enforce a doctrine so indis- 
pensable for his own justification, he 
observed : " The principal cause of our 
dispute, has been done away by the 
termination of the American war. On 
various other points we still differ; but 
we are not more at variance than the 
present chancellor, and the master-gene- 
ral of the ordnance; or than the secre- 
tary of state for the southern, and the 



merged in the vortex of the latter lumi-j secretary for the northern depart- 



nary. Of the loss that he sustained in 
public opinion by joining the Rocking- 
iiam party, he received many painful in- 
timations. Governor Johnstone ob- 
served during the debate of the 24th of 



ment ; or than the right honorable gen- 
tleman opposite me (Pitt), and the 
learned lord, his friend (Dundas), seated 
near him, have differed in sentiment upon 
great constitutional points. This coun- 



March, that " the noble lord in the blue ] try can only flourish, her glory can only 



ribband, till within the last (ew weeks, 
enjoyed as much of the national confi- 
dence, as any individual in the king- 
dom. His character, as it became more 
generally understood, acquired daily more 
respect and strength ; but," added John- 
stone, " the present coalition has un- 
questionably shaken him in the estima- 
tion of many of his friends.'''' Sir Wil- 
liam Dolben, of whose cordial support 
Lord North must have felt the deepest 
sense, as it was given him during the 
most critical period of his administration, 
expressed himself on the evening of the 
31st of March, in equally intelligible 
language. After catechising, if I may 
use the term. Lord North, respecting the 
conditions which, it was commonly 
supposed, the new allies attempted to 
dictate to the king, before they would 
take oflice ; and hearing that nobleman's 
indignant denial of the imputed facts ; — 



be maintained, or her commerce be pre- 
served, by unanimity within these 
walls." However just or solid such 
principles may be in themselves, their» 
appIi(ration in the persons of Lord North 
and Fox, did not obtain general ajipro- 
bation. Even among those who sup- 
ported, many disapproved or condemned 
their union. An oblivion of all past 
recriminations, though it might be dic- 
tated by ambition, and vindicated by 
policy, yet seemed to imply a mutual 
sacrifice of principle. Both the heads of 
party lost much of their popularity ; and 
their possession of power, neither re- 
posing on royal favour, nor on the appro- 
bation of the people, proved to be with- 
out any deep foundation. These reflec- 
tions were, however, obliterated by 
present success. Lord Surrey, having 
been induced to withdraw his motion, 
on the presumption that a ministry 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



389 



would be formed in the coiiri'e of a very 
few days, the house adjourned. Nor were 
those expectations frustrated : for, within 
forty-eight hours afterwards, his majesty, 
finding it vain to protract his resistance, 
and impossible to set up any administra- 
tion with a chance of success, surren- 
dered at discretion, by sending a second 
time for the Duke of Portland. 

[3d April.] If we consider, by the 
abstract principles of tfie British Con- 
stitution, as recognized at the revolution 
of 1688, which compels the sovereign to 
listen lo the voice of the majority of the 
House of Commons ; the conduct of 
George the Third, in resisting for near 
six weeks their votes and iheir addresses ; 
if we reflect, moreover, that the con- 
sequence of his pertinacity, produced a 
suspension of many of the essential and 
vital functions of the executive govern- 
ment ; at a moment, too, when the ex- 
ertions of a vigorous administration were 
peculiarly demanded, in order to reduce 
various of the military and naval esta- 
blishments to the standard of peace; if we 
try his actions by these crilerions, we may 
be tempted to accuse him of sacrificing 
national objects to the gratification of his 
private resentments or prejudices. But 
speculation and practice often lead to such 
opposite conclusions, that it becomes un- 
safe to reason always from the former, 
however solid may appear the founda- 
tions. It is certain, that though the 
country anxiously desired to see an 
efficient government established, and 
deeply lamented the want of it for so 
long a time, yet the king by no means 
suff'ered in the estimation of his people 
at large, on account of the desperate con- , 
test he had maintained against tlie coa- 
lition. 

The nation in general regarded the 
union formed between Lord North and 
Fox, as a mutual sacrifice of moral 
and political principle, lo ambition, or 
rather to the love of office. In vain did 
those leaders endeavour to justify it, by 
recurring to past periods of our history, 
in particular, to the year 1757, when 
similar coalitions were known to have 
been made between contending factions. 
The interval of eleven months, which. 
had scarcely elapsed since Fox and 
Burke were accustomed, day by day, to 
denounce their new ally, as the most in- 
33* 



capable, subservient, and criminal of 
ministers, appeared too short; and the 
transition fro(n enmity to friendship, 
seemed too sudden, to admit of being 
easily or satisfactorily explained to 
vulgar comprehension. His majesty's 
principles, however mistaken they 
might be, were admitted to be upright, 
and intentionally directed always to the 
felicity of his subjects. America, which 
had so long formed the object of con- 
test, being lost ; with the termination of 
the war, terminated likewise the king's 
unpopularity, which had principally 
originated from that source : — while on 
the other hand. Fox, who during seve- 
ral years had stood so high in the esti- 
mation of the people, as a patriot; now 
in his turn attracted severe observations 
on his recent junction with a minister, 
the author, as he asserted, of all the 
misfortunes which he had eloquently 
depictured, and which were still de- 
plored throughout the country. These 
sentiments and opinions, which began 
already to operate, and which only re- 
quired time to mature, protected the 
king against any effects of popular dis- 
approbation. But they could not pre- 
vent, or longer protract his surrender to 
the combined leaders, who now com- 
pelled him to receive them into his 
counsels, without further delay. 

In the audience that he gave the 
Duke of Portland, for the purpose of 
forming a new administration, he did 
not affect to conceal, or even to disguise, 
the painful emotions by wliich he was 
agitated on the occasion. He observed 
to that nobleman, that the ministerial 
arrangement to which he now sub- 
mitted, being altogether compulsory, 
the new ministers might dispose of the 
cabinet places, and other offices, as they 
should think proper : thai he would 
not oppose, or refuse his signature, to 
any act presented to him officially for 
his sanction ; but that the responsibility 
of advising such measures must wholly 
rest with them. And he added, that he 
would not create any new British peers 
at their recommendation ; a circum- 
stance of which he gave them distinct, 
and early notification. The coalilion 
having acquiesced, at least tacitly, ia 
these avowed principles of the king's 
conduct, took {xossessioa of the govern- 



390 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ment ; the Duke of Portland being 
placed at the head of the treasury ; and 
Lord John Cavendish a second time be- 
coming chancellor of the exchequer. 
Fox returned to the foreign office, as 
was naturally to be expected ; leaving 
to Lord North the secretaryship of 
state for the home department. Lord 
Keppel, who, disapproving of the 
conditions of the late peace, had re- 
signed the post of first lord of the admi- 
ralty, immediately after its conclusion, 
in vi^hich high employment he had been 
replaced by Lord Howe ; was reinstated 
in his ancient functions : while Lord 
Stormont became president of the coun- 
cil. I have been assured that the noble- 
man last mentioned, did not accept that 
situation, till he had clearly understood, 
as he conceived, the king's pleasure, 
upon the subject ; who not only ap- 
proved, but wished him to take the office, 
as it would exclude an enemy from oc- 
cupying so important a place. Yet it 
is difficult to reconcile this asserted per- 
mission and approbation, with the re- 
sentment that his majesty is known to 
have subsequently expressed, at Lord 
Slormont's thus actively joining the 
coalition. The privy seal was lastly 
given to the Earl of Carlisle. 

By this new ministerial arrangement, 
the cabinet, which, under Lord North 
had consisted of Jiine individuals; and 
which under the two succeeding ad- 
ministrations, was augmented to eleven; 
became reduced to seven persons. At 
first inspection, there seemed however 
to be something like an equal distribu- 
tion of power, between the two leaders 



three friends in the cabinet, were more- 
over incapable, if they had even been 
desirous of setting limits to his ambition, 
or of restraining his ascendancy. To 
Fox, the Duke of Portland might indeed 
be said to owe his elevation to the post 
of first lord of the treasury ; an emi- 
nence, to which his own very moderate 
abilities, though sustained by his high 
rank, could not of themselves have con- 
ducted him. In like manner, Lord 
Keppel stood indebted for bolli his 
place and his peerage, principally to 
Fox. Lord John Cavendish, from his 
great hereditary connections, and recog- 
nised integrity of character, might be 
esteemed, it is true, an honour and an 
ornament to any ministry: but though 
independent in mind and in fortune, yet 
he appeared to be not the less under 
Fox's intellectual dominion, who on all 
occasions propelled and guided him, in 
and out of parliament. Lord North, 
on the contrary, by no means possessed 
or exerted, the same influence over his 
two cabinet adherents, as Fox maintained 
among his coadjutors ; Lord Stormont 
in particular, might be considered as 
wholly independent of Lord North's 
control. Nor did the offices of presi- 
dent of the council, and of privy seal, in 
themselves confer the same active rights 
of ministerial interference, as did the 
treasury, the exchequer, and the admi- 
ralty ; all which departments lay in 
Fox's partition of employments. These 
circumstances are not unessential, when 
we speculate on the state of public 
affairs under the Duumvirs ; and may 
partly explain the causes, from which 



and parlies who had recently coalesced ; arose some of the most affirmative mea 



the Rockingham party reckoiung four, 
and their new allies counting three 
votes. But on closer examination, the 
fallacy became palpable, and it was evi- 
dent that Fox in reality possessed the 
whole authority of government. Not 
only he commanded a numerical majo- 
rity : he likewise held the treasury under 
his complete influence. Nor was tliis 
the single circumstance, that gave him a 
preponderating weight in every measure 
or deliberation. The energy and ac- 
tivity of his talents, when contrasted 
with the flexibility and indolence of 
Lord North, doubled his personal, as 
well as political consequence. His 



sures, subsequently adopted by the coa- 
lition. 

If Fox, however, took effectual care to 
secure the real power of the slate in his 
own hands, he in return allowed Lord 
North to bestow many of the great osten- 
sible situations about the court, among 
his immediate friend*. The Earl of 
Dartmouth, instead of privy seal, the 
cabinet ofhce that he had formerly held, 
was made lord steward: while the 
Earl of Ileilford a|)peared again in the 
drawing room, reinvested with his white 
wand of lord chaniberlain. Lord Town- 
send, restored to his ancient employ- 
ment, replaced the Dnke of Richmond 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



391 



at the head of the ordnance. He was a 
nobleman of very considerable ability, 
but of great eccentricity of manners and 
character, whicli seemed sometimes to 
approach almost to alienation of mind 



in his health, to acquire general attach- 
ment in a country, where no qualities, 
however eminent or meritorious, could 
recommend to national approbation, un- 
less accoujpanied by personal sacrifices 



Cheerful in his disposition, void of all 1 and exertions of various kinds. The 
pride or affectation, communicative, affa- { Duke of Rutland, whom Pitt sent over 
ble, convivial, facetious, and endowed | to the sister kingdom, early in 1784 ; by 
with uncommon powers of conversation, [ the magniticence of his establishment, 
he was formed to acquire popularity, the conviviality of his temper, and liie 
He eminently possessed liie dangerous excesses of his table ; in all which par- 
talent of drawing caricatures ; a faculty \ liculars he resembled his father, tlie Mar- 
which he did nof always restrain within ] quis of Granby ; — obliterated or super- 
the limits of severe prudence, though he seded Lord Townsend in their regard • 



no more spared himself, than he did 
others. It is well known that he drew 
his own portrait, habited in the state 
dress of lord lieutenant, having his hands 
tied behind him, in order to sliow how 
destitute he was of political power, or of 
the means of conferring favours. This 
allegorical picture, I have been assured, 
was hung up in a private cabinet of the 
castle at Dublin ; and when solicited to 
bestow offices or rewards, over which 
he had no control, he used to conduct 
the importunate suitor into the room; 
at the same lime asking him if he recog- 
nised the likeness, and understood the 
application. In Ireland, while adminis- 
tering the affairs of that kingdom during 
live years, he gave general satisfaction ; 
and I remember Courtenay eulogizing 
him in the House of Commons, in the 
language which Horace uses to Augustus. 

" LongRS, o utinam, dux bone, ferias 
Praestes fliberiiia; ; dicimus integro 
Sicci mane die, dicimus uvidi, 
Quura Sol Oceano subest." 



but he paid for the triumph with his life, 
falling a victim in the vigour of his age, 
within four years, to his irregularities. 

Mr. Charles Townsend, commonly 
called " Spanish Charles," from the cir- 
cumstance of his having formerly acted 
as secretary to the English embassy at 
Madrid; and whom Pitt created with 
nine other individuals, a peer, in 1797, 
by the title of Lord Bayning ; was made 
treasurer of the navy. Wallace, though 
labouring under ill health, became once 
more attorney general. Lord Samlwich, 
whose wants made office essential to 
him ; — instead of presiding over the 
admiralty, and directing that great de- 
partment of state, dwindled into ranger 
of the two parks : but, as some compen- 
sation for this official degradation, his 
son, Lord Hinchinbrook, a nobleman 
deservedly acceptable to his majesty, as 
well as one of the most honest, loyal, 
frank, and friendly men in the kingdom, 
— for I had the honour to enjoy his Iriend- 
ship ; — was made master of the buck 
hounds. If he fell much below his fa- 



ther, in ability, application, and talents 
Indeed, not one of the viceroys sent! for public business, he possessed greater 



over to Dublin in the course of twelve 
years, between 1772 and 1784, could 
compete with Lord Townsend in the 
affection of the Irish. Lord Harcourl 
was too grave and measured in his man- 
ners ; the Earl of Buckinghamshire had 



private virtues. Sir Grey Cooper, who 
had been one of the joint secretaries of 
the treasury, obtained a seat at the board. 
Not that Fox appeared by any means 
oblivious of his friends ; a fault which 
never could be imputed to him. Burke 



too cold, stiff, and lofty a deportment ; , went back with great alacrity, to the pay 
Lord Carlisle was too fine a gentleman, j office ; as did his brother, Richnrd Burke, 
and too highly bred ; the Duke of Port- to the joint secretaryship of the treasury. 



land and Earl Temple both, either from 
disinclination, or from physical inability, 
observeil too rigorously the virtues of 
temperance and abstemiousness ; virtues 
by no means congenial to the soil : — 
lastly, Lord Northington was too infirm 



Mr. Frederick Montagu resumed his 
place at that board : while the Earl of 
Surrey, whose recent services and pro- 
minent merit in parliament (\vhere he 
never shrunk from any exertion, however 
rough or personal), could not be passed 



392 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



over without remuneration, filled the re- 
maining vacancy. Considerably more 
than two centuries had elapsed, since 
the gallaat and distinguished earl of 
that name, so well known under Henry 
the Eighth, the last who bore the title, 
had occupied a situation in the councils 
of the crown. 

Colonel Fitzpatrick was made secre- 
tary at war : and though his talents al- 
ways appeared to me, to be of a descrip- 
lion more elegant than solid ; more 
adapted to entertain and delight, than 
fitted for the desk, or for the cabinet; 
yet 1 have been assured, even by those 
who were not partial to him among his 
own profession, that he gave great, as 
well as general satisfaction, while he 
held that employment. His person, 
tall, manly, and extremely distinguished ; 
set off by his manners, which, though 
lofty and assuming, were nevertheless 
elegant and prepossessing; — these en- 
dowments added grace to the attractions 
of his conversation. No man's society 
was more eagerly courted among the 



him with so lavish a hand. During the 
last months of his life, weakened by the 
progress of diseases which enfeebled hia 
frame, though perhaps without impairing 
his powers of underslandmg ; it might 
be in some degree said of Fitzpatrick, as 
the King of Prussia observes of Prince 
Eugene in the trenches before Philips- 
burgh in 1734, " Ce n'etoit plus que 
V Ombre du grand Eugene.^^ 

Sheridan became the other secretary 
of the treasury, and Lee was replaced in 
his former situation of solicitor general. 
For the lord lieutenancy of Ireland, the 
Earl of Northington was selected by Fox. 
His person, unwieldy, vacillating, and 
destitute of grace, seemed to disqualify 
him for any active exertions of body ; 
nor were his faculties brilliant : but I 
have always heard that he gave great 
satisfaction, and was as much beloved, as 
his infirmities permitted, during the pe- 
riod of his short residence in that king- 
dom. The embassy to Paris, Fox de- 
siined for the Duke of Manchester. His 
figure,»which was noble ; his manners. 



highest orders, by persons of both sexes, affable and corresponding with his high 



He possessed no mean poetic talents, 
peculiarly for compositions of wit, fancy, 
and satire, in all which he far exceeded 
Fox. The marriage of his sister with 
Stephen, Lord Holland, cemented their 
intimacy. They had been brought up 
together from early life, remained inse- 
parable to the last, and were strongly at- 
tached to each other. Fitzpatrick, like 
his friend, was a constant votary of 
Brookes's Club, and became during many 
years, a victim to play ; but he possessed 
one advantage over Fox, namely, the 
support arising from a profession. Asa 
member of the House of Commons, he 
obtained no distinction for eloquence; 
though he never betrayed, when address- 
ing parliament, any want of ideas, lan- 
guage, or ability. Under Charles the 
Second, he would have been more in his 
element and in his place, than under such 
a prince as George the Third ; of whose 
court, he must nevertheless always be 
considered to have formed a constfllalion 
and an ornament. In the " Memoires 
de Grnmmont.'''' he would assuredly have 
filled a very distinguished niche, i wit- 
nessed the spectacle of his surviving 
many of the personal and intellectual 
graces, which nature had conferred on 



rank, prepossessed in his favour: but his 
fortune bore no proportion to his dignity. 
Though a man of very dissipated habits, 
and unaccustomed to diplomatic business^ 
he did not want talents. Such were the 
leading arrangements made by the " coa- 
lition," on tlveir coming into power. 
The great seal, which no expostulations 
on the part of the king, could induce 
them to leave in Thurlow's hands, and 
which Wedderburn wisely declined ac- 
cepting under the circumstances of the 
time, was put into commission ; Lord 
Loughborough being placed at its head. 
He constituted a valuable acquisition to 
the new ministry in the House of Peers. 
Lord North, it must be reluctantly 
confessed, however circumstances may 
justify his union with Fox, on principles 
of policy, of personal safety, or of ne- 
cessity, did not perform in this great 
drama, the most dignified part. After 
having occupied the poi^t of first minis- 
ter, at the head of both ifie treasury and 
the exchequer, for twelve sessions ; it 
seemed to ordinary observers no little 
degradation, at more than fifty years of 
age, to accept the secretaryship of state 
for the home department ; and to take 
his seat as such, on the treasury bench^ 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



393 



where he had so long presidetl, now 
squeezed between Fox and Burke. I 
own, that I never r'ontemplaled him in 
that situation, without reflections allied 
to pity. It is true that we have since 
seen, and still acliially behold, an ex- 
first minister placed in the same depart- 
ment, alter having presided at the helm 
during more than three years. But it 
would be invidious, and it is unneces- 
sary, to draw any comparison between 
the two individuals. Neither their de- 
scent, the period of their respective ad- 
ministrations, nor even, according to my 
estimate, their abilities, can be consi- 
dered as having any similarity, and still 
less, any parity. Mr. Addington was, 
moreover, removed from the immediate 
scene of his fall in 1804, and translated 
to the upper house of parliament : while 
Lord North, remaining a commoner, 
with the insignia of the Garter across 
his breast, exhibited a spectacle of minis- 
terial greatness in eclipse, hke Wolsey, 
or like Clarendon, or like Bolingbroke. 
Even the compliments and the caresses 
of his late bitter opponents, now become 
his coadjutors, always appeared to me 
only to sink him in the estimation of the 
house. But he seemed, himself, to be 
wholly exempt from, or superior to, any 
painful emotions at the political change 
that he had undergone. The same 
cheerful complacency, ready wit, and 
unaffected good humour, always charac- 
terised him under every circumstance. 
Sometimes he even jested on his own 
descent from the highest situation to a 
subordinate place in government. The 
apartments constituting the secretary of 
state's office at the treasury, being situ- 
ate on the second floor, he experienced 
some fatigue in ascending so many 
steps ; and I recollect his once com- 
plaining, when out of breath, of the 
length of the staircase. Frequently, 
from the effect of long habit, or from 
absence of mind, forgetting the change 
in his oflicial situation, he went straight 
to the treasury chambers on the first 
floor. Such was the oblivious felicity 
and equality of his temper, that these 
accidents, which would have distressed 
more irritable men, never externally de- 
composed him. His eldest son. Colonel 
North, who had so actively exerted 
himself to effect the coalition, was made 



one of the two under secretaries in his 
father's office. 

[3d — 15ih of April.] It is unques- 
tionable that there existed a desire, if 
not a decided intention, on the part of 
the new administration, about this pe- 
riod, of calling up liord North to the 
House of Peers. The Duke of Rich- 
mond, when speaking in the house, on 
the eighth day of April, said, " Ru- 
mours prevailed that the assembly which 
he addressed was speedily to receive an 
honorable increase, by the introduction 
among them oi' the recently appointed 
secretary for the honie department." 
Far from denying, the Duke of Portland, 
then first lord of the treasury, avowed 
the fact. " As to the question put," 
answered he, " it is true that the secre- 
tary of state just named, is to be called 
up to a seat among us ; but when that 
event may take place, it is not in my 
power to say, for reasons ivhich must 
be obvious to every person luho hears 
me." Allusion, and even mention of 
the circumstance, was repeatedly made 
by members of the House of Commons, 
without receiving any contradiction. 
Pitt questioned Lord North on the sub- 
ject, only about a fortnight after this 
time. Apprehensive of that nobleman's 
opposition to his projected motion for a 
parliamentary reform, Mr. Pitt observed, 
while speaking in his place, that " re- 
port asserted, the noble lord in the blue 
ribband only remained a member of the 
lower house, for tlie purpose of opposing 
his proposition." Lord North replied, 
" that to spread such a report of his re- 
maining in that assembly for any particular 
design or object, was in itself very inde- 
cent." — " It becomes not me to assert," 
added he, " when, or whether I may 
ever be called up to the other house, 
and honoured with a seat in it. Both 
the power and the will reside in others. 
But whether my stay here may be of 
longer, or of shorter duration, I will 
always perform my duty, and give my 
opinion freely upon every subject that 
may come before me." He could not 
more clearly admit the truth of the sup- 
position, though various reasons or im- 
pediments probably prevented its accom- 
plishment. The king having expressly 
informed the ministers, when they 
caine into office, that he would not 



394 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



create any British peer at their recom- 
mencUtion or request; it was not likely 
that he would violate his resolution, in 
order to elevate Lord North to that dig- 
nity ; against whom, as may be sup- 
posed, he felt higlily offended, or rather 
indignant, for his union with Fox. 
Lord North himself, however well he 
supported appearances to the world, 
yet probably would not have disliked, 
after the recent events, to have quitted 
a scene such as the House of Com- 
mons, where he made an inglorious 
figure, and where recollections very 
humiliating must continually, intrude on 
his mind. Fox, on the other hand, 
could not possibly be averse to such a 
removal, as he wanted no coadjutor to 
aid him on the treasury bench ; while 
Lord North's retreat would have left 
him sole minister, as well as manager, 
of the lower house of parliament. But 
for that very reason, Lord North ought 
to have felt himself in some measure 
compelled to remain a commoner. His 
party, already shaken and diminished, i 
he well knew, would have soon crum- 
bled away, when they no longer beheld, 
nor could have had daily access to their 
leader. Neither would he have attract- 
ed the same consideration in the other 
house, as he excited in his actual situa- 
tion. Pressed between the amity of 
Fox, and the hostility of Pilt, wiih the 
loss of America about his neck, he saw 
himself obliged, after having so long 
performed the first figure, to become 
only the third personage in the state. 

The public business of every kind, 
which had been nearly eight weeks de- 
layed by the extraordinary occurrences 
that we have contemplated, at length 
began in parliament. For the third 
time within the space of about twelve 
months, the treasury bench exhibited a 
complete change. Many persons came 
down on the ninth of April, to witness 
the extraordinary spectacle of Lord 
North and Fox taking their places, 
side by side, as joint secretaries of 
state : — a metamorphosis, or more pro- 
perly to speak, a transition, to be ranked 
among the most wonderful which the 
eighteenth century displayed in political 
life ! The new chancellor of the ex- 
chequer opened his financial adminis- 
tration, a few days later with a loan ; 



the conditions of which, if not as bene- 
ficial or advantageous to the country, as 
might have been wished, were neverthe- 
less, he said, as good as could be pro- 
cured under the circumstances of urgen- 
cy and retardment in which the culpable 
obstinacy of the late ministers had in- 
volved every department. Mr. Pitt, 
who had now taken his place on the op- 
position bench, and who from this time, 
notwithstanding his youth, was justly 
considered as the head of that party in 
the House of Commons; opposed and 
censured the terms of Lord John Caven- 
dish's loan; but without venturing to 
divide the houge upon it, as the coa- 
lition, he was aware, would have much 
outnumbered him. Governor John- 
stone expressed himself likewise with 
great severity, on the subject of the bar- 
gain ; qualifying nevertheless his con- 
demnation, with compliments to Lord 
John's recognised integrity and purity 
of intention. Fox admitted it to be a 
disadvantageous loan for the public ; 
but added, that he heard with some 
astonishment, the censures passed on it 
by Mr. Pitt, he being the principal 
cause that the terms were bad, by his 
delay in quitting office. " With re- 
spect to a competition," continued he, 
" which the right honorable gentleman 
has recommended, as a preferable mode, 
none such could be obtained on the pre- 
sent occasion ; the bankers having con- 
nected themselves so strongly, and act- 
ed so much in concert, that it became 
impossible to surmount the impedi- 
ments raised by them." Pilt in reply, 
treated the reasons alleged by the se- 
cretary of state, with derision ; adding, 
that " perhaps, a term which had late- 
ly become celebrated, a coalition of 
bankers, might better express his mean- 
ing, than the word concert.'''' Nor did 
Pitt limit his sarcasms to political allu- 
sion : — for, Fox having, in order to 
justify the principle on which the 
twelve millions had been borrowed, ad- 
verted to the doctrine of chances : Pitt 
replied, that " the reasoning adopted, 
• was only becoming a gambler and a 
gamester, who takes up money despe- 
rately, without intending ever to repay 
the principal." The secretary retorted 
with asperity, vindicated himself from 
the imputation thrown on him* and by 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



395 



very solid arguments supported the 
transaction. Lord North, who was pre- 
sent, took merely a subordinate part in 
the dehate, leaving the burthen to be 
supported by Fox. Pitt's moral supe- 
riority to his ministerial antagonists, as 
resulting from character, was strongly 
manifested throngliout the whole discus- 
sion. 

[25ih of April.] Lord John's loan 
having borne a premium of eight per 
cent, within a week after its negotiation, 
the subject was again agitated in parlia- 
ment with augmented violence, Fox 
still taking on himself the principal de- 
fence of the measure. As he persisted 
to render the late ministers responsible 
for the terms, on account of the iiurry in 
which it was unavoidably concluded, 
Pitt called on him to desist from using 
such language ; or, if he conliiuied it, 
to come forward with a charge against 
himself, and not to make it by insinua- 
tion, but in direct words. Lord PSorth 
vainly endeavoured to moderate these 
mutual recriminations, and to infuse 
some good humour into the discussion. 
Pitt was not to be mollified by wit, or 
conciliated by advances. " The secre- 
tary of state," said he, '* not content 
with attempting to justify the loan, 
accuses me of neglecting to borrow 
while I was chancellor of the exchequer, 
when the three per cents were up at 
70. Has he forgotten the menaces 
which were thrown out against the late 
administration, if they attempted to ne- 
gotiate any measure of finance ? Was 
not this house urged to watch us nar- 
rowly, in order that no loan might be 
set on foot ; not even the Mutiny Bill 
passed, so necessary for controlling the 
army ; nor any act which could appear 
like the operation of permanent minis- 
ters, because a coalilion had been just 
formed to seize upon the government?'''' 
Such an expression was not of a nature 
to be passed over by the secretary in 
silence. " I insist," answered he, " that 
it is a rash and unjustifiable assertion. 
The late cabinet was driven from office, 
as, I trust, every cabinet will be, the 
members of which act wrong, by a ma- 
jority of this house. By the same con- 
stitutional means, the ministry of the 
noble lord near me, was removed; a 
measure in which the right honorable 



gentleman fully concurred, Does he 
now mean to deny that the House of 
('ommons possesses any ri^ht of inter- 
ference in the government of the coun- 
try ? If he does, the indecent expres- 
sion which he has just used, may be con-' 
sislent with such principles. But if he 
has not forgotten or abandoned his ori- 
ginal ideas and opinions, I hope he will 
Ibrbear from applying such appellations 
to the line of conduct, which, twelve 
months ago, he himself approved." 
Far, however, from disavowing, or in 
any degree retracting the obnoxious 
words, Pitt not only repealed them, 
but declared that he meant to use them 
on all future occasions, as being the 
only appropriate expressions when 
alhuiing to the manner in which the 
coalition had obtained possession of 
power. " I confess at the same time," 
added he, " that had they ever been 
a|)plied to the conduct which drove from 
eiiiploymenl the noble lord in the blue 
ribband, I should have expressed my 
indignation at it ; but I never can con- 
sent to regard two things so dissimilar, 
in the same point of view." If public 
opinion, independent of parliament, 
could have raised any man to office, 
Pitt would unquestionably have been 
elevated in April, 1783, to the situation 
which he attained eight months later, in 
December of the same year. But tjie 
coalition for the present remained mas- 
ters of the government, and compelled 
him to confine his opposition to verbal 
remonstrances. He knew his party to 
be too weak for hazarding a division, 
which could only have exposed the 
paucity of his numbers. 

[7th May.] Nor did Pitt prove more 
successful in an attempt which he soon 
afterwards renewed, to efTect a parlia- 
mentary reform, than he had been in 
the former session. He pronounced, 
indeed, a most eloquent address upon 
the subject, and was supported in his 
motion by Fox. Two proselytes, like- 
wise, Mr. Thomas Pitt and Mr. Dun- 
das, having read, each, their political re- 
cantation, adopted his principles for ren- 
dering the representation more extended, 
as well as more pure and incorrupt. 
But the house remained deaf to all these 
arguments, though illustrated by exam- 
ples ; the latter of which did not even 



396 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



appear to liave obtained for those who 
exhibited them, the praise either of dis- 
iiuerestediiess or of sincerity. Fox and 
Sheridan, while they sustained Pitt's 
proposition, yet treated with contempt 
and derision the pretended sacrifice of 
the borougii of Old Sarum, which xMr. 
Thomas Pitt affected to offer up at the 
shrine of the ikitish Constitution, as a 
victim to its renevated purity. If we 
reflect on the close degree of consan- 
guinity that existed between William 
and Thomas Pitt, who were cousins- 
german, — a relationship strengthened 
by personal friendship, — and if we 
likewise recollect that Thomas repre- 
sented the elder branch of the family, 
we may perhaps incline to think that he 
relied on being speedily raised to the 
peerage for this mark of devotion, as 
tiffeciivoly took place scarcely eight 
months afterwards. Dundas, who had 
a long and a keen political sight, having 
already determined on attaching his 
future political fortune to Piit, probably 
thought a speculative political tenet to 
be undeserving of contention. But the 
recantation pronounced by both, rather 
tended to throw a ridicule on the propo- 
sition, than to recommend it to the 
house. Lord North made ample amends 
for his passive inactivity during the 
preceding session, when a similar dis- 
cussion had taken place. He spoke with 
uncommon ability, wit, and force of ar- 
gument, against all representative inno- 
vation, Powis, who rarely coincided 
with him on any point, joined him on 
this occasion. 

It has always appeared to me, that 
Pill's proposition for a parliamentary re- 
form in 178.3, was liable to less excep- 
tion than his motion of the preceding 
year. 'J"'he latter, which he inade in 
M iv, 178'J, opened wide the door of 
innovation, as it [)rop()sed " a committee 
to be appointed, for enquiring into the 
stale of the national representation in 
parliament ;" whereas on ili,e present 
occasion, he named his s[)ecific remedies 
fi)r the alleged evil. Amono; them, the 
principal cure for court influence and 
corruption, was "an addition of knights 
of the shire, and of repres^eniatives of the 
metropolis." We must own, that as far 
as theory may be trusted, of all the experi- 
ments which could be tried on the Bri- 



tish Constitution, this seems to promise 
the fairest for success, or in all cases to 
be productive of the least injury. It was 
compared perhaps with propriety, to the 
infusion of new blood into the animal 
body. Pitt left the deliberative wisdom 
of parliament to determine how many 
county members should be added ; but 
he gave it as his own opinion, that they 
ought not to be under one hundred. 
Powis, who spoke very early in the de- 
bate, admitted ihu among all the mea- 
sures devised for ameliorating the compo- 
sition of the lower house of parliament, 
the present was open to least objection ; 
but he did not on that account allow it 
to be proper for adoption. With great 
ability and effect he called on the clerks 
to produce, and to read over, as most 
essential when such a subject was under 
discussion ; the petitions for a more equal 
or extended representation, from the po- 
pulous towns of Birmingham, Manches- 
ter, and Sheffield, After a careful ex- 
amination, the clerks informed him, that 
not one of those three great manufactur- 
ing places had sent any petition to par- 
liament, " What! Not to be found in 
the list!" exclaimed Powis, "How 
negligent ! How oblivious of their duty 
to the state, and to themselves ! Do 
they then regard themselves as outcasts 
from the Constitution ! How can they 
so forget to demand a boon which would 
restore them to employment, to trade, 
and to happiness !" The house felt the 
full force of this ingenious sarcasm. 

Mr, Thomas Pitt, though he exposed 
himself to much severe comment, not 
unaccompanied with ridicule, for his ter- 
giversation in supporting the [)resent 
motion, when in the preceding sessi(m 
he had opposed a proposition of a similar 
nature; yet alleged some very plausible 
reasons lor his versatility. He was in- 
deed a very plausible speaker, and had 
a seductive species of eloquence which 
characterized him. Nor did he, though 
he coincided with his relation and friend, 
by any means disgrace himself in the 
manner of doing it. On the fontrary, 
while he .surrendered to ihe principle, he 
opposed and resisted the application. 
Vo the augmentation of the county 
members he assented ; inil, not to the 
number, below which the mover had de- 
clared they ought not to fall. Mr. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



397 



Thomas Pilt protested against the intro- 
diiciion of so large a body of new men, 
who would far exceed, he said, the limits 
dictated by prudence and caution. " If 
no other person will do it," added he, 
'* I will offer an amendment, by iiiserling 
the words, an augmentalion of one niein- 
ber to each county in England and 
Wales; and I am determined to take the 
sense of the house upon it." Tliere 
was nothing servile or dependent in this 
conduct. Having expressed in language 
ol' energy and animation, his respect for 
a well balanced, limited, and mitigated 
monarchy, such as ours ought ever to 
be ; he drew with the pencil of a master, 
the two extreme cases ; one, of a mi- 
nister who should throw all power into 
the scale of the crown ; contrasted with 
the other, who avowed his intention of 
making the balance preponderate in fa- 
vour of the people. It was not possible 
to mistake, that by the former portrait, 
he meant to designate Lord North ; by 
the latter, Fox. Both were highly co- 
loured, yet not destitute of truth. When 
he had depictured the calamities result- 
ing from a bad administration, supporting 
itself by corruption, in defiance of public 
opinion, of the independent part of par- 
liament, and of the nation ; which go- 
vernment he denominated " the more 
absolute, as wearing the mask of liber- 
ty ;" he held up to view, the opposite 
extreme. " If," observed he, " on the 
other hand, in a Constitution poised like 
our own, the force of cabal and faction 
could at any time seize on the executive 
authority, equally against the sense of 
the sovereign, and of the people ; — if 
the titular monarch should be so dis- 
armed and pinioned, as to be allowed no 
choice in the nomi)iation of his minis- 
ters ; no opinion as to the measures pur- 
sued ; no free will as to granting or 
withholding the favours and graces of 
the crown; — in a word, if nothing 
should remain to the monarch, except 
the mortifying pre-eminence of sustain- 
ing daily insults on the throne ; — / 
should not hesitate to denominate such 
a government, a republic; and a re- 
public of the worst description.^'' 

Neither, of the two secretaries of state 

could pass over without notice, allusions 

at once so severe and so personal. Lord 

North contrived, with uncommon felicity 

34 



of argument and expression, to blend 
his own defence, with the opposition 
which he made to the motion. Rarely 
have I witnessed, even from him, a dis- 
play of greater talent, pleasantry, and 
sound reasoning. Borrowing part of his 
artillery from Shakspeare, he played, in 
a manner peculiarly entertaining, upon 
the hundred knights proposed by Put, to 
be added to the county members. " / 
say, however, as I trust the majority 
wdl say, this night," continued he, " No! 
not filly. Wliat! not fifty! No! not 
one." — " The American war is held up 
to our view, as if it had been the war of 
the crown, in contradiction to the wishes 
of the people. I deny the fact. It was 
the war of parliament, sanctioned through- 
out its whole progress, by both houses. 
It was more. It was the war of the 
people, undertaken for the purpose of 
maintaining their rights over the depen- 
dencies of the empire. It was, in its 
commencement, a popular war. Could 
the pretended influence of the crown 
have not only procured majorities ap- 
proaching nearly to unanimity, within 
these walls; but almost unanimous ap- 
probation without doors? — True it is, 
that ill success rendering it at length un- 
popular, the people began to cry out for 
peace. Had the Constitution been so 
corrupt, or so disordered, as these refor- 
mers assert ; how comes it that ihe voice 
of the people and of this house, has so 
recently prevailed against the power and 
inlluence of the crown V 

After having demonstrated that the 
petitions from various counties of the 
kingdom, laid upon the table, had been 
surreptitiously obtained, or were sijjned 
only by a minority of the inhabitants 
and freeholders ; he entreated the indul- 
gence of the house, while he said a few 
words personal to himself. Never did I 
witness a more enthusiastic or more 
universal encouragement than he re- 
ceived, to induce him to proceed ! 
" Well, sir," said he, addressing the 
chair, " the fact to which I allude, is the 
accusation respecting bad ministers being 
continued in oflice, by the over-ruliuir 
influence of the crown, against the 
wishes of the people. This is not a 
random stroke. Its direction may be 
discovered, by the quarter from which.it 
comes ; and I will not affect to think 



398 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



that it can be levelled against any other 
person than myself. But the aitaek is 
altogether unjust. I was not a minister 
of chance, picked up by the sovereign, 
and unknown to parliament. It was 
here I first became known. In my rise 
1 was the creature of parliament. Wlien 
1 fell, I was its victim. You raised me 
up. You pulled me down. Does my 
administration show the undue influence 
of the crown ? No ! Sir, the history of 
my political life forms a proof, which 
will overturn a thousand wild assertions, 
that tliere is a corrupt influence in the 
crown, whicli destroys the independence 
of this assembly. Where tiien is the 
necessity lor this paraded reformation ?" 
" 'I'he addition of a hundred, or even of 
fifty county members, would give to the 
landed interest, a decided superiority 
over the monied and the commercial. 
But let us not begin to invade the fabric 
of the British Constitution, which pre- 
serves the due equipoise between the 
several great interests of the empire ! 
Principiis obsta. Let us act as the 
representatives, not as the deputies, of 
the people. We are not to refer to them, 
before we deiermine. We are to use 
our own discretion, seeking no other 
guidance. In a word, let us reject those 
specious, but dangerous measures, which, 
if once adopted, will inevitably lead to 
subversion !" We are at a loss whether 
most to admire the principles, the elo- 
quence, or the reasoning of this admira- 
ble address, which would of itself suf- 
fice to place Lord North in the first rank 
of wise, enlightened, and patriotic states- 
men. 

Fox displayed on that night, his usual 
ability; but he found himself painfully 
situated ; hampered by his declarations 
when out of office; compelled to vote 
against his colleague, and to support 
Pitt, whom he apprehended as his most 
formidable adversary. He took however 
a sort of revenge, by holding up Mr. 
Thomas Pitt to ridicule. Probably, if 
he could have relied on continuing in 
office, lie would have been inclined to 
imitate the two examples set him by 
Thomas Pitt and by Dundas. And as 
they had abandoned in some degree their 
preceding opinions and declarations, in 
order to cement their connexion with the 
mover of the proposition; so the new 



secretary might have manifested some 
symptom of a more favourable disposi- 
tion towards the crown, and less ardour 
for popular rights, than he had hitherto 
exhibited in parliament. But Fox well 
knew on what loose foundations his 
power reposed. He felt the strong alien- 
ation by which the king was animated 
towards him and his associates in office; 
and he therefore did not venture on any 
step, which might compromise him with 
his Westminster constituents, or expose 
him to the imputation of inconsistency 
and apostacy. Throughout the whole 
period of Fox's ministerial career, while 
a member of the coalition, he seems 
never to have forgotten that he held his 
situation, not by the choice of the sove- 
reign, but in contradiction to his will. 
He was in fact a tribune, arrayed in con- 
sular robes, who always beheld before 
him the Palace Yard convocations, and 
considered himself as a representative of 
the people, rather than a minister of 
George the Third. Pitt, on the contrary, 
even while seated on the opposition 
bench, appeared to anticipate his speedy 
return to power as certain, and only to 
wait for the occasion presenting itself, to 
resume his former functions. 

Two individuals of great eminence in 
parliament, were prevented on that occa- 
sion, though by very diff'erent causes, 
from delivering their opinions, on Pitt's 
proposed measure of reform. The first. 
Sir George Saville, who rose when Mr. 
Thomas Pitt sate down, and who always 
slronuly supported every proposition for 
restraining the power of the crown ; was 
compelled by severe indisposition to stop 
short, after pronouncing only a few sen- 
tences. The disorders under which he 
laboured, and which had already im- 
paired his bodily strength, though not 
the activity of his mind, conducted him 
soon afterwards to the grave. Burke, 
whose powerful abilities would have 
been thrown into the opposite scale; — 
for he was always an enemy to experi- 
ments on the representation, or on the 
Constitution ; — stood up when Fox con- 
cluded, with the intention of replying to 
the arguments of the secretary his friend. 
But the disinclination evinced to hear 
him, and the noise made by those mem- 
bers who dreaded the prolixity of his 
speeches, was so great, as at once to ir- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



399 



ritate and disgust a man, who, with all | and alluding to the proposed addition 
his splendid talents, never learned or of co//n/j/ members. " I do not allow," 
practised the secret of knowing how and exclaimed he, "that they are more 
when to address the house. With strong j respectable ilian the burgesses. I am 
marks of indignation in his countenance j myself a burgess, and so is the mover of 
and gestures, he resumed his seal. With | this question. Never will I consent to 



perfect truth did Goldsmith assert of 
Burke, when preparing to open his ex- 
haiistless stores of knowledge, to men 
fatigued, or averse to receive his infor- 
mation, that 

'' He thought of convincing when they thought 
of dining ;" 

while Sheridan possessed so nice a 
tact, and knew so well how to contract 
his matter, when he perceived an im- 
patience or a disinclination to listen, 
that he never experienced the mortify- 
ing rejection which Burke provoked. 

Rigby made a conspicuous figure 
towards the close of this memt)rable 
debate. Unlike Dundas, who had laid 
at the feet of Pitt, his former opinions ; 
Rigby maintained them in all their force. 
Nor did he fail to express the utmost as- 
tonishment at the change which had 
taken place in the sentiments of his 
friend the learned lord, on the subject 
under discussion. The friendship to 
which he alluded, had however suffered 
some injury since Lord North's resig- 
nation, during more than a year, in 
consequence of the rapid succession of 
ministerial changes, and political events ; 
and they no longer acted, as formerly, 
in concert. Dundas kept his eye only 
upon Pitt. Rigby, pressed to pay into 
the exchequer, his vast balances of pub- 
lic money, was compelled to adapt his 
conduct to circumstances. Their union 
might indeed be already considered as 
at an end. The ex-paymaster finally 
joined the coalition: while the lord 
advocate remained unalterably attached 
to the rising star of Chatham ; by the 
influence of which, added to his own 
distinguished abilities, he not only at- 
tained and long occupied, some of the 
highest employments ; but ultimately 
closed his career in the upper house of 
parliament. On the present occasion, 
Rigby expressed himself with his blunt, 
habitual, contemptuous frankness of lan- 
guage and of manner. Having treated 
the petitions for a more equal represen- 
tation, as undeserving serious notice, 



any innovation or augmentation in the 
actual numbers of the commons. Nay, 
I would prefer beholding another mem- 
ber added to the borough of Old Sarum, 
which consists only of a single tene- 
ment, rather than allovv another member 
to the city of London, which isiilready 
sufficiently represented in this assem- 
bly." — " The spirit of innovation has 
been carried too far, while the influence 
of the crown is too much curtailed. 
Will ministers assert," continued he, 
looking across the house at Fox, that 
they do not feel it ; and feel it as an 
impediment to government, in carrying 
on the most necessary measures of ad- 
ministration ?" — The secretary of state 
signifying by his gestures, that he did 
not agree to the assertion, '♦ I well 
know," said Rigby, without being dis- 
concerted, " that here, in this house, I 
shall receive no other reply." It won't 
do for gentlemen who have been most 
clamorous in opposition, and who have 
for many sessions declaimed against the 
influence of the crown ; to admit in the 
face of those whom they have misled, 
that they now, when seated on the trea- 
sury bench, smart under the inconve- 
nience which they have themselves pro- 
duced. Rut I am sure they feel it, and 
the public feel it not less." — " I am as 
great an enemy to a dangerous extension 
of the royal influence as any man 
within these walls : but it forms as ne- 
cessary an ingredient in the Constitution 
as the power of the Commons. And I 
hope, the time is not remote when that 
influence, so decried of late, will be re- 
stored to its former necessary and bene- 
ficial extent." We cannot wonder that 
such opinions and principles, however 
odious they might be to the multitude 
convened in Palace Yard, should have 
formed powerful recommendations at 
St. James's. Mr. Pitt's resolutions 
were finally negatived by a far greater 
majority than in the preceding year ; 
out of near four hundred and fifty mem* 
hers who voted, only one hundred and 
forty-nine having divided with liim. 



400 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



[May.] No man in office made a 
more coiispicuons figure, or attracted 
more attention, diiring the session under 
consideration, than Burke: but it was 
not by any means such as his friends 
and admirers could contemplate either 
with pride, with pleasure, or even with 
approbation. It excited indeed great 
regret, that a person endowed with 
parts so eminent, and apparently ani- 
mated by philanthropy so extended, 
should nevertheless allow himself at 
limes to be led into the most unjustifia- 
ble deviations from ordinary prudence 
and propriety of conduct. In the pre- 
sent instance he involved his party, as 
well as himself, in equal embarrass- 
ment, by his intemperate precipitation. 
Two individuals, Powell and Bem- 
bridge, the one cashier, the other ac- 
countant, of the military pay-office, 
having been accused of malversations in 
the discharge of their functions, had 
been dismissed by Colonel Barre from 
their offices, while be was paymaster 
of the forces, under Lord Shelburne's 
administration. On Burke coming 
again into that employment, one of his 
first acts, without previously consulting 
Fox upon the subject, was to reinstate 
both those persons in their respective 
situations. Such a proceeding relative 
to functionaries labouring under heavy 
charges, and about to become subjects 
of criminal prosecution in the court of 
King's Bench naturally formed an ob- 
ject of discussion in the House of Com- 
mons, where it excited very pointed 
animadversion. Burke, petulant and 
irritable, defended with warmth the step 
that he had taken, though a measure in 
itself evidently contrary to the judgment 
of all parties. Fox, while he tacitly 
lamented and disapproved the act, yet, 
as he never abandoned his friends in 
distress, endeavoured to justify its au- 
thor. The interference was, never- 
theless, peculiarly painful and delicate 
on his part ; Powell, who had risen un- 
der his father, the late Lord Holland, 
being supposed to have connived at 
some of the appropriations of public 
money, which were attributed, perhaps 
very unjustly, by popular prejudice, to 
that nobleman, while paymaster of the 
forces. It was for the corrupt conceal- 
ment of a sum exceeding forty-eight 



thousand pounds in the aceount.s of 
Lord Holland^ that Powell and Bern 
bridge were now about to undergo a trial. 
No circumstance therefore could have 
been less agreeable to Fox, while 
standing in the conspicuous situation of 
secretary of stale, than to be thus com- 
pelled by Burke's imprudence in restor- 
ing them to their places, to come for- 
ward as the advocate and apologist of 
such a transaction. 

On the first agitation of the business, 
Pill having observed that the restoration 
of two men accused of malversation, ap- 
peared to reflect in no ordinary degree, 
on the authors of their dismission ; as 
well as on the late attorney general 
(Kenyon), who had given his decided 
opinion against both the individuals ; 
Sheridan rt)se in order to justify the 
transaction, as far as it involved minis- 
ters in any culpability. His vindication 
seeming to bear hard upon Kenvon, as 
if he had neglected his official duty in 
not commencing and following up a pro- 
secution against them : he, who pos- 
sessed a more than common portion of 
irritability, instantly came forward. In 
terms the most explicit he protested, 
that as soon as the case of Powell and 
Bembridge was laid before him he had 
delivered his opinion, that they oncht to 
become objects equally of a civil and a 
criminal pursuit. " In so strong a point 
of view," added he, "did I see their 
conduct, as to leave me no hesitation in 
declaring to the persons who were then 
in pov.'er, that such enormous offenders 
ought not to be suffered to remain in 
places of trust." Under this heavy 
charge, made from so high a quarter, 
Burke did not at first display any unbe- 
coming warmth. On the contrary, he 
rather endeavoured to extenuate, to ex- 
plain, and to palliate, than eilher wholly 
to deny, or to vindicate, the acts com- 
mitted in his office. But Martin, who 
had always expressed a decided con- 
demnation of the coalition, which poli- 
tical junction he embraced every oppor- 
tunity of reprobating ; having observed 
that he regarded the restoralion of the 
cashier and accountant of the military 
pay office, as a gross and daring in- 
sult to the public; Burke lost all con- 
trol over his temper. In a manner the 
most furious, starling up from the 



o( 1 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



401 



treasury bench on which he was seated, 
he unquestionably would have given 
way to his rage, in words the most un- 
becoming, if more than one of his friends 
near him, had not forcibly pulled him 
down in his place, and held him there. 
Sir Edward A-Stley liaving nevertheless 
repeated Martin's assertion ; adding, 
that " to replace two individuals accused 
of a crime amounting to public robbery, 
implied a contempt of public opinion, 
and was a daring insult ;" Fox found it 
high time to interfere. His speech, 
while it implied his regret at the injudi- 
cious conduct of the paymaster, and his 
disapprobation of the whole transaction, 
yet made the most temperate, able, and 
effectual appeal to the candour and 
liberality of the house. After declaring 
that he never had heard of the restoration 
of the two persons in question, till 
Burke himself had communicated to 
him the fact, at St. James's, just as he 
was entering the king's closet ; he readily 
admitted the indispensable necessity for 
an inquiry taking place. " But," added 
he, " Mr. Burke thinking that punish- 
ment ought not to precede inquiry, has 
restored them to their situation ; de- 
termined, no doubt, on suiting his future 
conduct to the eventual issue." With 
great address Fox threw a veil over the 
infirmity of his friend ; and being as- 
sisted by the Speaker, who declared the 
whole conversation to be disorderly, as 
there was not any question before the 
house, the business was stopped. Tliisdis- 
cussion look place on the second of May. 
[19th — 21st May.] A transaction 
of so extraordinary a nature, which in- 
volved in it either the paymaster who 
had suspended, or the paymaster who 
had restored, the two accused indivi- 
duals ; though it might be arrested for 
a short time, yet could not, however, be 
wholly suppressed by ministerial power 
and interference. The belief and even 
conviction of Powell and Bembridge's 
guilt becoming universal, the subject 
was soon renewed in the House of Com- 
mons. Lord Newiiaven, one of the two 
members for Gatton in Surrey, a borough 
of which he was then the proprietor; and 
who had been raised from the rank of a 
baronet to the diijnity of an Irish peer, 
by Lord North, during the course of his 
administration, became the involuntary 
34* 



instrument of reviving the discussion. 
For, he having made a motion on the 
24lh of April, to lay on the table the 
treasury minute respecting the suspen- 
sion of Powell and Bembridge, with a 
view to commence an inquiry into the 
affiiir, now moved to discharge the 
order. He assigned as a reason for 
this seeming inconsistence, that a prose- 
cution having been commenced in the 
courts below, it would be unbecoming 
to continue the inquiry within those 
walls. But his proposition was strongly 
opposed from various quarters. Sir 
Cecil Wray, who, though he possessed 
no superior talents, was independent in 
mind, as well as in fortune, expressed 
his astonishiiient that the paymjster 
general should reinstate two persons, 
suspected of so great a crime as the em- 
bezzlement of public money. The rea- 
sons assigned by Burke for his conduct, 
namely, tliat he believed them innocent, 
i and that he was responsible, not to the 
house, but to the public," ap[)eared to 
him (Sir Cecil Wray), by no means 
satisfactory. 

Mr. Powis, as well as other members, 
sustaining the arguments, Burke was 
necessitated to enter on his defence, 
which he did with temper, if not with 
judgment. It would, indeed, have been 
most imprudent, as well as dangerous, 
to have allowed his anger to predominate 
over his reason, after plunging himself 
into so complicated an embarrassment. 
He excused the violence which he had 
displayed during the former debate, by 
alleging die respect he felt for the 
house, and his extreme sensibility to 
any marks of their displeasure. But he 
in the same breath desired it to be un- 
derstood, that nothing could be more 
remote from his present intention than 
to offer any excuse for his conduct rela- 
tive to the two unfortunate gentlemen 
in question. " On that point," added 
he, " I feel such a sunshine of content 
within, that if the act were undone, lam 
convimed I should repeat it. My inva- 
riable maxim and rule of conduct, is to 
compassionate and to protect the unfor- 
tunate, while I do not find thein to be 
criminal. The individuals under dis- 
cussion have been commitied to my 
protection by Providence, and I have 
only, performed my duly by replacing 



402 HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 

— ♦— — 
them in their situations. I nevertheless and of considerable length, a division 
disclaim every idea of having either took, place. Near three hundred mem- 
acted in concert with his majesty's bers were present, of which number, 
ministers, or of even having asked their one hundred and thirty -seven voted for 
advice. Nay more, I protest that I have producing the treasury minutes. One 
retained these persons in office contrary hundred and sixty-one supported govern- 
to their own prayers and entreaties. — ' ment; thus carrying the question only 
As to my own share in this affair, I care ; by twenty-four. But the real victory 



not how deeply it is probed. My mind 
filled with conscious rectitude of inten- 
tion, was never more tranquil than on ' 
the present occasion." 

A defence, if such it can properly be 
denominated, which seemed to set all 
common rules of human action at defi- 
ance, and might justly be thought to 



remained with opposition, — the victory 
of public opinion ; for probably, among 
those persons who supported administra- 
tion, scarcely ten individuals approved 
the cause in which they engaged. 

Mr. Rolle, member for the county of 
Devon, who has been since raised to the 
peerage ; justly considering Burke's con- 



impeach the sanity of Burke's mind, did duct as not only wrong in itself, but in- 
not tend to conciliate his audience, or to \ suiting to the country at large ; brought 
slop all further inquiry. Pitt, Dundas, , the consideration of it a third time, be- 
Kenyon, Mr. Thomas Pitt, Pepper Ar- [ fore the house. Having demanded of 
den. Colonel Barre, and many others, \ the paymaster, whether he still retained 
persisted to demand that the treasury I his determination to keep Powell and 
minutes should be laid on the table. ' Bembridge in their employments, Burke 
Ministers, on the other hand, though ) rose, and pronounced a speech of near 
they admitted the imprudence of the [ two hours. He was indeed several 
paymaster, and lamented it, yet resisted I times interrupted, and called to order ; 
any disclosure whatever, under the pre- 1 the irritation of his temper carrying him 
tence that it might prejudice the accused | into digressions altogether irrelevant to 
parties, if made previous to the criminal the subject under discussion. Great 
proceedings about to take place in the J eccentricity, if not aberration of mind. 



courts of judicature. Fox exerted all 
the powers of reasoning, and Sheridan 
exhausted his ingenuity, in endeavours 
to protect their friend. General Con- 
way, while he avowed that Burke's 
conduct did not meet his approbation, I 
vet refused to consent to the production 
of the minutes. Nor did Lord North ' 
decline to perform on that evening, the 
service of a faithful ally to his new col- 
leagues. He not only voted, but spoke 
in the course of the debate with great 
apparent animation. To him, indeed, 
and to his adherents, more than to the 
Rockingham party, was to be attributed 
the slender majority by which minis- 
ters ultimately prevailed. Even that 
triumph, if it could deserve the name, 
was not obtained till Lee, the solicitor- 
general, had solemnly pledged himseli 
to the house, ihat the prosecution against 
Powell and Bembridge should be seri- 
ously conducted. As the best proof of 
his sincerity, he called on the late attor- 
ney and solicitor general, to aid him in 
the proceeding. Under these circum- 
»laiu;es, afifr a debate of great acrimony, 



characterized many passages of his de- 
fence : which implied a distempered ima- 
gination, under the influence of strong 
feeling, but destitute of the control of 
sober reason. He compared himself to 
an Indian savage, roasted by one of his 
countrymen, and served up as a dish, or 
as an entre-met. After calling on God 
to witness, that in all the proceedings 
relative to the two accused persons, he 
had been actuated solely by motives of 
justice and of conscience ; he neverthe- 
less added, that as so large and respecta- 
ble a body of members had appeared to 
censure his conduct, he would give way. 
His bill for reforming the royal house- 
hold, he said, constituted his irremissible 
crime, and had procured him numerous 
enemies. To that cause he appeared to 
ailribuie the present attack upon his con- 
duct, as well as the successive interrup- 
tions that he underwent. Of Powell and 
I5embridge he spoke, not only as men 
of uncoiniTion official merit, but of reli- 
gious integrity. Then diverging to 
other points apparently unconnected with 
the topic before the house, he lamented 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



403 



Lord Rockingham's decease ; piii him- 1 he refused to answer the question put to 
self upon God and his country ; claimed i him ; and the whole business would have 
the merit of his reforms ; and added, that been agitated anew, if Rigby had not 
he had still great matters of a similar de- ; risen to satisfy the demand, by declar- 
scriplion to propose to parliament, if ing that Bembridge was actually sus- 
they did not fetter him in the mode of pended. 

carrying them into execution. Mingling j The House of Commons, however 
some of the tinei-t passages of Virgil and strong a disposition they showed on 
of Shakspeare, with his own justifica- 1 every occasion, to approve and to sanc- 
tion, he impressed his audience with tion the general measures of adminislra- 
mingled pity and admiration. Having | tion ; manifested nevertheless strong dis- 
coneluded, he started up again, merely ! approbation of Burke's conduct in this 
to stale that Powell had already resign 
ed, at his own request, and that Bern- 



instance, Powell, overcome either by 
the weight of his own distress, or by his 
bridge had made a similar offer ; but he inability to sustain the public opinion of 
trusted the house would not insist on its his culpability ; after losing in a great 
being carried into execution. measure the use of his faculties, put an 



Mr. RoUe continuing nevertheless to 
be of opinion that the latter ought equa 



end to his existence with a razor. Bem- 
bridge, endowed with a firmer mind, or 



ly to be suspended, Fox interposed ; with stronger nerves, was reserved for 
and though he deprecated the measure , the infamy of a public trial and condem- 
taking place previous to a trial in West- nation, !)efore Lord Mansfield. The 
minster Hall, yet, he subjoined, that as ' prosecution, which took place some 
so respectable a minority thought oiher- ' months afterwards ; reluctantly, but ably 
wise, he wished his friend to accept and fairly conducted by Lee, the solici- 
Bembridge's resignation. Rigby tried tor general, terminated in the complete 
however one more eflTort in his behalf^ exposure of the fraud imputed to Bem- 
but without efl^'ect. The ex-paymaster i bridge, for which the court sentenced 
making on this occasion, common cause j him to a severe fine and imprisonment, 
with his present successor ; after bear- Every exertion which the purity of our 
ing ample testimony to the high merits ' jurisprudence will allow, was made to 
of the two culprits during thirteen years | soften, or to avert, the severity of the 
that he had held the office ; endeavoured stroke.* Burke, who did not liesi- 
to show that no possible injury would | tate to appear in court, seated upon the 
accrue to the public, from suff'ering 1 bench, during the proceedings, gave the 
Bembridge to exercise the functions of j strongest attestations to Bembridge's 
accountant. His eloquence proved i character for integrity. He was accum- 
equally unavailing with Burke's pathetic panied there by Lord North, who like- 
and querulous invocations. The house I wise condescended to join in a similar 
remained inexorable; and Fox did not testimony to the good conduct and pro- 
dare to hazard the experiment of a se- j bity of the accused, during tlie time that 



coud division, by which, whatever miffht 
be the result, government would only 
augment the obloquy already incurred. 
Burke therefore appeared sullenly to ac- 
quiesce ; declaring at the same time, that 
he would not be responsible for the con- 
sequences which might accrue from the 
resignation of Bembridge. So doubtful 
however did his submission seem, and 
so strong was his repugnance to obey the 
orders of parliament, that Rolle repeated 
his enquiries on the subject, a few days 



he had, himself, formerly held the post 
of joint paymaster of the forces. But 
these eflorts, which proved unavailing, 
only attracted censure towards the per- 
sons who thus attempted to screen from 
punishment, a conspicuous delinquent: 
while the proofs exhibited of his 
guilt, impressed the public mind with 
opinions highly unfavourable, not mere- 
ly to Burke himself, at, least in a pru- 
dential point of view ; but to the minis- 
try in which he filled so distinguished a 



afterwards ; during which short interval i place, 
of time, Powell fell a victim to his re- [3d June.] Scarcely had this affair 
flections. This disastrous circumstance terminated, when Burke plunged himself 
augmenting the irritation of Burke'sraindj [ into a second embarrassment, hardly less 



404 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



painful to his friends. A bill for the 
regulation of the pay office, having been 
brought into the House of Commons by 
himself, which gave rise to much discus- 
sion and difference of opinion, in its pas- 
sage through the committee ; the contend- 
ing parties agreed to fill up the blanks 
amicably, after the house rose, round the 
Speaker's chair. Burke being paymaster 
general, of course took an active part, as 
did many other members ; and the 
clauses were understood to have been 
settled in the way specified, by mutual 
consent. But Mr. Estwick, member for 
Weslbury, on a motion for the third 
reading of the bill, to the astonishment 
of the house, rising up in his place, pre- 
ferred a formal charge against Burke ; 
accusing him of having gone into the 
engrossing room, after the bill in ques- 
tion had been carried there; of expung- 
ing three clauses, and altering a fourth, 
all which he re-modelled to his own 
taste. Such an act. if it had been proved, 
might have led to very grave conse- 
quences ; and must in any case have 
attracted public censure, or produced a 
reprimand from the chair. Fox imme- 
diately came forward with his charac- 
teristic manliness of mind, to the aid of 
his friend, whose conduct was severely 
arraigned by Pitt. The house admitted 
the secretary's justification as satisfactory, 
and did not inflict any mark of its disap- 
probation on Burke; though the excuses 
offered, or reasons alleged, for his con- 
duct, were by no means such as com- 
pletely exculpated him in the opinions 
of impartial men. It appeared, however, 
by the testimony of Cornwall the Speak- 
er, that Burke had not, as he was ac- 
cused of doing, either expunged or altered 
any clause in the engrossing office. The 
Speaker at least asserted, and the house 
lent credit to his assurance, that the mis- 
conception had arisen from the circum- 
stance of his having put the question on 
the four clauses, under an impression 
that the parlies were agreed, in so low a 
tone of voice, that they all passed with- 
out notice. Pitt contended, that even 
though this extraordinary fact vvere true, 
yet the expunged clauses must be re- 
stored, and debated anew by the house. 
As the proposition could not be refused, 
they were therefore brought up, and 
finally negatived on a division, though 



only by a majority of twenty-eight votes. 
The Speaker's testimony, whether accu- 
rate or not, extricated Burke ; and Fox 
manifested the generous ardour of his 
mind throughout the whole transaction ; 
an ardour which always impelled him to 
cover the errors of those, with whom he 
was connected in politics or friendship. 
But he did not the less in private condemn 
Burke's imprudence ; and he was said 
to have warned the paymaster of the 
forces, as he valued his office, not to in- 
volve his friends, and the administration 
of which he composed so conspicuous a 
member, in a third similar dilemma, 
during the remainder of the session. 

In the course of the debate which 
arose respecting the expunged clauses, 
some expressions of great asperity were 
used and retorted by the heads of parly 
on opposite sides of the house. Pitt, 
throughout the whole period of time that 
the coalition remained in possession of 
the government, always affected to con- 
sider ministers, as having availed them- 
selves of the forms of the Constitution, in 
order to violate its essence, and to hold 
the king in bondage. While dilating on 
the act attributed to Burke, he did not 
hesitate to warn them how they ventured 
to make a bad use of their ill-gotten 
poioer." Lord North immediately rose, 
and repeating the words with a note of 
admiration, observed, that " '\^ potver ac- 
quired in consequence of a vote of that 
assembly, condemning the late adminis- 
tration for having concluded a had peace, 
could be denominated ill-gotten, un- 
doubtedly the language just used was 
correct. But if such pniver had been 
constitutionally obtained, as he main- 
tained to be the case, then he could not 
sufficiently express his surprise at the 
expression." " As to the use," con- 
tinued he, " which we shall make of our 
power, I trust, it will not discredit us. 
We have two principal objects to pursue. 
The first is, to do many things which 
our predecessors promised to accomplish, 
but which they have left undone. The 
other is, to prevent the mischiefs result- 
ing from what they have done." The 
ability, as well as the wit of this reply, 
(lid not silence the opposition. Mr. 
Hill, in particular, remarked on the poli- 
tical phenomenon which the treasury 
bench exhibited, where two individuals, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



405 



who a year ago, would not trust them- 
selves toi/etlier in the same room, were 
now beheld cordially embracing each 
other. " The house will suppose," 
continued he, " that 1 mean, the secre- 
tary lor the whig department, and the 
secretary lor the tory department. Such, 
1 will not deny, is my meaning ; and I 
beg to assure the loving couple, that if 
they continue united for a twelvemonth, 
they shall have my hearty vote for the 
Jlitch of bacon. Necessity is the grand 
argument used on all occasions, to justify 
the present coalition. I believe, much 
truth is couched under that single word." 
Unquestionably, public opinion was 
adverse to the ministers ; and as they 
well knew how odious they were at St. 
James's, it behoved them to act with the 
greatest circumspection. Pitt did not 
allow a single act of their administration 
lo pass unexamined ; and he possessed 
a great superiority over two men, who 
however resplendent might be their 
ability, and however numerous their 
followers, yet were universally consider- 
ed as having made mutual sacrifices of 
principle, to the gratification of their am- 
bition. It is true that the cabinet had 
been taken by storm in March, 1782, as 
well as in March, 1783: but the same 
fact gave rise to very opposite sensations 
throughout the country. The respective 
adherents of Lord Rockingham and of 
the Earl of Shelburne, though they broke 
out into the most inveterate hostility, as 
soon as they became masters of the 
government; yet were impelled by one 
common leading object, that of termina- 
ting the contest willi America : — an ob- 
ject, to which, under the circumstances 
of the time, the great majority of the 
nation fervently wished success. Lord 
North and Fox derived no support from 
popular favour. Their possession of 
power stood solely on two votes of the 
House of Commons. Nor could they 
claim any merit for having expelled a 
mini^try, which by ill succes>, disgraces, 
and losses of territory, was become un- 
popular or contemptible. Scarcely did 
the coalition venture to condemn the 
peace, for having concluded which, Lord 
Shelburne was driven out of office. In- 
deed, it has always appeared doubtful to 
mc, whether the same majority which 
censured the treaties, would have voted 



for the removal of the first minister who 
sio-ned them. Lord North manifested 
much more firmness or pertinacity, than 
was displayed by the Ear! of Stielburne. 
It may perhaps be said that Lortl North 
still retained, even down to the last day 
of his slay in office, a majority, though 
small : while Lord Shelburne was twice 
left in a minority. But the former 
nobleman, let it be recollected, iiad a 
long and an awful balance to adjust with 
parliament, as well as with the people 
of England. Impeachments, prosecu- 
tions, nay, axes and scaff'olds, had been 
held up before him, who beheld an em- 
pire dissevered from Great Britain, while 
lie presided in the councils of the crown. 
The latter minister had, on the contrary, 
witnessed scarcely any except prosper- 
ous events during his short administra- 
tion, which he had terminated by con- 
cluding peace. He, therefore, might 
without any personal ilanger, have waited 
for more decided and affirmative testimo- 
nies of parliamentary condemnation, 
before he gave in his resignation. Why 
he did not so act, I will not pre- 
sume to say : but I am convinced, that if 
Mr. Pitt had occupied Lord Shelburne's 
place in February, 1783, he probably 
would have maintained himself in it, and 
finally have triumphed over the coalition. 
Among the persons of eminence who 
have "strutted their hour," under the 
reign of George the Third, and who 
about this time disappeared from the 
great public tlieatre, may be named 
General Sir John Irwine. His person, 
manners, and conversation, were all 
made for the drawing room, where he 
seemed to be in his native element. 
Though declining in life, yet his figure, 
tall, graceful, and dignified, set oflT by all 
the ornaments of dress, accompanied with 
a ribband and a star, rendered him con- 
spicuous in every company. He con- 
stantly reminded me of a marshal of 
France, such as they are described by 
St. Simon, under Louis the Fourteenth. 
His politeness, though somewhat formal, 
was nevertheless natural and captivating. 
Perhaps, at least so his enemies asserteil, 
his military talents were not equally 
brilliant with his personal accomplish- 
ments; but he had not risen the more 
slowly on that account, to the honours, or 
to the eminences, of his professioa. 



406 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



While he was yet only a school-boy, his 
father, Lieutetiant-General Irwine, gave 
him a company in his own regiment, 
leaving him subsequently a very good 
estate. Besides a regiment (the Sixth of 
Dragoon Guards), and a government, con- 
ferred on him by the crown, he hail held 
during several years, the post of com- 
mander-in-cliief in Ireland, with very 
ample appointments and advantages. 
But no income, however large, could 
suffice for his expenses, which being 
never restrained within any reasonable 
limits, finally involved him in irretrieva- 
ble difficulties. The fact will hardly 
obtain belief, that at one of the enter- 
tainments which he gave to the lord 
lieutenant in the year 1781, at Dublin, 
he displayed on the table, as the princi- 
pal piece in the dessert, a representation 
of the fortress of Gibraltar invested by 
the Sj)anish forces, executed in confec- 
tionery. It exhibited a faithful view of 
that celebrated rock, so dear to the En- 



cloaks, bore the same brilliant badga 
of knighthood. No man belter knevV 
the value of external figure, aided by 
manner ; and Philip, Earl of Chester- 
field himself, had not more success- 
fully studied the Graces. It was impos- 
sible to possess finer manners, without 
any affectation ; or more perfect good 
breeding. With such pretensions of 
person and of address, it cannot sur- 
prise that he attained to a great degree 
of favour at St, James's. The king 
considered and treated Irwine, as a 
person whose conversation afforded him 
peculiar gratification. He often de- 
lighted to protract the discourse with a 
courtier, whose powers of entertain- 
ment, however extensive, were always 
under the restraint of profound respect ; 
and who never forgot the character of 
the prince whom he addressed, even 
for a single moment. Irwine, though 
so fine a gentleman, loved all the indul- 
gencies of conviviality, in which gratifi- 



glish nation; together with the works, cations he never restrained himself The 



batteries, and artillery of the besiegers, 
which threw sugar-plums against the 
walls. The expense of this ostenta- 
tious piece of magnificence, did not fall 
short of fifteen hundred pounds ; and 
so incredible must the circumstance 
appear; that if I had not received the 
assurance of it from Lord Sackville, 
I should not venture to report it in these 
Memoirs. 

The greatest intimacy subsisted be- 
tween^ that nobleman and Sir John, 



king, not unacquainted with these par- 
ticulars, having said to him one day, 
at the drawing room, when conversing 
on his common mode of life, " they tell 
me. Sir John, that you love a glass of 
wine ;" " Those, sir, who have so 
reported of me to your majesty," an- 
swered he, bowing profoundly, " have 
done me great injustice, " they should 
have said a bottle." 

Sir John Irwine's second wife, a 
daughter of the celebrated physician 



who owed much of his advancement"' Sir Edward Barry, who wrote with so 



and success in life to the protection of 
Lionel, Duke of Dorset. Lord Sack- 
ville's disinterested friendship still con- 
tinued to bring him into parliament, as 
his own colleao-ue for East Grinstead, 
after Irwine's return from Ireland, which 
took place on the dissolution of Lord 
North's administration, down to his 
final departure from England. Deco- 
rated with the order of the Bath, which 
then conferred much distinction ; and 
of which he never failed to display the 
insignia whenever he went to the House 
of Commons, his personal appearance 
was imposing. Even of a morning, 
in his greatest undress, he wore a 
small star embroidered on his frock, 
without which he rarely appeared any 
where ; and his travelling hussar 



much elegance and information on the 
" Wines of the Ancients," brought 
him no issue : but he afterwards con- 
tracted a third matrimonial connec- 
tion. On his return to England, his 
debts became so numerous, and his 
creditors so importunate, that though as 
a member of parliament, his person 
still remained secure, he found it im- 
possible to reside longer with comfort 
in London. Quitting therefore private- 
ly his elegant house in Piccadilly, op- 
posite the Green Park, he retired to the 
continent, with his wife and two chil- 
dren. Landing in France, he hired a 
chateau in the province of Normandy, 
where his military rank and decorations 
secured for him every testimony of re- 
spect from the surrounding gentry. He 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



407 



nevertheless soon experienced such pe- 
cuniary difficuhies, that as he could 
nourish no hope of ever revisiting his 
native country, he removed over the 
Alps into Italy. 'I'iie king, wi)o sin- 
cerely regretted his departure from 
England, and wlio well knew the causes 
of it, often expres&ed his concern for 
Sir John Irwine's misfortunes ; which 
he endeavoured to alleviate hy sending 
Sir John, the sum of a thousand pounds 
from his privy purse, in two separate 
payments. I know this fact from the 
late Sir Charles Hotham ; who was, 1 
think, himself, the channel through 
which his majesty transmitted the first 
donation of five hundred pounds. The 
second annual payment reached Parma, 
on the morning of Sir John Irwine's de- 
cease. He expired in that city, towards 
the close of May, 1788, where he en- 
joyed the favour and even intimacy of 
the Duke of Parma, and the Arch- 
duchess Amelia his consort, who were 
then the reigning princes. He had near- 
ly attained his sixty-first year at the 
time of his death ; and his characteristic 
habits of hospitality, accompanied with 
corresponding expense, distinguished 
him to the last moments of his career. 
While resident at Parma, he kept open 
house for all Englishmen of considera- 
tion who passed through the place ; and 
only a few days previous to his de- 
cease, he gave a ball and supper to the 
sovereigns of Parma. Yet all the au- 
thority of the duke was vainly exerted 
to procure him the riies of Christian 
burial, it being opposed by the priests 
of that bigolled country. The remains 
of Sir John Irwine were privately con- 
veyed by night, and deposited in the 
court yard of a proiesiant banker ; the 
funeral service being read by an En- 
glish geiiileman, and the body being fol- 
lowed to the grave by the few indi- 
> viduals of the same nation who were 
then at Parma. Perhaps I ought here 
to add, that Sir John Irwine's widow 
and children owed to the aeneroiis inter- 
position and personal applications of tlie 
late L(n-d Melville (then Mr. Dundas), 
a pension, which his majesty granted 
them. Nor can I induce myself to 
O'liit, as ii does the highest honour to that 
nobleman, that he obtained and for- 
warded to Lady Irwine, the grant in 



question, at a time when she had vainly 
solicited it from all the friends of her 
late husband, while Mr. Dundas was 
hardly known to him as a common ac- 
quaintance. Such acts demonstrate an 
enlarged and magnanimous mind.* 

Lord John Cavendish, though he had 
negotiated and brought forward the loan 
necessary to be raised, soon after he 
entered on office, yet did not propose 
the taxes which were to pay the interest 
of it, until many weeks later in the 
session. He at length laid them before 
the House of Commons, where, on the 
whole, they appeared to meet with 
general approbation, and even attracted 
some encomiums. But Lord John, 
whose talents were not eminently adapted 
for the discussion of measures of finance, 
having slated his ways and means with 
tolerable precision, left the task of ex- 
plaining and defending them principally 
lo his associates in power. Fox and 
Lord North, who undertook it with 
great ability, repelled the comments 
made from the opposition side of the 
house, on the new taxes : while the 
chancellor of the exchequer, quitting 
his seat on the treasury bench, retired 
during a considerable part of the debate, 
behind the Speaker's chair ; from which 
retreat he peeped out on either side, as 
individuals rose, for the purpose of ap- 
proving or of censuring his budget. 
Lord Mahon attacked it with his charac- 
teristic impetuosity of voice and man- 
ner, accompanying his comments with 
most severe animadversions on Lord 
North's financial plans, while he had 
remained at the head of the treasury. 
Fox defended his colleague, both with 
the arms of reason and ridicule, which 
instantly brought forward Pitt. Between 
them the discussion was maintained with 
equal acrimony and ingenuity for a long 
time. Pitt not only repeated Lord Ma- 
hon's assertions relative to Lord North's 
taxes, which, he said, from their impo- 
licy had generally frustrated their in- 
tended object, but added : " The present 

* For these particulars, as well as for the 
correction of some errors into which I had 
fallen relative to Sir John Irwine, I am iu- 
tlebted to the lady of Captain Walker, of 
liis majesty's royal navy, Sir John's daughter, 
who obligingly favoured me with them, under 
her hand. 



408 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



budget seems to be of a similar descrip- 
tion. False or erroneous principles are 
assumed, in order to support the mea- 
sures adopted, which the people of Eng- 
land are expected to swallow as greedily 
as the champion of the people has uttered 
lliem with rapidity," Fox took his 
revenge on the whole cabinet of the 
Earl of Slielburne collectively, whom ho 
designated "as incapable of financial 
generation as it was possible for barren- 
ness to be : having quilled their employ- 
ments without leaving behind them a 
trace of any loan or taxes." Lord 
North directed the shafts of his wit prin- 
cipally against Lord Mahon, " whose 
ai)ilitiep," he observed, " being so great, 
without experience, must, when ma- 
tured by time, render him a prodigy, 
and an ornament to his country, al the 
head of the exchequer." 

Lord John Cavendish performed only 
a subordinate part, throughout the whole 
debate. His acknuwiedgcd purity of 
character, when joined to his many vir- 
tues, — not to dwell on his high de- 
scent, — rendered him universally re- 
spected ; and the advantage whicli his 
party derived from those qualities, in 



period of his life. Almost as well might 
Henry the Fifth have placed Falstaff 
there. Fox himself seemed not to emu- 
late a higher post than secretary of state, 
always interposing Lord John Caven* 
dish in the guardianship of the public 
money. Nor could the Ikitish people 
conhde their interests to more incorrup- 
tible integrity, than distinguished the 
chancellor of the exchequer: but he 
could not sustain the slightest compari- 
son with Pill, nor even with Lord North, 
in the powers of his mind and under- 
standing, or in his parliamentary talents 
and knowledge of business. 

[2d and 3d June.] The parliamen- 
tary prosecution instituted against Sir 
Thomas llumbold, continued to languish, 
rather than to advance towards any con- 
summation, throughoutthe whole session. 
Nevertheless, al this time, the evidence 
in his defence being closed, Mr. Dundas 
rose, and moved that the proceedings 
should not be discontinued by either a 
prorogation or a dissolution of parliament. 
This motion, which was intended to be 
accompanied with a bill for restraining 
Rumbold from quitting the kingdom, or 
rom alienating his property, till the final 



the public estimation, was incalculable. I decision of the enquiry, gave rise to 
The nation even seemed silently to de- mucli difi'erence of opinion. Sawbridge, 
mand some such guarantee, when the | Lord Nuge'ht, and various other mem- 
interests of the country were committed j bers, though by no means partial to the 

accused person, yet declared that they 
considered the whole business as uncon- 
stitutional and oppressive. Rigby, near 
two months eailier, when the subject 
was agitated in the house, had not hesi- 
tated lo stigmatise it wiih epithets of 
condemnation and derision. Accus- 
tomed lo speak his sentiments on every 
topic, with a blunt, overbearing, as well 
as dictatorial tone, " This assembly," 
observed he, " is acting in a ca[)acity, 
partly legislative, partly judicial. We 
are now performing the functions of a 
judge, and for aught I see, we may liave 
to do the office of hangman." On the 
present occasion, he treated the motion 
in a similar manner, " We are asked," 
said he, " to continue the bill in exist- 
ence, even after a dissolution of parlia- 
ment. What ! are we to bind five hun- 
dred and fifty-eight other individuals, to 
abide by and to adopt the evidence \\ hich 
we alone have heard ? 'I'he proposition 
excites ridicule." 



to a man of Fox's ruined fortune and 
dissipated habits of life. Mr. Pill, it is 
true, who had been so recently placed al 
llie head of the exchequer, scarcely pos- 
sessed more property than his rival. 
But the people of England knew how to 
discriminate between their respective de- 
ficiency. Pitt, though not more dis- 
tinguished by habits of economy than 
Fox, yet had not dissipated his small 
paternal fortune in any ostensible vices ; 
while Fox, besides a landed estate and a 
lui-raiive office, both which he sold, had 
squandered an immense sum of ready 
money. Indeed, tliougli Fox always ap- 
peared to me, whenever /oans oTjjuJgels 
were discussed in parliament, to display 
a capacity for ariihmetical calculation, 
and all the talents requisite for a minis- 
ter of finance, scarcely, if at all inferior 
to Mr. Pill's ability in that line ; yet, I 
believe, it never occurred to any man's 
mind, to place Fox in the control of the 
treasury, or of the exchequer, at any 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



409 



RumboM himself, addressing the house, 
cnadeavery forcible and pathetic appeal 
to their feelings, no less than to their 
justice. And he was heard with great 
attention. In language of energy^ he 
depictured his suflerings, deprecated all 
further delay, implored the house, for 
their own honour and dignity, to accele- 
rate the conclusion ; cited iMagna Charta, 
the bulwark of our liberties, where it is 
expressly declared that the subject shall 
experience no delay of justice ; and 
protested, that whatever might prove 
their decision, he would not shrink from 
it. Nor did he omit to remark in how 
different a manner, Burke, who was one 
of his ardent prosecutors, had conducted 
himself towards Powell and Bembridge ; 
— men accused, like himself, but not 
proved to be criminal. Lord North, 
though he voted for the motion (proba- 
bly, more from consideration for his 
new allies, than from inclimuion), yet 
agreed with Rigby in opinion, that one 
parliament could not bind another ; still 
less could the present House of Com- 
mons who heard the evidence, legislate 
for their successors, and compel them to 
decide on that evidence. The solicitor 
general, Lee, a man of upright princi- 
ples, though of rude and repulsive man- 
ners; who had uniformly disapproved 
the whole proceedings, declared ttiat he 
could perceive no reason for changing 
his opinion relative to them ; and there- 
fore, as far as his individual vole ex- 
tended, he would never consent to retain 
Rumbold under the terrors of a reslrain- 
intr act. Nevertheless as Pitt and Fox, 
Diindas and Burke, who rarely concur- 
red on any point, agreed on this subject, 
leave was given to bring in the bill : but 
its features were softened down by the 
lord advocate, when he presented it, 
next day. Sir Thomas's personal pro- 
perty remained no longer tied up ; only 
his landed estate at Woodhali in the 
county of Hertford, being rendered re- 
sponsible ; and he was permitted to quit 
the kingdom, from which exercise of his 
freedom he had been previously inter- 
dicted. At this point terminated the 
prosecution, which may be said to have 
died of a political atrophy. 

While the Rockingham party, during 
many years had been excluded from of- 
fice, they loudly declaimed againslabuses 
35 



of every description, particularly against 
the extravagant expenditure of the public 
money in "various departments. Nor 
during the very short period that the 
treasury was under their control, which 
did not exceed three months, can it be 
denied that they endeavoured to manifest 
the sincerity of their engagements. 
Burke, who stood forward in the invidi- 
ous character of a reformer, acquired no 
inconsiderable merit with the country at 
large, by his exertions to reduce exorbi- 
tant demands, or to abolish obsolete and 
overgrown establishments of every kind. 
But with Lord Rockingham's life, these 
efibrts wholly ceased. From the period 
of their union with Lord North, when 
they began confidently to count on a 
quiet possession oi' power and emolu- 
ment, at least for a few years, in conse- 
quence of their strength in both houses 
of parli-ament ; they seemed to have 
greatly relaxed in the severity of their 
political principles. Above all, they 
manifested a decided aversion to any re- 
forms which did not originate with ihem- 
I selves, and which were not subjected to 
i their own ministerial control. A strik- 
inuj exemplification of this fact, presented 
itself before the end of the session. 

Mr. Pitt, who watched all their con- 
duct, and canvassed all their measures, 
! with jealous, as well as unremitting at- 
! teiition ; having brought forward a bill, 
iin order to establish regulations in the 
fees, perquisites, and other emoluments 
j received in most of the public offices ; 
' instead of finding any support from the 
[other side of the house, as might natu- 
rally have been expected, met with the 
warmest opposition in that quarter, 
j Lord John (Cavendish possessed indeed 
; too much ingenuousness of character, 
i altogether to dispute the utility of the 
objects proposed, and therefore contented 
himself with partially and indirectly re- 
sisting the plan : but Fox and Burke 
loaded the bill, its author, and the ad- 
ministration of which he had lately com- 
posed a part, with", he severest epithets 
or imputations. Que of the topics on 
which they commonly exhausied their 
ridicule and contempt, was the speech 
pr<mounced from the throne, at the open- 
ing of the session. This composition, 
they affected to consider as a ma?s of 
unmeaning promises, either in themselve* 



410 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



improper to be reduced to practice, or 
never intended for any purpose, except 
delusion. Pitt, therefore, had in view 
to rescue the administration in which he 
had occupied a distinguished place, from 
charges so injurious; and when he in- 
troduced the measure, he observed, that 
it would prove " his majesty's speech 
was not full of mere empty profession ; 
but on the contrary, the ministers of 
that period, if they had continued in 
power, were determined to have carried 
every part of it into effect." Buike, in- 
dignant, and accustomed during many 
years to treat Lord North, while plunged 
in the embarrassments of the American 
war, with language of great asperity, did 
not sufficiently recollect willi how dif- 
ferent an antagonist lie now had to con- 
tend. Rising in one of those paroxysms 
oi anger to which he was subject, he ex- 
claimed, that "the conduct of the late 
cabinet must be exposed, for which pur- 
pose he should move to lay certain pa- 
pers on the table. The house," added 
he, " will then have at once disj)layed 
before them, the plans of pretended re- 
form, contrasted with llie practices of 
abuse. From the comparison, it may be 
ascertained whether the speech in ques- 
tion, was not a parade of profession and 
promise, while their measures were full 
of criminality." Expressions so strong, 
were not allowed by Pitt to pass without 
instant animadversion. " Lei the ques- 
tion between us," replied he, "be brought 
to an immediate test, and a full enquiry 
set on foot. The right honorable gen- 
tleman best knows, whether bringing 
forward plans of theoretical reform, and 
committing practical abuses in office, do, 
or do not meet in the same person." 
Not a word of reply being uttered from 
the treasury bench, Pitt's bill of regula- 
tion experienced no further opposition on 
that evening. 

[17lh June.] As it advanced how- 
ever through the subsequent stages, 
every species of indirect hostility was 
manifested towards it, Lord John Caven- 
dish himself representing it as useless 
or unnecessary ; though Pitt, after en- 
tering into all the details of its operation, 
declared his firm conviction that it would 
save the public, at least forty thou- 
sand pounds a year. Fox repeated the 
words used by the chancellor of the 



exchequer ; to which Burke added, that 
the bill held out the reverse of true 
economical reform ; substituting in its 
place, only vexation and expense. 
Some of the comparisons and allusions 
made by Burke in particular reflecting 
contemptuously on Pitt, as a projector 
and a reformer, appeared, when falling 
from his lips, to alfect his audience wiifi 
no little surprise ; he having so recently, 
himself, laid claim to general approba- 
tion, in the same character. As it might 
nevertheless have seemed too indeco- 
rous, not to permit the bill to pass the 
House of Commons, ministers allowed 
it to go up to the Peers : but there the 
whole force of government drew out in 
array against tlie measure. Even the 
Duke of Portland, who seldom exhibit- 
ed any specimens of eloquence, stigma- 
tized it as " more a disease, than a re- 
medy ;" while Lord Fitzwilliam decried 
it, as being both trifling and vexatious in 
its nature. Thus attacked, the measure 
was finally negatived. Such a repug- 
nance, demonstrated to the very objects 
of retrenchment, which they had them- 
selves affected to introduce only a few 
months before, with so much zeal, even 
into the palace, and at the table of the 
sovereign ; evidently, because they were 
now proposed from a hostile source ; did 
not fail to make an adequate impression 
on the public mind. It operated to the 
disadvantageof the ministry inevery quar- 
ter of the kingdom ; and by unmasking 
them in some measure, it silently prepared 
the way for those astonishingevents in the 
interior of the government, which took 
place before the conclusion of the year. 
Some of the abuses which Pitt had at- 
tempted to point out and expose, in the 
progress of the bill which he introduced 
into the House of Commons, were in- 
deed of a description so singular, as to ex- 
cite not only astonishment, but even to 
produce a degree of ridicule. They 
served to show what extensive depreda- 
tions had been committed upon the 
public in many, or in ail the principal 
offices, previous to the period of Lord 
North's resignation. 'I'hal nobleman 
formed the mark at which Pitt levelled 
his severest censures ; nor could the 
house altogether refrain from laughter 
at one of the charges, specifying a sura 
of three hundred and forty pounds paid 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



411 



to the secretary of the treasury, for the ' time into the cabinet, in the beginnini^ 
article of ivhipcord. Tiie annual ex- ; of 1784, as they confiiiently expected, 
pense of the first minister, for iiis indi- > Nor were ihese the only official and 
vidual stationery, under which denomi- ministerial appropriations of the public 



nation was, however, included the ivhip 
cord, did not fall short, as it appeared, 
of thirteen hundred pounds. Lord 
North, when called on, made, neverthe- 
less, not only a plausible, but a very satis- 
factory defence, to most of the alleged 
items. Relative to the consumption of 



money, to private purposes, that distin- 
guished the times under our review. 
From the ministry of Sir Robert Wal- 
pole, down to the conclusion of Lord 
North's government, few places of con- 
siderable emolument, in any department, 
were given, wholly unfettered, to the 



7Z?/ii!/JC0r(/, which had excited a great deal ! nominal occupant. Even under Lord 



of mirth, having professed at the same 
lime his total ignorance, Robinson un- 
dertook to give some sort of explanation ; 
which, however ingenious, or even well 
founded it might be, yet diverted, more 
than it satisfied his hearers. 

It is certain that during the period 
antecedent to 1782, the abuses practised 
in many grealofficial departments, which 
exceeded all reasonable limits, loudly 
demanded parliamentary regulation. I 



Rockingham's first administration in 
1765, we find Wilkes quartered on the 
whole of the treasury and admiralty 
boards, to the annual amount of 1040/. a 
year; the marquis paying liim ,500/. ; 
the inferior lords of the treasury 60/. 
each ; and the members of the board of 
trade each 40/. This curious fact is 
stated in Home's letter to " Junius," of 
the .31st July, 1771. It was not at- 
tempted to be denied. When the Duke 



have, myselt', had occasion to hear, if of Grafton, in June of the same year. 



not to see, specimens and instances of 
depredation (for they well merit the 
name), which will hardly obtain belief in 
the present days. I knew with some 
degree of intimacy, a lord of trade, who 
possesing a borough, and a very large 
fortune, was, himself, a member of the 
House of Commons in successive parlia- 
ments. On his being sworn in at the 
board of trade, he issued an order to 
provide a great number of pewter ink- 
stands for his own use, which he after- 
wards commuted into one, composed of 
silver. I have seen him at the levee, 
dressed in a suit of green velvet, fabri- 
cated, as fame reported, out of the mate- 
rials ordered in his public character, for 



1771, accepted the office of privy seal, 
which had been previously destined for 
Lord Weymouth, " Junius" more than 
insinuates, that the last mentioned noble- 
man was quartered by the Duke upon 
Rigby, who, from 1768 to 1782, nomi- 
nally occupied the sole paymastership 
of the forces. I knew a lady of quality, 
who having been daughter to a person 
high in office, was commonly said to 
have rode sixteen persons at one time, 
to whom her father had given places, 
under that express condition or reserva- 
tion. I believe she outlived them all. 
Governments, military appointments, 
offices in the excise and customs, — in 
a word, places of every description, at 



the ostensible purpose of making bags i home and abroad, were frequently loaded 



to contain office papers. His friends 
and correspondents could recognise the 
stationery, of which he had made an 
ample provision, more than ten years 
after the board of trade itself, abolished 
by Burke's bill, had ceased to have any 
existence. Even since 1782, similar 
facts are said to have taken place. This 
gentleman, or rather his wife, formed 
one on the list of British peerages, in- 
tended to have been either revived or 
created, by Lord North and Fox ; the 
number of which, as I recollect, amount- 
ed to thirty-two or thirty-three; if the 



with riders. 

I remember, at the very lime of which 
I am now speaking, in July, 178.3, when 
the bill for regulating the offices in the 
exchequer, was before the House of 
Commons, Hussey, enumerating the 
abuses practised, asked, " Have minis- 
ters never heard of quartering one per- 
son upon another? Will ihey venture 
to assert that at this moment, no indivi- 
dual ostensibly out of place, is quartered 
upon the salary of some man in employ- 
ment? I mean no imputation on the 
present government. Such practices, I 



coalition had forced their way a second { believe, have prevailed under all admi 



412 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



nisliations, during many years." Neither] of office, were extinguished, as I know^ 



Fox, nor Lord North, thougli both tlie 
one and the other rose to speak dming 
the course of the evening, attempted to 
contest Hnssey's assertion. Mr. Pitt 
himself, when introducing the bill to 
which allusion has been recently made, 



by Mr. Pitt, when he became first mi- 
nister, throughout every department of 
the revenue, as far as his influence ex- 
tended. But he was necessitated in many 
cases to commit a greater inroad on the 
Constitution, by distributing honours and 



recapitulated many alienations of public j dignities as a substitute for emoluments, 
money, which were then practised, but { [25th and 26th June. J Notvvithsland- 
which we can scarcely credit in Hie j ing the ascendant which Fox exercised 
present times. In the navy office, where j over the cabinet, and in particular, over 
wo fees were allowed, and where, under\ the chancellor of the exchequer, an event 
that name, they were disclaimed, the ' occurred at this time, where his influence 
chief clerk, whose salary did not exceed j proved unequal to overcome the obstacles 
250/. a year, received in gifts annually, i opposed to it. The Prince of Wales 



full 2500/. The lords of the treasury 
were accustomed to appoint their own 
servants to the place of stampers in the 
stamp office, instantly granting them 
leave of absence, so that the duty was 
performed by deputy. Not only coals 
and candles, but even articles of furni- 
ture were ordered by persons in high 
employment, to be sent at the public 
expense, to their houses, both in Lon- 
don and in the country. The post 
office, and the dock yards presented 
facts equally demanding reform. Pitt 
declared that the annual aggregate charge 
on account of stationery wares, exceeded 



eighteen thousand pounds; adding, that ( official department the business lay, con 



approaching the period of his minority, 
a separate establishment became requi- 
site for him ; and Carlton House, which 
had not been inhabited since the decease 
of the Princess Dowager of Wales in 
1772, was chosen to consiiuite his future 
residence. 'J'lie income proper for his 
royal highness's support, became neces- 
sarily a subject of discussion among the 
members of administration, and produced 
great difl'erence of opinion. Fox thought 
that the sum of one hundred thousand 
pounds, would not be more than ade- 
quate to maintain his state ; while Lord 
John Cavendish, in whose immediate 



he had heard of apartments being papered 
at the expense of the public. I feel it, 
however, incumbent on me to state, that 
Lord North made not only the most ex- 
plicit and dignified reply to these allega- 
tions, as far as they regarded him per- 
sonally or officially, but demonstrated his 
own disinterestedness while at the head 
of affairs. " When I was placed," said 
he, " in the control of the treasury, I 
found that my predecessors had invari- 
ably been supplied with coals and can 



ceived that a moiety of the sum might 
suffice, under the circumstances of the 
country, and the incumbrances on the 
civil list. His majesty, being of the 
latter sentiment, it was adopted ; and 
Lord John having acquainted the house 
with the gracious determination of the 
sovereign, not to call on his people for 
any additional aid to his civil list, but to 
take on himself the present expense of 
the heir-apparent, limited his demand to 
the sum of sixty thousand pounds, as a 



dies at the public expense, according to ( temporary supply to the crown, and an 



ancient established usage. Neverthe 
less, I did not avail myself of the prac- 
tice, however confirmed by length of 
time, but purchased those articles out 
of mv own purse." He subjoined, " I 
not only took every precaution, in order 
to prevent fraud from being committed 
in my name, but I assure the house I 
will make the most rigorous enquiries, 
and if I discover delinquency, I will 
leave nothing undone to bring the of- 
fenders to punishment." All these modes 
of augmenting the fair income or salary 



outfit. Pitt instantly stood up, and 
having expressed iiis perfect approbation 
of the proposition, as by no means un- 
reasonable or excessive, he passed some 
very high enconiiums on the prince. 
Then, addressing his discourse pointedly 
to the seerelnry for foreign aflairs, he 
observed that rumours had been circulated 
in a manner which seemed to stamp 
them vvith authenticity, of a very extra- 
ordinary nature. " Those rumours," 
continued he, " asserted, that it had 
been the intention of some of the king's 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



413 



ministers, contrary to his majesty's 
avowed wishes, whose paternal alFeclion 
for his subjects, suggested very (hfferent 
ideas to his royal mind; as well as con- 
trary to a due consideration for the ex- 
hausted condition of the country ; to 
have proposed a very enormous sum for 
the Prince of Wales's establishment. I 
rejoice exceedingly at finding those re- 
ports practically done away on this 
evening ; but, I trust, that ministers will 
take the present occasion to rise in their 
places, and to deny that there ever ex- 
isted the slightest foundation for such 
assertions. On so important a point, I 
expect that they will furnish us with an 
ample explanation." 

Fox, thus called on, rose, and in the 
manly tone which always characterized 
him, replied, that as the vote now pro- 
posed, went only to the sum of filly 
thousand pounds a year, that fact formed 
in itself a sufficient answer to the ques- 
tion. " But," he added, that " former 
Princes of Wales had received larger 
grants froii) parliament, for the support 
of their dignity." Having expatiated 
with equal eloquence and warmth of co- 
louring, on the eminent, as well as 
shining virtues of the prince ; not omit- 
ting the merit of his ready obedience on 
the present occasion, to his majesty's 
pleasure ; the secretary added, " If, how- 
ever, it had remained with mc to advise, 
or had it been my province to make the 
application of this day, to the house, I 



preceding evening ; observed, that it 
appeared, the obligation was solely due 
to his majesty for taking the allowance 
now made to the Prince of Wales, out 
of the civil list ; as well as for limiting 
to the sum of sixty thousand pounds, the 
aid demanded of parliament on the pre- 
sent occasion. " The ministers of the 
crown," continued he, " cannot lay claim 
to the slightest degree of merit from the 
alleviation thus effected in the burthens 
to be imposed upon the people. Much 
praise has indeed been bestowed by 
them, on the Prince of Wales, for sub- 
mitting to so limited a provision ; but, 
not a syllable has fallen from their lips, 
in praise of the king, who is tlie author 
of this meritorious transaction. I readily 
admit his royal highness's high merit; 
not, however, because the grant is in 
itself too small, or inadequate ; but, be- 
cause, from the expressions and avowal 
of the secretary of slate, the prince has 
been encouraged to imagine that double 
the sum ought to have been given him, 
independent of the civil list, or of his 
father, arising from a vote of parliament, 
to be settled on himself." — " His ma- 
jesty's ministers are most reprehensible, 
thus to recommend it in the deed, and to 
blast it in the act ; insinuating in the 
plainest manner their desire to have 
granted his royal highness double the 
provision : at the same time informing 
us, that the present proposition emanates 
solely from the sovereign, whose will 



do not hesitate to repeat that I should j on the present point, they were unable lo 
have asked for a much larger sum. But, control." — " The actual allowance of 
as the person who possesses the best fifty thousand pounds a year, wiih twelve 
right to decide upon that point, has not thousand more issuing from liie revenues 
coincided with me in sentiment, it be- 'of Cornwall and of Wales, constitute as 



comes my duly to obey, and lo act im- 
plicitly by his opinion." The vote then 
passed without a dissentient voice ; but, 
on the following day, when the report 
was made from the committee of supply. 
Governor Johnstone resumed the sub- 
ject. It required all the strength of 
nerves which he possessed, not to be 
deterred from touching upon a topic so 
delicate in itself, necessarily exposing 
the individual who agitated it, to a va- 
riety of unpleasant circumstances. With- 
out, however, suffering these consider- 
ations to influence his conduct, Jolm- 
stone, alter expressing his concurrence 
and satisfaction at the resolution of the 
35* 



ample an establishment for an unmarried 
heir-apparent, as a country pressed down 
by war and taxation, can with propriety 
bestow " 

Fox having manifested some marks 
of contempt, or rather, of levity, at the 
last expression uttered by Johnstone, 
the governor exclaimed, " I well know, 
Mr. Speaker, that the largest sums, 
appear as mites to the secretary of state, 
who is accustomed to set at defiance, all 
ideas of moderation in his own personal 
expenses; and who has now ado-pte<l 
the present desperate expedient for sup- 
plying his profusion and his ambition. 
To his mnj-esiy alone, we owe th« pro- 



414 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



position before us ; and no persons are 
in general more lavish of encomiums 
on tlie sovereign, than the members of 
administration, when they mean to 
assume to themselves the merit of those 
acts. No such commendations have 
been now bestowed on the king, who is 
indirectly censured for granting so small 
a pittance to his son. Delicacy ouglit 
to have restrained ministers from ex- 
pressing such sentiments in this assem- 
bly, while they think proper to occupy 
their ofHcial employments. By sullenly 
refusing to explain whether they will 
not soon call on us for further pecuniary 
assistance to the prince, they even en- 
courage him to incur debts which 
must ultimately be liquidated by par- 
liament." A speech so abounding 
with offensive personalities, it might 
naturally have been expected, would 
call up the secretary of state, who 
seldom remained silent under simi- 
lar attacks. Nevertheless, the whole 
treasury bench sate mute, and the house 
rose immedialelv : but throughout the 
whole proceeding. Fox undoubtedly \ 
appeared rather in the character of a | 
friend and an adherent of the heir to the I 
throne, than as a confidential servant, 
and a cabinet minister of George the 
Third. Pitt, even while at the head of 
opposition, seemed to act more in the 
latter capacity. 

I ought, however, injustice to say, 
that his parliamentary conduct, during 
the whole period of llie coalition ad- 
ministration, displayed neither an illibe- 
ral, a vindictive, nor an undislinguish- 
ing resistance to ministerial mea&iires. 
On the contrary he supported govern- 
ment on more than one occasion, when 
a factious member of the house might 
have acquired popularity by an opposite 
line of action. I could cite instances in 
proof of my assertion. In the list of 
taxes enumerated by the chancellor of 
the excliequer, and brought forward 
as part of his ways and means, was 
one, imposing a small stamp on receipts. 
This tax, which experienced great 
obstacles from various parts of the 
house, excited much clamour; but 
Pitt refused to lend himself to it, and 
declared his determination to give the 
bill his strenuous support. Among the 
favourite objects of the Shelburne mi- 



nistry, might be justly reckoned the 
steps taken for compelling public ac- 
countants to pay in their balances of 
national money. Powis having about 
this time, demanded whether adminis- 
tration was occupied on a subject so im- 
portant to the state : and Kenyon fol- 
lowing up the question, by asking if the 
bill filed against Powell, as one of the 
executors of the late Lord Holland ; 
but which had been suspended by 
Powell's tragical death, was about to be 
prosecuted; the solicitor-general (Lee), 
rose in reply. With the sincerity and 
independence of his natural character, 
which disdained all circumlocution, he 
answered, that " he never would revive 
the bill, to the extent of the former, 
which Powell's end had arrested." 
" The old bill," subjoined he, " reclaim- 
ed all the interest ever made by Lord 
Holland, while paymaster of the forces, 
out of the public money in his posses- 
sion. I hold this measure to be so op- 
pressive, as well as unjust ; so contrary 
to long established usage, and of a na- 
ture which would occasion such appre- 
hensions among all the descendants of 
former [)aymasters, that -I will rather 
resign my oflice, than consent to coun- 
tenance it." 

Fox did not let pass the occasion 
thus offered him, of justifying his 
father's memory, at the expense of the 
late administration. "My noble rela- 
tion," observed he, " was the only pay- 
master of the forces, whom those minis- 
ters selected for the purpose of exacting 
from his executors, sums which, if ex- 
torted, must reduce his family to beg- 
gary. For what was their demand ? — 
The interest, not of money withheld 
from the public, after it had been re- 
claimed by government; but the whole 
accumulated gain made by Lord Hol- 
land, while at the head of the pay office. 
This was a prosecution, which, if the 
situation in which I personally stood 
with respect to the last cabinet, be con- 
sidered, looked very much like persecu- 
tion," Anxious probably to efface such 
an imputation, thrown on the individuals 
with whom he was so closely connected, 
Pitt instantly stood up, and declared that 
he did not think, interest of the retro- 
spective and comprehensive nature de- 
scribed, ought to be demanded by the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



415 



public. Bui he justified llie late allorney 
general (Kenyoii), for having laid claim 
to it on the part of the country, as that 
law officer conceived it to be his duty. 
Adding, " an attorney general ought 
not to exercise his discretion on such a 
point, or to leave unclaimed, any sup- 
posed right of the crown." Burke, 
however, starting up, exclaimed, " Pre- 
cisely on the same ground, might the 
iniquitous ministers of Henry the 
Seventh, Empson and Dudley, be de- 
fended I" Here the matter terminated. 
[10th July.] The fruitless atten)pt 
made by Pitt, to regulate the abuses of 
fees in the public offices, did not consti- 
tute the only unsuccessful parliamentary 
efiort undertaken by him, during the 
session, A short time before its close. 
Lord John Cavendish, as it would ap- 
pear, somewhat incautiously or inadver- 
tently laid on the table, a book contain- 
ing a list of public accountants, to whom 
sums of money, exceeding in the whole 
forty-four millions, had been issued by 
government, for which they had never 
passed any accounts before the auditors 
of the imprest. Pitt instantly endea- 
voured to induce the house to vote an 
address to the crown, requesting his 
majesty to take measures for compel 



dress, contrived, however to render it in 
some measure palatable, by a delicate 
mixture of compliment to his integrity, 
and of censure on his prudence : while 
Lord North and Fox played their whole 
artillery upon Pitt. The two secreta- 
ries of state seemed on that day, to act in 
perfect concert, and to be cordially uni- 
ted. To Fox, the motion was, indeed, 
one of deep interest ; his father standing 
on the list, nominally for twelve, out of 
the forty-four millions, which had not 
been formally passed by the auditors of 
the imprest; though it seemed to be 
generally admitted, that the money 
issued to Lord Holland, was sub- 
stantially accounted for by that no- 
bleman's executors. Fox objected in 
strong terms, to the assertion of any spe- 
cific sum remaining unaccounted for in 
the exchequer, and indirectly accused 
Pitt of meaning to implicate Lord Hol- 
land by the proposed vote, as a defaulter. 
" The right honorable gentleman," add- 
ed he, " has probablythe same intentions 
as those individuals manifested, who, 
when my noble relation had in his hands 
about four hundred thousand pounds of 
the public money, called him the de- 
Ifaidter of unaccounted millions." Nor 
was the secretary less severe on his 



ling the persons named, to account for colleague, the chancellor of the exche- 



those sums, and for preventing a future 
recurrence of the same abuse. He 
seemed authorised to assume, that such 
a motion would be loo analogous to the 
avowed disposition and professions of 
the Rockingham parly, to experience 
from them any resistance. All the 
ability, wit and ingenuity of the minis- 
terial benches, were nevertheless called 
out, in order to invalidate the authen- 
ticity of the very document, laid by the 
chancellor of the exchequer on the ta- 
ble ; which book, his colleagues now 
declared to be destitute of proper au- 
thority, and consequently, an unsafe, 
as well as inefficient basis, on which 
to found the proposed address to thg 
throne. 

This treatment of Lord John in his 
oflirial capacity, as minister of finance, 
by his own friends, in the face of the 
House of Commons, did not appear at 
first sight, either the most respectful to 
him, or even the most decorous to them- 
selves, Sheridan with eonsl^mraate ad- 



quer, than Sheridan had been ; blaminj 
Lord Jolin's injudicious candour, in pro- 
ducing a document, of which so injuri- 
ous a use had been made by the opposi- 
tion. Having finally expunged the most 
essential clauses of the proposed address 
to the throne, ministers allowed it to 
pass tlie house. 

[16th July]. The session, protract- 
ed to the middle of July, now drew 
towards a termination. During the 
space of about three months that parlia- 
ment remained silting after the forma- 
tion of the new ministry, both houses, 
in particular, the Commons, had mani- 
fested the utmost disposition to give 
them every support. The opposition, 
though conducted by Pitt and Dundas, 
while it was tacitly, as well as power- 
fully sustained by Jenkinson ; yet rarely 
ventured on a division, which only ex- 
posed the paucity and inferiority of their 
numbers. Lord North, however ob- 
scured he might be by the superior en- 
ergy of Fox, still reiaained the nominafc 



416 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



leader of a very numerous body, who 
looked to him for proieclion against the 
violent members of the Rockingham 
party. But his colleague, without the 
title, was already become the real first 
minister ; as the great Earl of Chatham 
had been formerly, under the late and 
present reign, when only secretary of 
stale, or when holding the privy seal. 
The strength of Fox's character, the ac- 
tivity of his mind, the warmth of his 
friendship, and the splendour of his ta- 
lents ; — this combination of endowments 
naturally attracting adherents, enabled 
him to absorb the whole power of go- 
vernment. Burke, ardent, indefatigable, 
and never losing sight of his object, im- 
patiently looked forward to the great 
task of reforming and remodelling India. 
The advanced season of the year at 
which the administration came into 
power, and that circumstance only, had 
induced Fox, as well as his colleagues, 
to allow the present session to elapse, 
without immediately availing themselves 
of the patronage, and multiplied sources 
of advantage, which the Indian empire 
ofTered to their avidity. It presented a 
rich harvest, which they devoured by 
anticipation ; and the enjoyment of 
which they reluctantly postponed, even 
for a few months. But the magnitude, 
importance, and complicated nature of 
the political machine by which India 
was governed, demanded mature delibe- 
ration, before they ventured to recon- 
struct it, as they meditated, entirely on 
new principles. It was therefore finally 
determined in the cabinet, to call parlia- 
ment together early in the approaching 
Autumn, for the purpose ; and the king 
was expressly made to declare the in- 
tention, in his speech pronounced from 
the throne, on the prorogation. Sheri- 
dan, by a wonderftd con)bination of 
almost all the talents which can meet in 
man, under the control of unalterable 
equality of temper, began already to 
compete with Burke in parliamentary 
estimation ; and frequently obtained a 
more ready or patient hearing from the 
house. Every day, while it confirmed 
the ascendant which he had there ac- 
quired, placed him higher among the most 
distinguished supports of administra- 
tion. 

If the coalition looked round at home. 



they beheld at this period, a docile par- 
liament, originally called together by 
Lord North ; and of which assembly he 
still retained in his hands, many of the 
secret springs or keys, in both houses. 
Abroad, everything announced the con- 
tinuance of peace. America was indeed 
lost ; but, the emancipated colonies had 
ceased to be hostile to Great Britain. 
France, exhausted even by lier late ad- 
vantages beyond the Atlantic, weak in 
her government, and altogether convulsed 
or deranged in her finances ; already 
nourished in her vitals the seeds of that 
fatal revolution which has since over- 
turned order, religion, morals, and the 
ancient fabric of Europe. Joseph the 
Second, Emperor of Germany, sup- 
pressing monasteries and religious esta- 
blishments with one hand ; with the 
other, in direct violation of all subsisting 
treaties, rashly and wantonly demolished 
to their foundations, the works of the 
garrison cities of the Austrian Nether- 
lands. I witnessed, myself, during the 
course of that summer, the expulsion of 
the last remains of the Dutch troops 
maintained in the barrier towns, and the 
destruction or demolition of the fortifica- 
tions themselves. Except Luxembourg, 
placed at one extremity, towards Ger- 
many ; and the citadel of Antwerp, 
situate at the other termination of Flan- 
ders ; it was obvious that scarcely any 
obstacle remained, to exclude France 
from overrunning the low countries at 
her pleasure. If these reflections ap- 
peared however to cause no uneasiness 
to ministers, yet a domestic source of 
just anxiety which they could not sur- 
mount, presented itself in the fixed and 
unconquerable alienation of the king. In 
vain did they endeavour to insinuate 
themselves into his personal favour. H& 
received with formality and coldness, all 
their advances ; allowed them to dictate 
measures ; gave them audiences, signed 
papers, and complied with their advice : 
but, he neither admitted them to his con- 
fidence, nor ceased to consider them as 
objects of his individual aversion. The 
consciousness of this sentiment existing 
in the royal bosom, which sunk deep 
into Fox's mind, naturally impelled him 
to substitute other foundations, on which 
to construct, and to perpetuate his minis- 
terial greatness. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



417 



and was well aware that he would not 
prove more intractable or rigid while in 
office, than other men. But he did noi 
choose to avail himself of such assist- 
ance. I know that some three or four 
years after the time of which I now 
speak, the king finding himself alone 
with tiie Duke of Queensberry, who had 
been one of the lords of his bedchamber 
ever since his accession to the crown, 
and with whom he was accustomed to 
converse unreservedly on many subjects ; 
the. discourse turned on the coalition 
ministry. " Sir," said the duke,- " your 
majesty might safely have allowed Mr. 
Fox to remain in office, and you would 
have found in him every disposition to 
comply with your wishes. I can assert 
as an, undoubted fact, that there was 
tile, and loudly called on him to bestow scarcely any proof of hi^i personal devo- 
some attention on his private fortune, j tio"' or any sacrifice that he would not 
In fact, we may question whether a ! have made to acquire your favour." 
more complying minister, or one more i " He never said bs much to Mue," an- 
disposed to have gratified his master in j sweredthe king. " No, sir," replied 
everv legitimate object of royal desire, ] the duke, " assuredly he did not, because 
could ha'^ve been fuund among his ma- i your majesty never gave him any eil 



No man who has enjoyed the oppor- 
tunities of studying Fox's clinracter. or 
of being informed respecting his political 
line of action, to which I have had 
access, can, however, doubt that he 
would have preferred gentleness before 
force, and conciliaiion in preference to 
harsher methods of confirming his power, 
if the means of accomplishing it had been 
open to him. He well knew how difii- 
cult it was to retain office in defiance of 
the sovereign ; and he could not be ig- 
norant that by his junction with Lord 
North, though he had stormed the 
cabinet, he had lost his popular- 
ity. All his original principles were 
monarchical, and even his ambition 
partook of the pliability of his nature. 
His very necessities rendered him duc- 



jesty's subjects. Mr. Pitt manifested 
by no means the same acquiescence, or 
the same suavity and ready submission, 
on a variety of occasions, when after- 
wards in office. He was, on the con- 
trary, often intractable and pertinacious, 
as I know, even upon points painfully 
interesting to the king. But if George 
the 'i'hird did not regard him with aflfec- 
lion, he at least considered him with 



couragement to venture on taking such a 
step." George the Third, during the 
eight or nine months of his captivity, 
only looked to emancipation, and never 
attempted to gain or to conciliate his 
ministerial jailors. 

Meanwhile emerging, as the duties of 
his high office compelled him, from the 
dissipaiion and society of Brookes's.; 
Fox, during this brilliant, but transitory 



esteem ; and unfortunately for Fox, it \ portion of his life, fulfilled willi universal 
was not easy to acquire the favour ofthe i approbation, I might even say, admi.ra- 
sovereign, except through the channel ! tion. all the. essential, no less than the 
of his moral approbation. " Hoc fonte } ostensible functions of secretary of state. 
derivata Cladesr It was in vain that I At his house in Grafton-street, where he 
the secretary watched for a moment of, resided, he received and entertained the 
weakness, of which he would' no doubt I foreign ministers then resident in London 
have profiled, to insinuate himself into} from the various European courts, with 
the roval confidence. There existed no I distinguished eclat. They, who were 
mistress to faciliate his approaches, to ! never weary of his conversation, respect- 
soften asperities, and to form the medium ] ed his talents, while they admired the 
of reconciliation. Under George the i immense variety of his information on 
First, the Duchess of Kendal, or the | all diplomatic points. Delighted at the 
Count'ss of Darlington, would have per- i facility with which he wrote or convers- 
formed that office for him, though not > ed '" French, an accomplishment not so 
graluitouslv; as Mrs. Howard, or Ma- , general at that time, as it is now become; 
dame de Walmoden,iWonld equally have tl>ey were not less gratified by the liberal 
done with George the Second. [hospitality of his table, added to the 

Nor can we reasonably question on ' noble amenity and frankness of his man- 
the other hand, that his majesty justly ners. Nor can it be sufficiently regret- 
appreciated the secretary's character, ted, that a man so much formed to have 



418 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



I 



done honour, and to have rendered es- 
sential service to his country, as Fox ; 
should, by the errors or imprudencies of 
his own conduct, have rendered himself 
obnoxious to his sovereign, and tluis 
have excluded himself from office. We 
cannot reflect without concern, that in 
the course of a life prolonged to its fifty- 
eighth j'ear, Fox sat only about nineteen 
months in the cabinet, taken altogether: 
while Pitt, who terminated his compara- 
tively short career at forty-seven, passed 
almost his whole life after he attained to 
manhood, in the first employments; or 
rather, in the highest situation of state, 
that of prime minister. However we 
may dispute as to the superiority of 
talents in these two extraordinary and 
illustrious men, posterity will be at no 
loss to decide respecting the superiority 
of {\\e\r judgment. 

[August.] Pitt availing himself of 
this interval of political leisure, afforded 
him by the triumph of the coalition, and 
the recess of parliament, endeavoured to 
catch a hasty glimpse of the continent, 
which he had scarcely ever before visited. 
As if he foresaw that no other occasion 
would ever again present itself for the 
gratification of his curiosity, he crossed 
over to Calais, and directed his course 
in the first instance, to Rheims. Lord 
Thurlow followed his example. Mr. 
George Rose, who had been one of the 
two secretaries of the treasury, when 
Pitt filled the post of chancellor of the 
exchequer; and who has since deserved- 
ly risen by his distinguished financial 
talents or services, to much higher offi- 
cial situations ; accompanied Lord Thur- 
low. 1 met thein by accident, at Ant- 
werp. Pitt proceeding afterwards to 
Paris, was presented by our embassador, 
the Duke of Manchester, to Louis the 
Sixteenth, at Fontainbleau, where the 
French court always pissed a considera- 
ble portion of the Autumn. His name, 
and the fame of his distinguished abili- 
ties, which had preceded his appearance, 
disposed all to admire him : but the 
king, in compliance with the stupid eti- 
quette, that interdicted him from speak- 
ing to foreigners, who were presented at 
court; when added to his natural shy- 
ness ; did not, I believe, exchange one 
word with Pitt. The queen, whose su- 
perior energy of mind emancipated her 



from such restraints, treated him with 
the utmost distinction. Marie Antoinette 
entered into conversation with him, as 
far as his cold manner, increased by an 
imperfect knowledge of the French lan- 
guage, would permit him to engage in 
discourse. " Monsieur,'''' said she to 
him, on his retiring, with a manner even 
more expressive than the words, " Je 
suis charmee de vous voir, et de vous 
avoir vue." Pitt took care to return to 
London from his short excursion, in 
i\me to attend the meeting of parliament. 
While the two leaders of ministry, 
and of opposition, were thus respectively 
occupied, the one in his official duties at 
home, and the other on the continent ; 
the king became a prey to habitual de- 
jection. Throughout all the troubles of 
his reign, when Wilkes and when " Ju- 
nius" excited disafieotion among his 
subjects, as well as during the most dis- 
tressful periods of the American war; or 
when the capital exhibited scenes of 
outrage and of popular violence ; he had 
maintained a serene countenance, and 
manifested an unshaken firmness. But 
his fortitude sunk under the bondage to 
which the coalition had subjected him. 
His natural equality of temper, suavity 
of manners, and cheerfulness of deport- 
ment, forsaking him in a great measure, 
he became silent, thoughtful, taciturn, 
and uncommunicative. Sometimes, when 
he resided at Windsor, mounting his 
horse, accoiripanied by an equerry and 
a single footman ; after riding ten or 
twelve miles, scarcely opening his lip.s, 
he would dismount in order to inspect 
his hounds, or to view his farming im- 
provements : then getting on horseback 
again, he returned back to the queen's 
lodge in the same pensive or disconso- 
late manner. From lime to time, he ad- 
mitted Mr. Jenkinson and Lord Thurlow, 
both of whom were privy councillors, to 
pay their respects to him. He even re- 
peated to the latter of those distinguished 
persons, his wish already expressed, of 
going over to his electoral dominions for 
a few months ; and abandoning to the 
ministers, the power of which they had 
got possession. But Lord Thurlow after 
again dissuading him from having re- 
course to any strong or violent expe- 
dients for procuring present emancipa- 
tion ; exhorted him to wait for a favour- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



419 



able occasion, which Fox's impetuosity 
or imprudence wouhl probably furnish, 
to liberate himself from the yoke of the 
coalition. Time soon presented the 
propitious moment for putting this ad- 
vice into execution. 

[September.] His majesty remaining 
inflexible in his resolution not to create 
any British peers on the ministerial 
recommendation, they contented them- 
selves with tendering him a list of eight 
or nine Irish peerages. However 
reluctantly, he yet consented to exercise 
this act of the prerogative. Nearly 
about the same time, the definitive 
treaties of peace were concluded with 
France and Spain ; while David Hart- 
ley, who had been sent to Paris ex- 
pressly for the purpose, signed another 
treaty with America. Hartley, who 
was member for Hull, though destitute 
of any personal recommendations of 
manner, possessed some talent, with 
unsullied probity, addeil to indefatigable 
perseverance and labour. His sight, 
which was very defective, compelled 
him always to wear spectacles. The 
Rockingham party contained not among 
them a more zealous adherent ; but in 
parliament, the intolerable length, when 
increased by the dulness of his speeches, 
rendered him an absolute nuisance, even 
to his own friends. His rising always 
operated like a dinner bell. One day, 
that he had thus wearied out the pa- 
tience of his audience ; having nearly 
cleared a very full house, which was re- 
duced from three hundred to about eighty 
persons, half asleep ; just at a lime 
when he was expected to close, he un- 
expectedly moved that the Riot Act 
should be read, as a document necessary 
to elucidate, or to prove, some of his 
foregoing assertions. Burke, who sat 
close by him, and w^o wishing to speak 
to the question under discussion, which 
was a part of the budget, had been 
bursting with impatience for more than 
an hour and a half; finding himself so 
cruelly disappointed, bounced up, ex- 
claiming, while he laid hold of Hartley 
by the coat, " The Riot Act ! My dear 
friend, the Riot Act! to what purpose! 
don't you see that the mob is already 
completely dispersed ? You have not 
twenty hearers." The sarcastic wit of 
this remark, in the stale of the house. 



which presented to the view only empty 
benches ; when increased by the manner 
and tone of despair, in which Burke 
uttered it; convulsed every person pre- 
sent except Hartley, who never changed 
countenance, and insisted on the Riot 
Act being read by one of the clerks. 
Lord North himself recounted this story 
to Sir John Macpherson, from whom I 
received it. 

I have heard the late Earl of Liver- 
pool, then Mr. Jenkinson, say, that 
Hartley having risen to speak, about 
five o'clock, during the session of the 
year 1779, in ihe month of June, or of 
July : and it being generally understood 
that he would undoubtedly continue a 
long time on his legs, as he was to con- 
clude with making a motion; Mr. Jen- 
kinson profited of the occasion to breathe 
some country air. He walked therefore 
from the house to his residence in Par- 
liament-street ; from whence mounting 
his horse, he rode out to a place that he 
rented, some miles from town. There 
he dined, strolled about, and in the 
evening returned slowly to London. As 
it was then near nine o'clock; before 
he went down a second time to the 
House of Commons, he despatched a 
servant to Mrs. Bennet the housekeeper, 
requesting to be informed of the names 
of the principal persons who had spoken 
in the course of the debate, and likewise 
to know about what hour a division 
might probably be expected to take 
place. The footman brought back for 
answer, that Mr. Hartley continued still 
speaking, but was expected to close 
soon ; and that no other person had yet 
risen except himself. In fact, when 
Mr. Jenkinson entered the house soon 
afterwards. Hartley remained exactly 
in the same place and altitude as he 
was near five hours before ; regardless 
of the general impatience, or of the pro- 
found repose into which the majority of 
his henrers were sunk. However 
incredible this anecdote appears, 1 have 
related it without exaggeration. 

[October.] Autumn produced uni- 
versal tranquillity ; a peace with Hol- 
land, followed the treaties made with 
France, Spain, and America. In Lidia, 
hostilities had been long terminated wiih 
ihe Mharatias ; and the death of Hyder 
Ally, ihe most formidable enemy with 



420 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



whom we had to contend in the east, 
which look place in December, 1782, 
enabled us to continue the contest with 
France in that quarter of the world, till 
the arriviil at Madras of the intelligence 
of a general pacification in Europe. I 
availed myself of a fortunate circum- 
stance, to convey the first information of 
this event to India, and thereby stopped 
the farther effusion of blood. Lord 
Walsingham, who honoured me with 
his friendship, having in his possession 
two " Extraordinary Gazettes," issued 
on the 23d of January, 1783, gave me 
one of them ; which Gazette I forwarded 
on the 25th of that month, by the com- 
mon post, overland, through Vienna, 
Constantinople, Aleppo, and Bussora, 
to a friend at Madras. It contained the 
preliminaries of peace just signed at 
Paris, between Great Britain, France 
and Spain. The king's ministers, as 
well as the East India Company, were 
equally bound by every principle of 
humanity and policy, to have anticipated 
liiat Gazette. But Lord Sydney, then 
secretary of state for the department, 
having delayed (on account of ihe unset- 
tled nature of the administration, which 
continued during many weeks in a 
species of suspension, after Lord Shel- 
burne's resignation), to despatch the 
" Crocodile" frigate with the intelli- 
gence ; and the court of directors re- 
maining from the same cause, equally 
negligent or torpid ; my letter reached 
Madras about the middle of the following 
month of June.' Full six weeks elapsed, 
subsequent to that time, before any offi- 
cial information, either from the court of 
Versailles, from the British government, 
or from the East India House, arrived on 
the coast of Coromandel. Our position, 
at the moment when my account was 
received in that quarter of the globe, 
miuht he esteemed most critical, as we 
had formed the siege of Cuddalore, and 
were under hourly apprehension of a 
sally being made on the part of the 
enemy, whose force within the walls 
far exceeded the number of our own 
troops stationed in the trenches before 
the place. Under these circumstances, 
Lord Macartney, then governor of Ma- 
dras, having despatched his secretary, 
Sir George Staunton, to Cuddalore, with 
the Gazette which my friend had laid 



before him ; Bussy, who commanded 
the French forces, recognised its authen- 
ticity, and consented to publish an im- 
mediate cessation of arms. When the 
account of so extraordinary a fact was 
received in London from iMadras, early 
in 1784, together with the recognition 
of its beneficial results to the East India 
Company, a member of the court of 
directors, who then enjoyed great con- 
sideration in Leadenhall-street, impress- 
ed with a sense of the public benefits 
that had accrued from it, evinced a de- 
sire of procuring for me, as its author, 
some honorary mark of the company's 
satisfaction or gratitude. But on his 
mentioning the subject to the chairman 
and deputy chairman, they observed, that 
to thank me for sending out intelligence 
of the conclusion of peace, must seem 
to imply a tacit condemnation of their 
own delay in so long withholding, or 
rather, in neglecting to forward the in- 
formation. The business remained, 
therefore, unnoticed ; but I do not the 
less reflect upon it, as one of the most 
gratifying acts of my whole life. 

Hyder Ally, who had raised himself, 
like Buonaparte, from the rank of a 
military officer in the service of his 
native prince, the rajah or sovereign of 
Mysore, to the possession of supreme 
power in that country, was, beyond all 
competition, the greatest man whom 
India had beheld, since the entry of 
Nadir Shaw into Dehli, or perhaps since 
the death of Aurung Zebe. It was twice 
the lot of Hyder, to overrun the Carna- 
tic, and to penetrate to the gates of Ma- 
dras. His first irruption, which took 
place in 1769, may even be said to have 
dictated the treaty of peace, concluded 
under the very walls of the city. Go- 
vernor Du Pre, who then presided over 
the East India Company's affairs on the 
coast of Coromandel, held more than one 
interview with Hyder, while the nego- 
tiations were still pending, in order to 
adjust, or to accelerate the conditions. 
Insensibly, during these personal con- 
ferences, as their mutual distrust and 
distance wore off, the nabob put many 
questions to Du Pre, indicating equally 
the enlargement of his mind, and dis- 
playing the easy familiarity of his man- 
ners. One of the circumstances which 
most excited the English governor's 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



421 



astonishment, was to see that Hyder had 
no eyebrows ; nor, indeed, a single 
hair left on any part of his face. A man 
constantly attended near him, whose sole 
function and employment consisted in 
pulling out, with a pair of nippers, the 
first hair that made its appearance on 
the sultan's countenance. Hyder, per- 
ceiving the surprise which this fact occa- 
sioned in Du Pre, said to him, " I ob- 
serve, that you wonder at my having no 
eyebrows, as well as at my attention in 
causing every hair that appears on my 
face, to be immediately eradicated. The 
reason I will explain to yon. 1 am the 
Nabob of Mysore, and it forms an object 
of policy with me that my subjects 
should see no face in my dominions 
resembling the countenance of their 
sovereign." Du Pre assured Sir John 
Macpherson, to whom he related this 
anecdote, tliat he believed Hyder's prac- 
tice proved him to possess a consum- 
mate knowledge of human nature, espe- 
cially of his own subjects. " For," 
added he, " the impression which the 
nabob's physiognomy made upon my- 
self, was not a little increased by its 
singularity." From the universal testi- 
mony of all those Europeans who had 
opportunities of knowing this extra- 
ordinary prince, it is unquestionable 
that his manners, voice, and deport- 
ment, were the most soft and ingratiating 
to be imagined, whenever he wished to 
please, or atlecled to be gracious and 
benign : but iie was terrible, and often 
ferocious in his anger, like the Caliph 
Haroun-Alraschid, or like Peter the 
First of Russia. He died of abscesses, 
or cancers, in his loins, — probably the 
consequences of debauchery, — which 
carried him off before he attained to old 
age. After a war, which from its com- 
mencement at Lexington in 1775, hail 
lasted near eight years, the world began 
to enjoy repose ; but the efforts made 
by the coalition to consolidate their poli- 
tical power, soon produced at home the 
most violent convulsions, which termi- 
nated in their total downfall. 

Two great legal characters finished 
their course nearly together, in the au- 
tumn of 1783. Dunning, in August ; 
and Wallace in November. Both were 
eminent in their profession ; but all the 
intellectual superiority lay on the side 
36 



of the former. Yet fortune had a greater 
share than merit or talents in elevating 
the one to the peerage, while the other 
failed of attaining to that eminence. If 
Lord North's administration had con- 
tinued two or three years longer, and 
consequently, if Lord Shelburne had 
been excluded from office, their destiny 
might probably have been reversed. I 
have been assured, that a short time be- 
fore Lord Ashburton's decease, these 
two distinguished lawyers finding them- 
selves by accident in the same inn at 
Bagshot, — the one on his way down 
into Devonshire, and the other returning 
from thence to London, — both of them 
conscious that their recovery from the 
disorders under which they laboured was 
desperate, expressed a strong mutual 
wish to enjoy a last interview with each 
other. For that purpose, they were 
carried into the same apartment, laid 
down on two sofas nearly opposite, and 
remained together for a long time in 
conversation. They then parted, as 
men who could not hope to meet again 
in this world. By Wallace's decease, 
Lee became attorney-general, and Mans- 
field was replaced in his former situation 
of solicitor-general, which he had filled 
under Lord North's administration. 

I passed a considerable part of the 
autumn with Lord Sackville, at Drayton 
in Northamptonshire. Though in his 
sixty-eighth year, he possessed activity 
of bod)^ cheerfulness of temper, and the 
perfect possession of all his faculties. 
Drayton had forinerly belonged to the 
Mordaunts, Earls of Peterborough ; 
from whom it passed into the possession 
of Henry, Duke of Norfolk, by his 
marriage with Lady Mary Mordatint, 
under the reign of William the 'j'hird. 
He did not, however, long retain it, 
having been divorced from the duchess, 
on account of a criminal connection 
which she carried on with Sir John 
Germain ; and as the duke had no issue 
by her, Drayton reverted to the lady. 
Lord Sackville having, as it is well 
known, assumed the name of Germain, 
and having inherited the estate of Dray- 
ton, it was natural that I should inquire 
how he came to be called to that suc- 
cession. He has frequently related to 
me the particulars, which I shall recount 
in his own words. 



422 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



" Sir John Germain's extraction," , entered early into the Dutch service, and 
said he, " which was uncertain, and who was an old friend of Sir John Ger- 
variously reported, has given rise to main ; he always called her his country- 
much discussion. His reputed father , woman, visited frequently at my father's 
bore arms, as a private soldier, in the house, an4 was kindly received by the 
life-guards of William the Second, Prince j Duke and Duchess of Dorset. Finding 
of Orange : but his mother, who pos- himself in possession of a considerable 
sessed great personal charms, fame i landed property after the death of his 
asserted to have been that prince's mis- , wife, and desirous of transmitting it to 
tress ; and her son was believed to stand "' his own descendants, but being destitute 
in a very close degree of consanguinity | of any natural connexions, he meditated 
to King William the Third. Oliier cir-j to engraft himself on some distinguished 
cumstances tend to confirm tins opinion. , family of this kingdom. For the ex- 
Sir John Germain inherited no paternal 1 press purpose, while resident at Bristol 
coat of arn)s ; but he assumed, or rather i Wells, on account of iiis health, he cast 
used, as his seal and armorial bearing, his eyes upon Lady Betty Berkeley, a 
a red cross : meaning thereby probably 
to imply, that his pretensions ascended 
hit^her than his ostensible birth. Even 
when, by the provisions of his widow, 
Lady Betty Germain's will, I inherited 
Drayton, on the condition of assuming 
the name of Germain, no mention was 
made ol the arms, as is customary in 



daughter of the Earl of Berkeley ; whose 
birth, character, and accomplishments, 
rendered her every way worthy of his 
choice. The marriage took place. She 
was, indeed, many years younger than 
Sir John ; but as she possessed a supe- 
rior understanding, added to the most 
correct deportment, she acquired great 
almost all similar cases. King William, ' influence over him. Having been, her 



with whom Sir John came over here 
from Holland, in 1688, unquestionably 
regarded him with distinguishing aflec- 
tion, and advanced him in life. He 
became a member of parliament, re- 
ceived the honour of knighthood, and 
various pecuniary grants or donations to 
a considerable amount, were conferred 
on him by that prince. 

" Sir John Germain, who possessed 
a very handsome person, was always a 
distinguished favourite of the other sex. 
His connexion with the Duchess of 
Norfolk, finally procured him this place 
and estate, she having married him, 
after obtaining a divorce from her first 
husband. They lived together several 
years ; but no children being left alive, 
and the title of Earl of Peterborough 
having reverted to a collateral branch of 
the Mordaunt family, she bequeathed to 
him, by her will, in the year 1705, the 
house and property of Drayton, which 
lay entirely in her own disposal. Sir 
John, who, though he was naturalized, 
and become by long residence in this 
country, in a great degree, an English- 
man, retained, nevertheless, many of the 
habits of a native of Holland, attached 
himself much to my mother. She being 
the daughter of Marshal Colyear, brother 
to the first Earl of Portmore, who had 



self, previously intimate with the 
Duchess of Dorset, the friendship be- 
tween the two families became cemented 
by the alliance. Sir John Germain had 
several children by her, who all died 
young ; and in the evening of his life 
became a martyr to the gout, as well 
as to other diseases. Lady Betty assidu- 
ously performed every duty of an affec- 
tionate wife, and of a careful nurse, about 
his person. 

" A short time before his decease, 
which liappened in the year 1718, hav- 
ing called her to his bedside ; ' Lady 
Betty,' said he, ' I have made you a very 
indifferent husband, and |)articularly of 
late years, when infirmities have render- 
ed me a burden to myself : but I shall not 
be much longer troublesome to you. I ad- 
vise you never again to marr)' an old man: 
but 1 strenuously exhort you to marry 
when I am gone, and I will endeavour to 
put it in your power. You have fulfilled 
every obligation towards me in an exem- 
plary manner, and I wish to demonstrate 
my sense of your merits. I have there- 
fore, by my will, bequeathed you this 
estate, which I received from my first 
wife ; and which, as she gave to me, so 
I leave to you. I hope you will marry, 
and have children to inherit it. But if 
events should determine otherwise, or if 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



423 



you should not have issue tliat survive 
you, it would give me pleasure to ihiiik, 
that Drayton descended after yourdecease 
to a younger son of my friend, the Du- 
chess of Dorset.' In consequence of this 
wish, expressed by Sir John Germain on 
his death-l)ed,I now enjoy the estate. Lady 
Betty, though young when left a widow, 
and though siie survived iiim above tilty 
years, never married a second lime. Her 
friendship for my mother, always con- 
tinued without diminution ; and her re- 
spect for the desire manifested by her 
husband, induced lier to fulfil his wishes, 
to the exclusion of any of her own rela- 
tions." 

While writing on this subject, I siiall 
endeavour to throw into one point, some 
of the nurherous particulars relative to 
his own family, which in the course of 
conversation I heard from Lord Sack- 
ville. They all may be said to hold, 
more or less, to English history. In 
order to give, them more verity and ac- 
curacy, I shall, as nearly as I am able, 
present them in his own words. 

" The Sackvilles," said he, "who came 
into England with the conqueror, and 
who derived their name from a small 
village of Low Normandy, have never 
branched in the lapse of more than seven 
hundred years. During the two last 
centuries, the family has produced three 
distinguished men; of whom the first 
was the lord treasurer Bnckhurst, 
whom our great Elizabeth thought wor- 
thy to succeed Lord Burleigh in that high 
office, and whom James the First cre- 
ated Earl of Dorset. It would have been 
fortunate for the Scottish king, if he had 
presided longer in the councils of the 
crown; but he soon followed his royal 
mistress, and made way, after a short 
interval, for those favourites, Carr and 
Villiers, who covered James with dis- 
grace. His grandson, Edward, Earl of 
Dorset, the friend and contemporary of 
Lord Herbert of Cherbury ; but, better 
known by his duel with Lord Bruce, 
performed an eminent part under Charles 
the First. He accompanied that prince 
during the civil wars, and fought in most 
of the actions, from Edge Hill, down to 
Naseby. But like the virtuous Lord 
Falkland, he regretted and lamented the 
very advantages, to which he contri- 
buted by his sword. Many of his letters, 



written between 1643 and 1646, which 
are preserved among the Dorset Papers ; 
descriptive of the scenes of havoc then 
acting in every part of the kingdom, con- 
vey a high idea of his principles. His 
days were embittered and abbreviated 
by his royal master's tragical end, which 
he only survived about three years. 

My grandfather, Charles, commonly 
called tlie witty Earl of Dorset, died 
about ten years before I was born, after 
having survived in a great degree his 
faculties. He was during his whole life, 
the patron of men of genius, and the 
dupe of women. Bountiful beyond 
measure to both, though he inherited not 
only the paternal estate of the Sack- 
villes, buthkewise, that of the Cranfields, 
Earls of Middlesex, in right of his mo- 
ther ; yet at his decease, my father, then 
eighteen years of age, possessed so 
slender a fortune, that his guardians, 
when they sent him to travel on the con- 
tinent, allowed him only eight hundred 
pounds a year, for his provision. Charles, 
Earl of Dorset, married three times ; but 
only one of these marriages contributed 
either to his honour, or to his felicity. 
His first wife was the celebrated Coun- 
tess of Falmouth, well known by her 
gallantries ; ihe Miss Bagot of ' Gram- 
mont's Memoirs,' whom Dryden has de- 
signaled as 

* A teeming widow, but a barren wife.' 



Happily she left him no issue ; and in 
his second matrimonial connexion, he 
consulted noi only his inclination, but 
his judgment, when he gave his hand to 
a daughter of llie Earl of Northampton. 
He had then nearly attained his fiftieth 
year; and as he was only twenty-three 
at the time of Charles the Second's re- 
storation, the excesses of that dissolute 
reign, in which Lord Dorset led the 
way, had already enfeebled his constitu- 
tion. Strongly attached to the princi 
pies of civil liberty, he quitted James 
the Second, when that infatuated prince 
attempted to introduce popery ; and con- 
ducted the Princess Anne of Denmark 
from her father's palace at Whitehall, to 
the coach which waited for her in St. 
James's Park, in order to convey- her to 
Nottingham. While crossing over from 



424 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



the palace to the park, by night, and in 
winter, one of her royal highness's shoes 
sticking fast in the mud, the accident 
threatened to impede her escape: but 
Lord Dorset immediately drawing off his 
while glove, put it on the princess's foot, 
and placed her safely in the carriage. 
To King William, my grandfather ren- 
dered himself not less acceptable, tlian he 
had been to Charles the Second ; and I 
have always been assured that it only 
depended on himself, to have been raised 
to a dukedom under William's reign: 
but his wife's relations, the Comptons, 
treating the matter, when he mentioned 
it to them, with great indifference, he 
said, ' the Earldom of Dorset was quite 



court, as a witness to prove him an 
idiot.' 

" My father having lost his own mo- 
ther, when very young, was brought up 
chiefly by the Dowager Countess of 
Northampton, his grandmother ; who 
being particularly acceptable to Queen 
Mary, she commanded the countess al- 
ways to bring her little grandson. Lord 
Buckhurst, lo Kensington Palace, though 
at that time hardly four years of age ; 
and he was allowed to amuse hin)self 
with a child's carl in the gallery. King 
William, like almost all Dutchmen, 
never failed to attend the tea-table, every 
evening. It happened thai her majesty 
having one afternoon, by his desire, 



good enough for him.' In fact, my fa- 1 made tea, and waiting for the king's av- 



ther only attained to that dignity, near 
thirty years afterwards, under George 
the First. 

" Extenuated by pleasures and indul- 
gences, the Earl of Dorset sunk under a 



rival, who was engaged on business in 
his cabinet, at the other extremity of the 
gallery ; the boy hearing the queen ex- 
press her impatience at the delay, ran 
away to the closet, dragging after him 



premature old age ; though not as early the cart. When he arrived at the door, 
as Rochester, Buckingham, and so many j he knocked ; and the king asking ' Who 
others of his contemporaries had done, is there ?' ' Lord Buck,' answered he, 
including Charles the Second himself ;' And what does Lord Buck want with 
all of whom fell victims to their immo- 1 me?' replied his majesty. ' You must 
derate pursuit of enjoyments. A few come to tea directly,' said he, ' the queen 
years before he died, he married a wo- { is wailing for you.' King William im- 
man named Roche, of very obscure con- mediately laid down his pen, and opened 
nexions, who held him in a sort of cap-, the door; then taking the child in his 
tivity down at Bath, where he expired arms, placed Lord Buckhurst in ihe 
at about sixty-nine. She suffered few cart, and seizing the pole, drew them 
persons to approach him during his last both along the gallery, quite to the 
illness, or rather decay ; and was sup- room in which were sealed the queen, 
posed to have converted his weakness of Jjady Northampton, and the company, 
mind, to her own objects of personal But no sooner had he entered the apart- 
acquisilion. He was indeed considered menl, than, exhausted with the effort, 
to be fallen into a state of such imbeci-' which had forced the blood upon his 
lity, as would render it necessary to ap- ' lungs, and being naturally asthmatic, he 
point guardians, with a view to prevent threw himself into a chair, and for some 
his injuring the family estate : but the ' minutes was incapable of utteringa word, 
intention was nevertheless abandoned, breathing with the utmost difficulty. 
You have no doubt heard, and it is a fact, • The Countess of Northampton, shocked 
that with a view of ascertaining whether i at the consequences of her grandson's 



Lord Dorset continued to be of a sane 
mind. Prior, whom he had patronized 
and always regarded with predilection, 
was sent down to Balh, by the family. 
Having obtained access to the earl, and 
conversed with him. Prior made his re- 
jjort in these words. ' Lord Dorset is 
certainly greatly declined in his under- 
standing ; but he drivels so much better 
sense even now, than any other man can 



indiscretion, which threw the whole 
circle into great consternation, would 
have punished him: but the king inter- 
posed in his behalf; and the story is 
chiefly interesting, because, (as serving 
to show how kindly he could behave 
towards a troublesome child), it places 
that prince in a more amiable point of 
view, than he is commonly represented 
in history. Henry ihe Fourth of France, 



talk, that you must not call me into I when playing with his own children, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



425 



could not have manifested more amenity, 
or good Inimour. Tlie queen being ac- 
customed to take Lord Buckliurst in her 
arms, and to caress liim when he came 
to Kensington ; his nurse, aware of the 
circumstance, gave him secretly a writ- 
ten paper, which she charged him to 
deliver privately to her majesty. He 
did so, without acquainting Lady Nor- 
thampton, who being present, would 
Kave interposed to prevent him : but the 
queen insisted on perusing its contents. 
It contained a petition drawn up by tlie 
woman, in favour of her brother, then 
condemned to death for a capital crime. 
Queen Mary, touched with tiie incident, 
laid it before the king, who caused en- 
quiry to be made into the circumstances 
of the case, with a view of extending 
mercy to tiie culprit. On examination, 
the crime, from its magnitude, not ad- 
mitting of pardon, the queen, as the only 
alleviation left in her power to bestow, 
gave Lord Buckhurst a purse containing 
ten Jacobusses ; enjoining him to present 
it to his nurse from herself, with the as- 
surances of her concern at the impossibi- 
lity that existed, of saving her brother's 
life." 

" I was born," continued Lord Sack- 
ville, in the year 1716, in the Hay- 
market, where my father then resided ; 
and received my name from George the 
First, who was my godfather, having 
honoured the ceremony of my baptism 
by his personal presence. One of the 
earliest circumstances which made an 
impression on my mind, was that of 
being carried, at five years of age, bv 
the servants, to the gate of St. James's 
Palace, in order to see the great Duke of 
Marlborough, as he came out of court. 
He was tlien in a state of caducity ; but 
still retained the vestiges of a most grace- 
ful figure, though he was obliged to be 
supported by a servant on each side, 
while the tears ran down his cheeks, 
just as he is drawn by Dr. Johnson, who 
says, 

' From Marlborough's eyes, the tears of dotage 
flow.' 

The populace cheered him, while passing 
through the crowd to enter his carriage. 
I have, however, heard my father assert, 
that the Duke of Marlborough by no 
36* 



means fell into irrecoverable or settled 
dotage, as we commonly suppose ; but 
manifested at times a sound understand- 
ing, till within a very short period of his 
decease ; occasionally attending the 
privy council, and sometimes speaking 
in his official capacity, on points of pub- 
lic business, with his former ability. 

" No man displayed greater zeal than 
my father, for the succession in the 
House of Brunswic. After Queen 
Anne's death in 1714, he was sent to 
Hanover ; returned with the new king 
from Heren Hausen to England, in Sep- 
tember of tlie same year; and had the 
honour to accompany George the First, 
in the coach which conveyed him on 
his landing, from Greenwich to London. 
Thirty-three years earlier, he had been 
a suitor for the hand of the queen, 
whom he then succeeded ; having come 
over with tfiat view, from Germany to 
this country, in 1681, by permission of 
his father, Ernest Augustus ; but the 
proposition failed of success. On his 
return, ridinjj a common post horse from 
London to Gravesend where lie took 
shipping for Holland, the horse and the 
road being equally bad, he got a severe 
fall, and arrived at Gravesend, covered 
with mud. The king, who related this 
circumstance to Lord Dorset, as they 
came up together in the coach, recog- 
nised, and pointed out the spot where the 
misadventure befelhim. 

" When the intelligence of his de- 
cease, which took place near Osna- 
bruffh, in the end of July, 1727, arrived 
in London ; the cabinet having imme- 
diately met, thought proper to despatch 
the Duke of Dorset with the news to 
the Prince of Wales. He then resided 
at Kew, in a state of great alienation 
from the king; the two courts maintain- 
ing no communication. Some little time 
being indispensable, to enable my fattier 
to appear in a suitable manner before the 
new monarch, he sent forward the 
duchess his wife, in order to announce 
the event. She arrived at Kew, just as 
the prince, according to his invariable 
custom, having undressed himsplf after 
dinner, had laid down in bed. The 
duchess demanding permission to see 
him immediately, on business of the 
greatest importance, the servants ac- 
quainted the Princess of Wales with her 



426 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



arrival ; and the duchess, without a 
moment's hesitation, informed her royal 
highness, that George the First lay dead 
at Osnabrugh ; that the cabinet had or- 
dered her husband to be the bearer of the 
intelligence to his successor, and that the 
duke would follow her in a short time. 
She added, that not a moment should be 
lost in communicating so great an event 
to the prince, as the ministers wished 
him to come up to London that same 
evening, in order to summon a privy 
council, to issue a proclamation, and take 
other requisite measures, at the com- 
mencement of a new reign. 

" To the propriety of all these steps, 
the princess assented ; but at the same 
time informed the duchess, that she 
could not venture to enter her husband's 
room, as he had only just taken off his 
clothes, and composed himself to sleep. 
' Besides,' added she, ' the prince will 
not give credit to the intelligence ; but 
will exclaim that it is a fabrication, de- 
signed for the purpose of exposing him.' 
The duchess continued nevertlieless to 
remonstrate with her royal highness, on 
the injurious consequences of losing 
time ; and adding, that the Duke of 
Dorset would expect to find the prince 
not only apprised of it, but ready to ac- 
com[iany him to London; the Princess of 
Wales took off her shoes, opened the 
chamber door softly, and advanced up 
to the bedside, while my mother re- 
mained at the threshold, till she should 
be allowed to enter the apartment. As 
soon as tlie princess came near tiie bed, 
a voice from under the clothes cried out 
in German, ' Was is das ?' ' 1 am come, 
sir,' answered she, * to announce to you 
the death of the king, which has taken 
place in Germany.' ' That is one 
damned trick,' returned the prince, ' I 
do not believe one word of it.' ' Sir,' 
said the princess, • it is most certain. 
The Duchess of Dorset has just bl-ought 
the intelligence, and the duke will be 
here iminediaiely. The ministers hope 
that you will repair to town, this very 
evening,, as your presence there is indis. 
pensable.' Her royal highness then 
threw herself on her knees, to kiss the 
new king's hand ; and beckoning to the 
Duchess of Dorset to advance, she 
came in likewise, knelt down, and 
assured him of the indisputable truth ©f 



his father's decease. Convinced at 
length of the fact, he consented to get 
up and dress himself. The IJuke of 
Dorset arriving in his coach and six, 
almost immediately afterwards, George 
the Second quitted Kew the same even- 
ing, for London." I return to the 
progress of public affairs. 

[November.] When we reflect on the 
manner in which Fox had attained to 
power ; as well as on the long, though in- 
effectual resistance made by the king ; fol- 
lowed by his sullen resignation under a 
yoke which he found it impossible to 
elude or throw off; — when we con- 
sider these facts, it cannot excite sur- 
prise, that Fox should meditate the 
means of confirming and perpetuating 
his precarious tenure of office. He felt 
himself personally odious to tiie sove- 
reign, whom he had too deeply offend- 
ed, easily to obtain forgiveness. From 
that quarter therefore, he well knew that 
he might be undermined or subverted ; 
but he could not hope to receive a cor- 
dial support. Unfortunately, he had 
likewise recently lost in a very consider- 
able degree, the confidence and attach- 
ment of the people. So long as the 
American war lasted, he retained, in de- 
fiance of his private irregularities, their 
ardent affection. Of this sentiment, 
they gave him many proofs: particularly 
after his duel with Mr. Adam, when the 
wound which he received, exciting ap- 
prehensions for his life, the populace 
surrounded his lodgings, with testimo- 
nies of clamorous anxiety, as well as of 
corresponding resentment against his 
ministerial and persona! opponents. 

Since that time, the inhabitants of 
Westminster manifesting the same par- 
tiality, had elected him one of their re- 
presentatives in parliament ; a situation 
which enabled him not only to defend 
their liberties in the House of Com- 
mons, but conferred likewise the means 
of convoking, haranguing, and propelling 
them in tumultuary assemblies, con- 
vened for the express purpose in West- 
minster Hall. To a man of Fox's en- 
ergy and talents, the additional facility 
of thus presiding in a species of mob, at 
the very door of the two Houses of Par- 
liament, as wellas at a very inconsider- 
able distance from the royal residence, 
doubled his consequence ; and might be 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



427 



said 10 render liini a tribune of the peo- j that colony, a receptacle or space of 
pie, ill the most literal sense of the word, ground, surrounded by walls, into which 
nearly as that oifice was exercised,in an- | was commonly thrown every species of 
cient Rome, previous to the subversion | corrupted and putrefied substance. In a 
of the commonwealth. Nor had his ; hot climate, the process from dissolution 
popularity sutlered at all in the general to revivification, we know, is very quick, 
estimation, by his acceptance of office | Maggots in immense numbers, of a pro- 
under Lord Rockingham ; though the digious size, were speedily generated or 
fallacy and delusion of many of his produced from this filth ; which the 



promises or assertions, had become suffi- 
ciently manifest, even during his short 
stay in the cabinet under that adminis 



Chinese inhabitants of the settlement, 
who possessed no means of regular sub- 
sistence, and who therefore were not 



Iration. On tlie motives, and on the I fastidious about their diet, used to coUeet 

propriety or necessity, of his resigna- | with rakes, from of!" the heaps of car- 

■'"■■■" * ■ cases, and to devour immediately, after 



lion, after Lord Shelburne's elevation to 
the head of the treasury, mankind seemed 
indeed divided; some applauding it, as 
an act of magnanimous public virtue, 
renunciation, and self-devotion ; while 
others beheld in it only personal rivality, 
enmity, and resentment. 

But, relative to his junction with his 
present colleague Lord North, the suf- 
frages of the world, from the highest, 
down to the lowest classes, united to 
reprobate it in a greater or in a less de- 
gree. And I have always thought that 
Fox himself, in his impatience to regain 
office, miscalculated, or did not suffi- 
ciently appreciate, the operation on the 
public mind, of his conduct ; in thus 
taking to his bosom in March, 1783, the 
very minister, on whose head, in March, 
1782, he had invoked the utmost ven- 
geance of an offended and ruined nation. 
Some longer interval of time was re- 
quired, to reconcile men to such an ap- 
parent dereliction of principle, and so 
total a sacrifice of decorum, at the shrine 
of ambition. Here the transmutation 
had been so rapid, as not only to shock 
the most ordinary understanding ; but, 
even to impress with secret concern or 
disgust, many of those who, nevertheless, 
affected to justify, and to support the 
measure. Pope says, 

" Lust, through some certain strainers vrell refin'il, 
Is gentle love, and charms all female kind." 

But it must pass through those re- 
finers, and leave its dross behind, or 
conceal it, before love can charm, or 
challenge respect. I have heard Colonel 
Macalister, late governor of the island of 
Penang in the East Indies, frequently 
fissert, that there existed in the town of 



frying them in ghee, or melted butter. 
Col. Macalister indeed added, that the 
Chinese who used such aliments, became 
subject to cutaneous and leprous diseases 
of the most inveterate kind. We per- 
ceive, however, that all animal and ve- 
getable substances perpetually change 
their forms ; and disgusting as this recital 
may be, that sentiment only arises from 
the rapidity of the metamorphosis. Pre- 
cisely of the same kind, in a political 
sense, appeared the coalition between 
Lord North and Fox ; a transformation, 
which being consummated in the space 
of a few hours, was then imposed upon 
the House of Commons and the nation. 
But the English, indignant at such a 
compact, which revolted their moral 
feelings, rejected in general with abhor- 
rence, the dish served up to them, and 
dismissed the state cooks who had pre- 
pared it for the country. 

Well aware as Fox was therefore, that 
thouorh he had a second time forced his 
way into high employment, yet he nei- 
ther enjoyed the favour of the crown, 
nor any longer possessed the affection of 
the people in general ; it was natural he 
should look to some other quarter, for 
permanent support. In the two Houses 
of Parliament, where he commanded a 
decided majority, he beheld the founda- 
tion on which he might construct a cita- 
del, unassailable, as he conceived, either 
by the sovereign or by the nation. India, 
which presented the materia^ for his 
edifice, seemed to invite his exertions to 
re-model tliat vast empire, convulsed and 
half subverted by internal discord or 
corruption, added to external hostilities. 
Burke, whose friend or relation of the 
same name, William Burke, was already 



428 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



stationed in the east, as agent with the \ 
Rajah of Tanjore ; and who had, himself, 
taken a most active part in all the parlia- 
mentary discussions arising out of the 
reports of tlie secret and select commit- 
tees, during the two preceding sessions ; 
aspired with equal ardour, to second Fox 
in this great undertaking. It had even 
been amiounced from the throne, when 
the king terminated the sitting of parlia- 
ment, in the preceding month of July, 
that India would form the first object of 
their deliberations, on their again meeting 
for business. 

During the course of the autumn. Fox 
and Burke, therefore, aided by the law 
officers of the crown, drew up, and pre- 
pared the memorable bill, which it was 
intended to introduce, as soon as the 
session should commence in November. 
They communicated all the heads and 
outlines of it, to Lord North ; with whom, 
indeed, as being in his department, the 
measure ought strictly to have originated: 
but who was induced in this instance, as 
in many other cases, to allow the ener- 
gies of his colleague, added to the supe- 
rior information possessed by Burke on 
the subject, to supplant, and in some 
measure to supersede him in his official 
functions. The bill, thus far organized, 
and having been generally approved in 
the cabinet, was then submitted to the 
king, for his private perusal and sanction ; 
accompanied with becoming expressions 
on their part, of the wish and desire en- 
tertained by ministers, to accommodate 
it to his majesty's ideas upon every 
point, before it should be brouglit into 
parliament. Unable of himself, by the 
powers of his own mind, witliout some 
assistance, to form a competent judgment 
upon its complicated provisions, opera- 
tion, and general results, it was under- 
stood and believed that the king had 
early thought proper to lay it confiden- 
tially before Lord Thurlow ; desiring at 
the same time to know his legal opinion 
respecting its nature. Common rumour 
added, that the opinion delivered by Lord 
Thurlow, represented it as calculated to 
render ministers independent of the 
crown; and as containing many clauses 
injurious to, or nearly subversive of, the 
British Constitution itself: but that his 
majesty was advised to wait for its more 
complete development, before he ex- 



pressed any disapprobation, or attempted 
any resistance. Such might be con- 
sidered the general state and aspect of 
things in the first days of November, 
when a curious incident, which unex- 
pectedly took place at St. James's, and 
which excited no little speculation, seem- 
ed to show that the ground on which 
the ministry stood, was hollow and 
treacherous. 

Sir Eyre Coote, who long commanded 
the armies of the East India Company, 
on the Coast of Coromandel, with dis- 
tinguished reputation, and whose name 
is immortalized in the modern iiistory of 
Asia ; after repulsing Hyder Ally, and 
rescuing the Carnatic, expired at Ma- 
dras, worn out and extenuated by dis- 
ease, on the 26th of April, 1783 ; having 
survived his antagonist Hyder, scarcely 
five months. The intelligence of his 
decease, which was transmitted overland, 
reached Leadenhall-street, early in No- 
vember. No sooner had it been com- 
municated to Fox, than he immediately 
destined the ribband of the order of the 
Bath,wh\ch became vacant on Sir Eyre's 
death, for one of his intimate friends, 
Mr. Bielby Thompson. This gentle- 
man, who possessed a very fine estate in 
Yorkshire, at Wetherby Grange, near 
the town of that name ; sat at the time 
in parliament, as a member for Thirske 
in the county of York. Fox. after con- 
ferring on the subject, with the Duke of 
Portland and Lord North, whom he ac- 
quainted with his intentions, repaired to 
St, James's ; where having gone into the 
closet, he announced to the king, the 
event that had taken place in India. He 
then mentioned Mr. Thompson, as the 
person whom he wished, on the part of 
ministers, to recommend for the vacant 
ribband; and his majesty in answer, 
seems to have expressed that species of 
acquiescence, more probably tacit than 
couched in precise words, which the 
secretary at once interpreted, whether 
judiciously or not, to constitute full com- 
pliance. Without waiting therefore, for 
any more explicit declaration from the 
king on the subject, as prudence seemed 
to dictate, Fox informed Mr, Thompson, 
of his having received the royal assent ; 
and added, that the investiture would 
take place at the next levee. Direc- 
tions were'accordingly issued to Norroy, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



429 



King of Arms, and the proper officers 
belonging to the Herald's College, to 
attend at St. James's lor the purpose. 
The circumstance being publicly known, 
Mr. Thompson was felicitated by anti- 
cipation, on the honour destined for 
him : but the sequel proved that Fox 
had either miscalculated or misunder- 
stood, the whole transaction. 

On the day fixed, his majesty went to 
St. James's at the usual hour, to prepare 
for the levee. After he had hnished 
dressing, he sent out the groom of the 
bed chamber in waiting, as was his fre- 
quent custom, to bring him information 
relative to the number of persons who 
were arrived. The gendeman returning, 
acquainted the king, that besides a great 
crowd come to attend the levee, the 
officers of the Bath stood likewise with- 
out, ready for the investiture. With 
some surprise marked in his counte- 
nance, the king asked, what investiture 
he meant? To which question here- 
plied, not without hesitation, that he un- 
derstood it was intended to confei;, the 
order of the Bath on Mr. Bielby Thomp- 
son who was attending there in person 
for that express purpose. His majesty 
made no answer ; and immediatelyafter- 
wards, the Duke of Portland entering, 
went into the closet. In the course of 
his audience, the king observed to him, 
that no official account having been as 
yet received from India, of Sir Eyre 
Coote's death; however authentic the 
information of that event, transmitted 
from Madras, might prove; and his rib- 
band, together with the other insignia of 
the order, not having been hitherto de- 
livered back to himself; he apprehended 
it would be informal to fill up the va- 
cancy, till those points were previously 
ascertained and executed. The duke, 
taken by surprise, after attempting re- 
spectfully to bring his majesty to another 
way of thinking, withdrew ; and finding 
Mr. Fox in the next room, communi- 
cated to him this most unexpected and 
mortifying piece of information. 

The secretary, equally astonished, as 
well as chagrined, instantly went in, 
when a long conversation took place be- 
tween him and the sovereign. In its 
progress. Fox stated that having some 
days preceding, laid the business before 
his majesty ; and conceiving that he had 



obtained his royal approbation and con- 
sent to confer on Mr. 'I'hompson the 
vacant red ribband, it had been so signi- 
fied to that gentleman ; who, together 
with the proper officers, were then wait- 
ing without, in readiness for the cere- 
mony. He added, that in point of fact, 
no possible doubt could be entertained 
of Sir Eyre Coote's death ; and that a 
disappointment, after the preparations 
and publicity of the affair, could not 
fail to be attended with very unplea- 
sant consequences to administration, 
in the general opinion. To all these 
arguments and expostulations, the king, 
after alleging his own reasons, remained 
inflexible. Fox therefore quitting the 
closet, returned to his colleagues, various 
of whom, assembled in the outer room, 
were waiting under considerable anxiety, 
and imparted to ihera the unsuccessful 
result of his audience. No little confu- 
sion ensued among them. Mr. Thomp- 
son, apprised of the mortifying fact, re- 
turned home. The officers of the Bath, 
ordered to withdraw, were acquainted 
that the ceremony expected, would not 
take place on that day. Every person 
present formed his own comments or 
conjectures respecting the scene which 
had just passed under his eyes ; and the 
old courtiers did not fail to draw infer- 
ences from it higlily adverse to the dura- 
tion of ministers. It was obvious that 
the king, who felt no disposition to 
oblige them, had got possession of the 
advantage ground in the contest; where- 
as Fox had acted with some degree of 
indiscretion, as well as precipitation, in 
presuming upon an assent, rather im- 
plied or assumed, than unequivocally 
expressed. Many men considered the 
whole proceeding as a thing concerted, 
and the result of deeper causes than 
were apparent to common observers. 
By exposing the administration to ridi- 
cule, as well as to mortification, it un- 
questionably served to prepare the public 
mind for some approaching convulsion 
or alteration in the government. 

If the business of Sir Eyre,..Coote's 
ribband was attended with these unplea- 
sant results to the ministry, they received 
on the other hand, just at this time, a 
prodigious accession of strength and 
consideration, from the avowed junction 
of the Prince of Wales : who having 



430 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



attained his twenty-first year in the pre- 
ceding month of August, had recently 
established his court and residence at 
Carlton House. Nature had bestowed 
uncommon graces on his figure and per- 



had sacrificed or restored to France and 
Spain, almost all the acquisitions of 
Pitt. Wilkes and " Junius," aided by 
Churchill, had covered with opprobrium, 
or overwhelmed with ridicule, almost 



son : nor were his manners less highly all the ministers employed between the 



distinguished than his birth. Probably 
James, Duke of Monmouth, son of 
Charles the Second, did not excel him 
in all these bodily accomplishments. 
Like the princes of the House of Bruns- 
wick, he manifested an early tendency 
to become corpulent ; nor did he, like 
George the Third, repress that disposi- 
tion by abstinence or renunciations. 
Convivial, as well as social in his tem- 
per, destitute of all reserve, and affable 
even to familiarity in his reception of 
every person who had the honour to 
approach him, he presented in these re- 
spects, a contrast to the shy, correct, 
and distant manners of the king, his 
father. Endowed with all the aptitudes 
to profit of instruction, his mind had 
been cultivated with great care ; and he 
was probably the only prince in Europe, 
heir to a powerful monarchy, competent 
to peruse the Greek, as well as the 
Roman poets and historians, in their 
own language. Capable of warm and 
steady friendship, he possessed a heart 
not less susceptible of love, and alive to 
the impressions, as well as to the seduc- 
tion, of female charms. Humane and 
compassionate, his purse was open to 
every application of distress ; nor vvas 
it ever shut against genius or merit. 
Even if these virtues were mingled with 
considerable alloy, yet his facility, his 
ardent pursuit of pleasure, and his inat- 
tention to economy, all might derive 
some apology from his youth, and the 
elevation on which he stood ; circum- 
stances that necessarily exposed him to 
great, as well as corresponding tempta- 
tions of every kind. 

Nor ought we, if we candidly exa- 
mine the subject, to foel either surprise, 
or any degree of moral disapprobation, 
at the predilection and preference which 
he had imbibed, and which he openly 
manifested, for an administration odious 
to his father. When he looked back 
on the twenty-three years of George the 
Third's reign, he beheld little matter of 
admiration, though ample reason for re- 
gret. At the peace of 1763, Lord Bute 



treaty of Fontainbleau, and the com- 
mencement of the American war : nor 
had the sovereign himself escaped their 
severe animadversions on his personal 
conduct and government. In the gulf 
of the American contest, the treasuries 
of England had been expended, her 
navy disgraced, her commerce nearly 
destroyed, her public burthens accumu- 
lated, her national debt immensely aug- 
mented, her armies defeated or made pri- 
soners, and we had finally lost a vast 
empire beyond the Atlantic. Precisely 
as this calamitous consummation took 
place, the Prince of Wales, emerging 
i'rom the restraint under which he had 
been hitherto held, made his appearance 
on the theatre of public life, and eman- 
cipated himself from parental superin- 
tendence or control. It was not merely 
natural, but almost unavoidable, that he 
should view those events through the 
optics and representations of Fox and 
Burke, rather than through any other 
medium. Neither George the Second, 
nor Frederick his son, could plead the 
same apology, or exhibit such valid 
causes to justify enlisting, as they respec- 
tively did, under the party adverse to the 
measures, of the crown. Fox and his 
friends, who well knew how to improve 
these favourable circumstances, con- 
trived to effect a deep, as well as a per- 
manent impression on the affections, no 
less than on the understanding, of the 
heir apparent. 

[11th November.] The session now 
commenced ; — a session rendered con- 
spicuous beyond any other of the long 
reign of George the Third, by the mag- 
nitude, singularity, and importance of its 
events ; unless we should except from 
this remark, the parliament that met in 
November, 1788, on the king's memo- 
rable malady. A species of ostensible 
unanimity, like the calm that sometimes 
precedes the storm, characterised its 
opening; Mr. Pitt concurring warmly 
in the address to the throne, moved by 
administration, for approving the defini- 
tive treaties signed with France, Spain, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



431 



and America : though he did not fail to 
remark with indiiznant asperity, on the 
inconsistence of Uianlviiig the crown lor 
merely consummating the very work, of 
which he and his colleagues had lai(i all 
the foundations; in consequence of 
conferring which national benelit they 
had been driven Irom office. *' Yet," 
concluded he, " if the measures which 
ministers mean to propose, should meet 
my ideas, and appear to me salutary in 
their nature, I will not endeavour to de- 
feat them by an ignoble opposition ; 
but I will on the contrary give them my 
best support." Fox, with much inge- 
nuity, endeavoured to demonstrate to the 
house, that the delinitive treaties, far 
from being servile transcripts of the pre- 
liminaries, were, on the contrary, materi- 
ally altered in favour of this country. 
And with a view to prove his assertion, 
he particularised three articles, on each 
of which, as he asserted, important ame- 
liorations had taken place. These 
were, first, relative to the condition of 
the British inhabitants of the Island of 
Tobago; secondly, an accurate defini- 
tion 'of the geographical limits, within 
which the gum trade on the coast of 
Africa, might in future be carried on ; 
and lastly, the precise boundaries affixed 
to the possession of our allies in the 
East Indies. I own, however, that the 
aggregate merit of these concessions, or 
rather alterations, did not appear to me 
entitled to much encomium. They 
seemed to be rather inaccuracies or in- 
advertencies, than defects ; and were 
such blemishes, as every administration 
must equally have perceived and reme- 
died after the lapse of a few months. 

Pitt made little answer to the secre- 
tary of state's speech, in the |)rogress of 
which, he had announced his intention 
of bringing forward almost immediately, 
his plan for the new government of 
India. But Governor Johnstone, with 
the warmth, not to say violence, which 
characterised every sentiment that 
usually fell from his lips ; claimed for 
Mr. Hastings, all the merit of expelling 
Tippo Sultan from the Carnalic, as well 
as of effeciing a peace with the Mliaratta 
empire : — Services, which, if tliey 
were justly due to the ability or wisdom 
of the governor general, as Johnstone 
asserted, might have challenged higher 



testimonies of national or parliamentary 
approbation, than Fox's boasted im- 
provements contained in the definitive 
treaty made with France. Johnstone 
concluded by warning the ministers, not 
to enforce any plans for the administra- 
tion of India, without previously con- 
sulting the persons, who, from local 
knowledge and experience, knew the 
remedies most applicable to the disor- 
ders of those remote and valuable pos- 
sessions. The treasury bench observed a 
profound silence, and the house soon af- 
terwards broke up ; all men looking for- 
ward with anxiety to the great measure 
now announced from ministerial autho- 
rity, and of which the leading features 
were already known by common report, 
to be of the most vigorous, as well as 
affirmative nature. The celebrated "East 
India Bill" followed, after the interval of a 
few days. It was natural to suppose 
that Lord North, within whose depart- 
ment lay all regulation of our concerns in 
that quarter of the globe, would of course 
o()en the measure officially to the house. 
But instead of so doing, he absented 
himself on account of indisposition, leav- 
ing Fox to perform the task ; — a line of 
conduct, which, whether it arose from 
real necessity, or whether it was pre- 
concerted, operated very disadvantage- 
ously on the minds of many individuals 
attached to Lord North, who had hitherto 
supported the coalition. They beheld 
themselves in fact, completely abandoned 
by their ancient leader ; who seemed to 
have delivered up himself, his followers, 
his sovereign, and his political princi- 
pies, to the uncontrolled dominion of liis 
new associates, Fox and Burke. 

[18lh November.] I scarcely ever 
remember, during the time that I sate in 
parliament, a day on which public ex- 
pectation was wound up to a higher 
pitch, than when Fox opened his bill. 
He did it in the most able and masterly 
manner, detailing with perspicuity, in 
language equally lucid and persuasive, 
the accumulated embarrassments, abuses, 
and mal-administration, which had ne- 
cessitated the adoption of a measure of 
vigour, for the extrication of the East 
India Company. Having stated the 
grievances, among which he did not 
omit Hastings's ambitious, profuse, and 
oppressive policy, as the leading source 



432 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



I 



of the calamities under which India 
laboured ; and having declared thai no- 
thing except a total change of the ancient 
system, could effect any real benefit, he 
proceeded to unfold his gigantic plan. 
" My intention is," said he, " to pro- 
pose the formaiion of a board, consisting 
of seven individuafs, invested with power 
to appoint, as well as to displace, all 
officers throughout Indostan ; and under 
whose authority, the whole government 
or administration of our extensive pos- 
sessions in the east, shall be placed. My 
next proposition will be for the establish- 
ment of an assistant or subordinate board, 
to be composed of eight persons ; to 
whose superintendence shall be submit- 
ted all the commercial concerns of the 
East Iriilia Company. But the latter 
board is designed to be subject to the 
absolute control of the seven first named 
commissioners ; who, as well as the 
others, are to hold their sittings here in 
England." — "I mean that parliament 
shall in the present instance, name all 
the commissioners ; and I intend their 
duration to be for the term of three, or of 
five years, which time will enable us to 
form an estimate of the efficacy and uti- 
lity of the institution. If experience shall 
prove it to be beneficial, I would then 
rive to the king the power of filling up 



livion of past animosiiies, and a cordial 
co-operation for the benefit of their 
countr}^ had fully succeeded. " On the 
present occasion I lament, indeed," add- 
ed he, " that illness and infirmity should 
deprive me of the great abilities pos- 
sessed by that noble person ; but I am 
authorised to declare, that we perfectly 
coincide in sentiment respecting the 
subject now before parliament; and as 
the bill must demand a certain time for 
its discussion, I trust I may still pro- 
mise myself the benefit of his powerful 
support." As the strongest proof of 
Lord North's acquiescence in, and ap- 
probation of the measure. Colonel North, 
his eldest son, seconded Fox's motion. 

All eyes were then directed towards 
Pitt, who instantly rising, sarcastically 
remarked, that although Lord North 
was indisposed, yet he did not conceive 
any material impediment to public 
afi"airs would result from it ; as the se- 
cretary of state had demonstrated how 
competent he was to perform, not only 
his own share of parliamentary business, 
but the duties of his colleague likewise. 
Relative to the bill now brought forward 
he should suspend his judgment till it 
came fully before the house ; adding, 
" Enormous abuses have been, no doubt, 
committed in the management of East 



all future vacancies among the superior India afiairs. And enormous must they 



commissioners. To the court of pro- 
prietors would be left the right of nomi- 
nation at the inferior board." 

When he had thus developed the out- 
lines of his proposed bill^ and endeavour- 
ed to demonstrate its salutary operation, 
if adopted ; at the same time anticipating 
and replying to such objections as he con- 
ceived, might be made to it, he proceeded. 
"The situation of the country," observed 
he, " demands of a minister, not only 
vigorous measures, but even a degree of 
risk, and superiority to personal consi- 
derations of danger. This is not a mo- 
ment, in which a secretary of state 
can remain idle. Those who prefer 
indulgence before application, may re- 
tire to private life. My office calls for 
exertion." Then reverting to his coa- 
lition with Lord North, he assured the 
house, that no material difference of 
opinion had arisen between him and his 
noble colleague, during the past sum- 
mer. The experiment of a mutual ob- 



be, if they can justify a measure, which 
at once abrogates all the ancient charters 
or privileges granted to the company 
since its first existence." — " Is it not 
the avowed principle of the bill just an- 
nounced, to place the whole power over 
our East India dominions, in the hands 
of seven individuals, who will derive 
their immediate appointment from the 
minister himself? In that minister will 
centre therefore prospectively, the im- 
mense patronage of those rich and 
extensive provinces. I am ready, as 
far as regards my own opinion, thus 
early to declare, that the whole system 
of the secretary of state appears to be 
absoluie despotism on one side; and on 
the other, llie most gross corruption." 
These severe animadversions, however 
just they miglit be in themselves, could 
not however arrest the progress of the 
measure, which proceeded with unexam- 
pled rapidity through the lower house of 
parliament. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



433 



Itis no longer possible, after the lapse of 
above thirty years, to deceive either our- 
selves or mankind, relative to the nature, 
provisions, and efi'ects of the bill in 
question. Its most determined enemies 
cannot dispute the energy, vigour, and 
decision, which breathed through every 
clause; nor will candid men refuse to 
allow the beneficial tendency of many of 
its regulations. But neither can the 
friends ol Fox, however they may idolize 
his memory, deny the unwarrantable 
spirit of ambition, rapacity, and confis- 
cation, by which it was equally distin- 
guished in its leading features. The 
instant seizure of all the efi'ecls, papers, 
and possessions of a great chartered 
company ; the total extinction of the 
court of directors, who had so long 
conducted its affairs ; and the substitu- 
tion of two new boards, named by the 
ministry, through the medium of par- 
liament for the future government of 
India — these measures, however their 
necessity might apparently be demon- 
strated, seemed rather revolutionary 
subversions of properly by arbitrary au- 
thority, than suited to the mild, mode- 
rate, and equitable spirit of the British 
Constitution. Other lealures of the bill 
appeared slill more open to objection, 
since they evidenlty vested in adminis- 
tration, and therefore in Fox, as the mi- 
nisterial leader, a power independent of 
the sovereign. Such, in particular, 
might be esteemed the clause, which 
ultimately extended the duration of the ! 
act, to four years; a term exceeding 
the possible period to which the exist- \ 
ence of the House of Commons then 
silting, could be protracted, they having 
already entered on their fourth session. 

Many other regulations, growing out 
of the bill, or connected with the mea- 
sure, excited just alarm. Even in the 
subsequent selection of the seven com- 
missioners, who were to be :i[)pointed 
for the future adniinistratidii of ihe East 
India Com[)any's affairs at home and 
abroad, Fox's ascendantoverhis colleague 
was clearly deiined : Lord Filzwilliain, 
as the personal representative of the de- 
ceased Marquis of Rockingham, being 
placed at the head of the board ; while 
Mr. Frederick xMuntagu, another most 
respectable adherent of the same politi- 
cal party, stood second in the list. 
37 



Colonel North, Viscount Lewisham, and 
Sir Gilbert Eliott, the three next com- 
missioners, represented Lord North's 
interest and connexions. No division 
was attempted on any of these names, 
but I will remember the general laughter 
excited through the opposition ranks, 
when Colonel North was proposed. 
Indeed, Fox was so well aware of the 
sneers or comments to which that nomi- 
nation would give rise, that he anticipa- 
ted them in his speech on the occasion. 
But, in order to secure at once the ma- 
jority of voices, together with the effi- 
cient control of the board itself; Sir 
Henry Fletcher, one of the representa- 
tives for the county of Cumberland, who 
in the year preceding had been raised to 
the dignity of a baronet, by the Marquis 
of Rockingham ; and Mr. Robert Gre- 
gory, member for Rochester, were added 
to the number. Both these last named 
gentlemen, well known for their devoted 
attachment to Fox, and possessing seats 
in the House of Commons ; having like- 
wise in their own persons, recently and 
repeatedly filled the highest situations in 
the East India direction ; it was obvious, 
must be resorted to as guides, on account 
of their local knowledge and experience 
in the company's concerns. No mea- 
sures, it must be owned, could have been 
more ably concerted, for bringing under 
ministerial influence, and for perma- 
nently retaining under their subjection, 
the immense patronage, and all the 
sources of power, or of emolument, con- 
nected with India: while, on the other 
hand, it was well understood, that the 
first employments, civil and military, 
from the post of governor-genera! of 
Bengal, or commander-in-chief at Cal- 
cutta, down to the seats in council at 
Madras and at Bombay, were already 
promised or filled up, principally with 
members of parliament, distinguished for 
their adherence to administration. The 
names of the individuals destined for 
these high situations, became circulated 
in every company ; and as many of 
them were better known among ihc 
club at Brookes's, than in Leadeiihall- 
street; the consciousness of alt India 
being speedily subjected to their r;ipa- 
cious hands, by no means tended to 
reconcile or to tranquillize the public 
mind. 



434 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



[20th November.] Happily for the 
British Constitution, the activity and 
energy of opposition, seemed to keep 
pace with the bold policy and ambition j 
of the secretary. Rir. William Gren- 
ville, then member for the town of Buck- 
ingham, and youngest of three brothers, 
who have all filled with disliiiclion ^ome 
of the highest employments of state, 
under the reign of George the Third ; 
came eminently forward on the present 
momentous occasion. In a speech of 
great length, and greater ability, he gave 



first presented themselves on that even- 
ing, to the notice of the house ; but, on 
opposite sides : the former attacking, the 
latter defending, Fox's bill. Scarcely 
any impression of the speech pronounced 
by Scott, remains on my mind or me- 
mory, except a general idea of the calm- 
ness and candour which characterized it. 
One only sentiment has survived in my 
recollection, when he strikingly observ- 
ed, that, " though ministers, by the 
words which they had put into his ma- 
jesty's mouth, at the opening of liie ses- 



promise of those vigorous powers of j sion, had called upon parliament to Re- 
mind, which he has since unfolded \n\ liberate; yet it was now obvious, that 
the upper House of Parliament, both in, instead of consulting on the affairs of 
and out of office. He wanted, indeed, i India, the secretary of state had only 
llie commanding tone, the majesty, and convoked them for the purpose of f/e- 
a!l the captivating rotundity, as well as i cision.''' 

splendour of Pitt's eloquence ; but, in Fox, in his reply, while he treated 
solidity of argument, in depth of thought, Scott with great marks of consideration, 
and the qualities that constitute a states- and even of respect for his talents, as 
man. he might be tliought to equal his well as for the temperate mode in which 



disiinguished relation. Having pointed 
out in the most convincing terms, the 
rapacity, despotism, and personal ag- 
grandisement, which lay concealed be- 
hind the ostensible regulations of reform, 
in Fox's bill ; — having endeavoured to 
unmask the attempt made to hoodwink 
and deceive the house, by nominating 
commissioners who would look only to 
the minister, and not to the sovereign, 
for the duration of their power ; — he de- 
manded, " By whom has a plan so preg- 
nant with ruin to the Constitution, been 
originated and matured ? — By the very 
man, whose voice has during many 
years been loudest in declaring, that the 
influence of the crown is excessive, and 
big with danger to the liberties of the 
country." In language more measured, 
and destitute of classic ornament, but, 



he had delivered his opinions, exhausted 
on Jenkinson the severest epithets of re- 
proach. " I well anticipated," exclaimed 
lie, " long before they were uttered, the 
observations whick would proceed from 
that quarter. When I first heard the 
doctrine broached, of separating the 
crown from its ministers, and treating 
them as divided interests, I instantly 
foresaw who would take the lead on the 
present evening. Such doctrines could 
originate frou) no other individual. 
When the measures of government call 
for censure or punishment, then, indeed, 
I admit, ministers are solely responsible : 
but in almost every other point of view 
nothing can be more invidious or false 
than to make such a distinction." Pitt, 
notwithstanding, who doubtless already 
knew the ground, pressed the secretary 



not less calculated by its very brevity to [ of state upon this lender subject with 



impress his audience, Jenkinson stated 
the measure projected, " as setting up 
within the realm, a species of executive 
authority, which would be independent 
of all control on the part of the sove- 
reign." Nor did he fail to expose and 
to denounce the audacious spirit of legis- 
lation, which could propose a plan so 
subversive of every principle on which 
rest the liberties of England. Two in- 
dividuals who have risen in our time to 
the highest honours and dignities of the 
bar, Scoll and Erskine, both, I believe, 



redoubled force. Having remarked on 
the inconsistency and contradiction of 
Fox's assertions respecting the unity of 
the sovereign and his ministers: "We 
hope indeed," added he, " that they do 
materially differ. Whenever adminis- 
tration passes the limits of justice and 
of moderation, we trust that we shall 
always be able clearly to distinguish the 
minister from the sovereign. The 
secretary has exerted much ingenuity in 
alten)pting to conciliate and blend two 
powers, which are in themselves dis- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



435 



linct. I can, however, discover no rea- 
son for his introducing the present bill 
at so early a period of the session, and 
pressing it forward llirough the house, 
without allowing it a full discussion, 
except the design of settling ministers 
in the enjoyment of unlimited and abso- 
lute power.'' It was evident by these 
expressions, how imprudently Fox had 
acted in bringing forward a measure, 
which, besides its rapacious features, 
and its arbitrary spirit, enabled his op- 
ponents to accuse him, not without good 
reasons, of labouring to build up his 
own greatness, and to cement his own 
power, at the expense of the prince 
vviiom he served. He thus opened with 
his own hands the political abyss in 
which he was eventually swallowed up. 
So blind is ambition, unless regulateil 
and restrained by judgment as well as 
moderation ! Irritated at the motives 
imputed by Pitt and his friends, to ad- 
ministration, in framing the East India 
Bill, Burke rose towards the close of the 
debate, rather to indulge his spleen, and 
to vent his anger, than to apply to Pitt's 
argunients the touchstone of reason. 
" Those arguments," he said, " came, 
not from the head, but from the heart; 
and therefore neither merited, nor were 
capable of receiving an}' answer. The 
ministerial opponents knew their own 
base motives, for which reason they 
attribuied to others, the feelings by 
which they were themselves animated." 
No division, however, as yet took place, 
and the bill proceeded forward with un- 
exampled rapidity; while every other 
topic of conversation throughout the 
metropolis, and I might almost say, 
tlirouglioiit the kingdom, was sus- 
pended in the contemplation of this 
new, as well as comprehensive mea- 
sure. 

[27th November.] Both sides, mean- 
while, prepared for the greatest exertions, 
and it was evident that ministers, secure 
of a decided majority in each House of 
Parliament, dreaded nothing except de- 
lay. But the heads of opposition had 
already found effectual means to inform 
the sovereign of his danger, and to rouse 
him to resistance, though its effects were 
not immediately perceptible. Fox, con- 
fident in the superiority of his numbers, 
which circumstance he thought he had 



well ascertained ; and instructed by all 
past experience since the period of the 
revolution of 1688, that no British sove- 
reign could venture to oppose himself 
personally against the representatives of 
the people, sustained by the Peers; only 
calculated the time which his bill would 
demand in its passage. He did not 
sufficiently reflect, that he had lost in 
great measure the popular support, with- 
out having acquired the favour of the 
crown. Nor did he seem to have justly 
appreciated the general disapprobation, 
or rather detestation, which the East 
India Bill eventually excited through all 
ranks of society. On these powerful 
auxiliaries, though hitherto not fully ma- 
tured, Pitt confidently counted. Never, 
on any occasion, did Fox display the 
vast capacities of memory, lucid arrange- 
ments of ideas, and facilities of clothing 
his matter in language of energy and 
effect, with which nature had endowed 
him, more fully than on the second 
reading of his bill.' Having endeavoured 
bv a series of arithmetical reasonings, 
founded, as he asserted, on the accounts 
presented by the East India Company 
at the bar of the house, with the view of 
showing their solvency ; to prove tha 
they were on the contrary, in a state o. 
distress approaching to bankruptcy ; 
Fox added : " I well know that in bring- 
ing forward the present measure, I ex- 
pose mv own ministerial situation to 
hazard. But when, on great national 
grounds, I can establish a system at 
once salutary, as well as useful, to this 
country and to India, I value little the 
personal risks that 1 may encounter. If 
I fall, I shall fall in a great and glo- 
rious struggle, not only for the wel- 
fare of the company, but for the bene- 
fit of the people of Britain, and of 
Indostan." 

Lord North, who had hitherto been 
absent from the house ever since the 
commencement of the session, attended 
in his place on that evening, seated by 
Fox's side. He even spoke at consi- 
derable length, in support of the bill ; 
but, as I thought, without his usual ani- 
mation, and powers of persuasion or 
entertainment. Not a scintillation of 
that wit, which so often electrified or 
delighted his hearers, pervaded his 
speech ; and though it displayed great 



346 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ability, the understanding, rather than 
conviction or inclination, seemed to dic- 
tate all he littered. Pitt, on the other 
hand, fastened like a vulture on the 
secretary's measure, which he held up 
to the abhorrence of all mankind, as " the 
most desperate and alarming attempt to 
exercise tyranny, which ever disgraced 
the annals of this, or of any other coun- 
try." " Is the pretended relief," ex- 
claimed he, " which we are to adminis- 
ter in Asia, to be grounded on injustice 
and violence in Europe ? — I pledge 
myself to the world at large, to point 
out the fatal operation of this bill on 
everytiiing sacred or dear to English- 
men ; to prove its inimical influence on 
our Consiitution and liberties ; and to 
establish by incontrovertible evidence, 
the false and pernicious principles on 
which it is founded. But all these par- 
ticulars necessarily demand lime, which 
the indecent, as well as unprecedented 
precipitancy of the business, virtually 
proscribes," — " The secretary has 
passed in review the statements made by 
the company, and the accounts presented 
at the bar, with a rapidity which ren- 
ders comprehension difficult, and detec- 
tion almost impossible. For this, as well 
as for many other reasons, I trust there 
can be no objection to defer the debate 
for a single day, in order that the false- 
hood of the assertions made may be ren- 
dered manifest to every compreiiension." 
Vainly, however, were any reclamations 
addressed to ministers who dreaded, 
above all things, the operation of delay ; 
and who, after having taken the cabi- 
net by storm, were now impatient to 



apprehensions, from the interposition of 
delay, by the haste, not to say the pre- 
cipitation, with which he propelled the 
bill through the House of Commons. 
Notwithstanding the opposition given to 
it in every stage, by Mr. Pitt and his 
friends ; in defiance of petitions pre- 
sented from the proprietors, as well as 
from the directors, of the East India 
Company ; and equally contrary to the 
general sentiment of the capital, no less 
than to the almost unanimous voice of 
the nation, which soon began to manifest 
itself; he pushed forward the measure 
with indecent ardour. Scarcely three 
weeks elapsed, from the time of his 
moving for leave to bring in his bill, on 
the 18lh of November, to his appearance 
at the bar of the House of Peers, on the 
9th of December, when he presented it 
in person, " magna comitunte caterva,"" 
after its having passed the House of 
Commons. An ordinary turnpike, canal, 
or enclosure bill, if opposed in its prin- 
ciples or progress, might have taken 
longer time, than did this gigantic expe- 
riment to render adminislraiion in some 
measure independent of the t;rown, and 
of the people. Yet so well had the 
secretary meditated his plan, such was 
the parliamentary strength possessed 
by the coalition, and such the ascen- 
dancy of Fox over the lower house, 
that upon every division he carried the 
question by a vast superiority of num- 
bers, generally exceeding the proportion 
of two to one. On the question of going 
into the committee, which took place on 
the first of December, I quilted Lord 
North, whom I had commonly supported 



secure their possession of power beyond up to tiiat time, and joined the minority ; 
the reach of accident or fortune. Fox ) conceiving it to be, upon every view of 
refusing to postpone the discussion, even ^ the subject, improper longer to adhere to 
for a few hours, the division took place ; 
which, as being the first trial of strength 
on the East India Bill, excited no little 
expectation. It proved a triumph to the 
coalition, and seemed to set at defiance 
all further opposition within the walls of 
that House of Parliament; administra- 
tion carrying with them 229 votes, while 
the minority did not exceed 120. Un- 
der these prosperous, but fallacious 
appearances, terminated the month of 
November. 

[December.] Fox himself gave, in- 
deed, the strongest indication of his own 



a minister who seemed to have forsaken 
himself. 

The consternation which Fox's bill 
occasioned in Leudenhall-street, among 
that description of men against whom its 
provisions were known to be peculiarly 
levelled, was commonly, though erro- 
neously, said to have proved fatal to Sir 
William James, who died very suddenly, 
just at this time. It is however true 
that he was seized with an indisposition, 
while sitting in the House of Commons, 
durinsi the progress of the " East India 
Bill," which compelled him instantly to 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



437 



return liome ; but he recovered in a car- I by master hands. Every species of in- 



tain degree the attack, though he never 
afterwards quitted his own house. His 
death took [)lace instantaneously, during 
the performance of the ceremony of \ua 
only daui^iiter's marriage with the late 
Lord Rancliff, then Mr. Boolhby Par- 
kyns. 1 knew Sir William James with 
great intimacy, and discussed with him, 
the probable results of the East India 
measure, during the short interval which 
elapsed between his first seizure, and the 
day of his decease, at his residence in 
Gerrard-street, Soho. His origin was 
so obscure, as almost to baffle enquiry, 
and he had derived no advantage from 
education; but he possessed strong natu- 
ral abilities, aided by a knowledge of 
mankind. Having been sent out early 
in life, to Bombay, in the East India 
Company's naval service, he there dis- 
tinguished himself, by commanding the 
memorable expedition undertaken against 
Angria the pirate ; when we made our- 
selves masters of Fort Geriah, his prin- 
cipal establishment on the coast of the 
Concan. Returning to his native coimtry 
after this successful enterprise, by which 
he acquired not only some fortune, but 
considerable reputation ; he rose to the 
first employments at the India House, as 
a member of the court of directors ; sat 
in successive parliaments ; was elevated 
by the friendship of the lale Earl of 
Sandwich, when first lord of the admi- 
ralty, to the baronetage ; and had been 
elected deputy master of the Trinity 
House, in the preceding montli of June, 
when Lord Keppel was chosen master 
of that corporation. Those persons who 
asserted that Fox's bill killed him, seem 
to have forgotten that he had nearly 
attained his seventieth year, when he 
expired. As his dissolution took place 
on the I6ih of December, he had not the 
satisfaction to witness the rejection of that 
obnoxious measure by the Houseof Peers, 
which happened on the following day. 

Never, probably, was so great a por- 
tion of intellect brougiu to bear upon one 
point or subject, in so short a space of 
lime, as the House of Commons exhi- 
bited between the opening of the East 
India Bill, and its triumphant arrival in 
the upper House of Parliament. All the 
sources of argument, declamation, wit, 
and pathos, were successively touched 
37* 



formation enlightened the object under 
discussion ; nor was any weapon of 
sophistry, humour, or even severe in- 
vective, left untried, which might operate 
on the understanding, passions, and 
feelings of the audience. The salient 
points of debate were so many, so strik- 
ing, and so animated, as to defy the 
powers of memory ; leaving on the 
hearer's mind, only a confused recollec- 
tion of their beauty, delicacy, or severity. 
History, ancient and modern, poetry, 
even scripture, all were successively 
pressed into the service, or rendered 
subservient to the |)urposes of the con- 
tending parties. Will it be believed that 
the '* Apocalypse" of St. John furnished 
images, which, by a slight effort of ima- 
gination, or by an immaterial deviation 
from the original text, were made to 
typify Fox, under the form of the 
"beast that rose up out of the sea, 
having seven heads ?" Their applica- 
tion to the seven commissioners a[)point- 
ed by the bill, was at once so happy, 
and so natural, that it could not be mis- 
taken, and stood in need of no explana- 
tion. The words which were made to 
designate the secretary of state himself, 
seemed almost to identify him by a very 
characteristic feature, his buld eloquence. 
" And there was given to him a mouth 
speaking great things.''^ But in the 
duration of the power of the beast, as 
compared with that of the East India 
Bill, a diff'erence of six months appear- 
ed : the " Apocalypse" stating that 
"power was given unto him to continue 
forty and two months ;'''' whereas Fox's 
bill comprehended forty-eight months, 
or four years. Pensions, peerages, and 
places, were pointed out by the passage 
where it is said, " and he causeth all, 
both small and great, rich and poor, to 
receive a mark in their right hand, or in 
their forehead," 

Mr. Scott who, now as Lord Eldon, 
holds the great seal, was the person by 
whom so curious an allusion was pre- 
sented to the house ; as I think, on the 
third reading of the bill. But Sheri- 
dan, though lie could not possibly antici- 
pate an attack of such a nature, yet 
having contrived in the course of the de- 
bate, to procure some leaves of " the 
book of Revelations," with admirable- 



438 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ability found materials in that work, 
equally suited to Fox's defence or justi- 
fication; transforming him ffom "the 
dragon and the beast," under both 
which type he had been desijrnated, to a 
species of angelic or tutelary being, by 
producing other quotations taken from 
St. John, full as applicable in their tenor 
to the secretary of state. 

[1st December.] The powers of mind 
exerted throughout the progress of the 
measure, seemed to be concentrated in 
the memorable debate that took place 
upon sending the bill to a committee, 
which was opened by Powis. His 
beautiful and severe animadversion on 
its double author ; a metaphor drawn 
likewise from Holy Writ; made a strong 
impression. "I hear indeed," said he, 
" the voice of Jacob," meaning Fox ; 
" but the hands are those of Esau." 
Lord North, who was present at the 
lime, though much indisposed, quitted 
the house in the course of the evening, 
overcome with the immoderate heat. 
Powis, who did not hesitate to denomi- 
nate the bill, " the modern Babel, which 
already almost reached the clouds ;" 
and who compared Fox's treatment of 
the East India Company, with " Shy- 
lock's demand of a pound of flesh, to 
be cut nearest the heart:" expressed 
nevertheless his personal respect for the 
secretary ; but added, that he " wished 
to see him the servant, not the master, 
of his sovereign." No speech pro- 
nounced within the walls of the House 
of Commons, tliroughout the whole pro- 
ceedings during the great experiment 
made by ministers to consolidate their 
tenure of office, tended more to accele- 
rate their downfall, than did this of 
Powis. He was neither a candidate for 
place, nor a courtier, whose eyes were 
directed to St. James's ; nor a lawyer, 
looking to the dignities and preferments 
of Westminster H.ill. As a country 
gentleman, representing an extensive 
county, he delivered with manly firm- 
ness, his opinions ; which were found- 
ed in common sense, couched in lanffunse 
of great force, rising at times to a pitch 
of affecting eloquence, and sustained by 
unimpeached probity. During the Ame- 
rican war, he had served with zeal and 
ability under Fox, in the front ranks; 
had conduced by his active exertions, to 



diminish the influence of the crown, and 
had greatly contributed to drive Lord 
North from the helm. But he now be* 
held the structure which he had lent all 
his efibrts to overturn, raised anew on 
more solid foundations ; while " the 
man of the people, was converted into 
the champion of influence." — "If," 
said Powis, " the secretary of state's 
moderation did not form a guaranty 
against his ambition, we might imagine 
him, when communing with himself, 
thus to express his intentions ; ' I have, 
it is true, forced myself into high em- 
ployment, by joining a man and a party, 
whom, after successive years of parlia- 
mentary opposition, I had expelled from 
power. But, by my junction with the no- 
ble lord in the blue ribband, I have lost 
much of my popularity. Still, as 1 have 
great influence throughout the country, 
sustained by powerful connections, I will 
make good use of my lime. The 
Indies shall constitute the basis of my 
greatness. Availing myself of my pre- 
sent prosperity, I will construct a golden 
fortress in this new land of promise ; 
which, by placing in it a select garrison 
of chosen and determined adherents, on 
whose zeal and attachment I may im- 
plicitly rely, I can render impregnable. 
A fortress which will not open its gates, 
either to the summons of the people, 
or to the commands of the sovereign.' 
— " For God's sake, let us unite to 
crush this awful pile, before it swells to 
such a size, as to leave no room for the 
other component parts of the British 
Constitution ! Already scarce a vestige 
of the East India Company is to be 
traced ; and if the present bill passes, 
we shall consign the glory, dignity, and 
the liberties of our country, to ultimate, 
as well as certain destruction." 

Burke, unable longer to observe si- 
lence after such reflections, then rose ; 
and in a dissertation, rather than a 
speech, which lasted more than .three 
hours, exhausted all the powers of his 
mighty mind, to the justification of his 
friend's measure. The most ignorant 
member of the house, who had attended 
to the mass of information, historical, 
political, and financial, which fell from 
the lips of Burke on that occasion, must 
have departed, rich in knowledge of In- 
dosian. It seemed impossible to crowd 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



439 



greater variety of matter applicable to 
the subject, into a smaller con)pass ; ami 
those who differed most widely from 
him in opinion, did not render the less 



neither churches, nor hospitals, nor 
schools, nor palaces. If to-morrow 
we were expelled from Indostan, no- 
thing would remain to indicate that it 



justice to his gigantic range of ideas, his ( had been possessed, during the inglo- 
lucid exposition of events, and the har- I rious period of our dominion, by any 
monic flow of his periods. There were better tenants than the ouran-outang or 
portions of this harangue, in which he i the tiger." This fine burst of imagina- 
appeared to be animated by feelings and lion, even though we should conceive it 
considerations the most benign, as well to be too highly coloured, yet presents 



as elevated ; and the classic language in 
which he made Fox's panegyric, for 
having dared to venture on a measure so 
beset with dangers, but so pregnant, as 
he asserted, with benefits to mankind, 
could not be exceeded in beauty 



one of the most vivid assemblages of 
animated life, ever submitted to the hu- 
man understanding, while it appeals to 
the best feelings of our nature. 

His euiogium of Mr. Francis (now 
Sir Philip), whether we acquiesce in its 



Indeed, if I were compelled to name exact accuracy of resemblance, or not 



the finest composition pronounced in the 
House of Commons, during the whole 
time that I remained a member of that 
assembly, from 1780 to 1794, I should 
select this speech of Burke. Nor can 1 
be suspected of partiality either towards 
the author, or the production. The 
former, though he excited admiration by 
his genius, was too much the slave of 
his own prejudices, too implacable, petu- 
lant, irascible, and impervious to reason 
on many subjects, to awaken general 
good will, or to conciliate affection. To 
the whole system which his arguments 
were meant to support, I was decidedly 
hostile. Yell did not on these accounts 
render less justice to the matchless 
powers of intellect which matured so 
wonderful an effusion. Far from suffer- 
ing by a comparison with the orations 
of the great ancient masters, Greek or 
Roman, I believe it would gain on an 
impartial examination. Among the pas- 
sages of peculiar beauty, might be named 
his picture of the young men sent out 
from India, in order to amass sudden 
wealth. " Animated," said he, " with 
all the avarice, and all the impetuous 
ardour of youth, they roll in, one after 
another, wave after wave : while no- 
thing presents itself to the view of 
the unhappy natives, except an in- 
terminable prospect of new flights of 
voracious birds of passage, with appe- 
tites insatiable for a food, which is con- 
tinually wasting under their attacks. — 
Every other conqueror, Arab, Tartar, or 
Persian, has left behind some monu- 
ment, either of royal splendour, or of 
useful benevolence. England has erected 



cannot be perused without admiration. 
Yet was it exceeded by his portrait of 
Fox, whom Burke compared with the 
lawgivers of antiquity, while legislating 
for Asia, and despising every personal 
consideration, in order to diffuse felicity 
over distant portions of the earth. " He 
is well aware," added Burke, "of the 
snares which are spread in his path, 
from personal animosity, from court in- 
trigues, and possibly, from popular de- 
lusion. But, he has hazarded his ease, 
his security, his power, and his popu- 
larity, in the present noble attempt. 
This is the road which all heroes have 
trod before him. He will recollect that 
obloquy constitutes a necessary ingre- 
dient in the composition of glory. He 
will recollect, that it was not only in the 
Roman customs, but, is in the nature and 
constitution of things, for calumny to ac- 
company triumph." However classic 
might be these allusions, and whatever 
magic might pervade the whole of 
Burke's discourse ; or, however per- 
suaded he was of the reality of all the 
predicted advantages, that would flow 
from the measure ; the moral effect of 
his speech in producing conviction, by 
no means corresponded with the admira- 
tion whicj* it excited. Fox, who re- 
served himself on that night to answer 
Dundas and Pitt, rose at a late hour, and 
spoke with his usual ability. "A char- 
ter," observed he, " is only a trust for 
some given benefit. If abused, it may, 
and ought to be resumed. Sovereigns 
are sacred; yet, with all my reverence 
and attachment towards them, had Hived 
under the reign of James the Second, 1 



/ 



440 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



should certainly have contributed my ef- 
forts in those illustrious struggles, which 
rescued us from hereditary servitude, and 
recorded the doctrine that trust abused, 
is revocable^ On Mr. Thomas Pitt, 
who, when alluding to the East India 
Bill, had asserted tliat " it was a measure 
which might be naturally expected from 
a coalition of two men, who having first 
seized by force on tlie government, evi- 
dently intended to finish their career by 
dealing a death-blow to their country," 
the secretary animadverted in terms of 
more than ordinary asperity. *' I will 
tell that honorable gentleman," said Fox, 
looking him steadily in the face, ''that 
the men who have brought forward this 
bill, are not to be brow-beaten by studied 
gesture ; nor terrified by tremulous tones, 
solemn phrases, or hard epithets. To 
arguments, they are ready to reply. He 
charges us with having seized upon the 
government. His majesty changed his 
ministers, last April, as he did twelve 
months earlier; each time in conse- 
quence of a vote of this house. So his 
predecessors did; and his successors 
will, I doubt not, imitate the example. 
The votes of Parliament always have, 
and always will, I trust, decide on the 
duration of ministry. Such is the nature 
of our Constitution." 

Then addressing himself to the house 
at large: " A double game," exclaimed 
Fox, " is playing on this occasion by 
opposition, to which, I hope, this assem- 
bly, and the whole kingdom will pay at- 
tention. It is attempted to injure ad- 
ministration through two channels at the 
same time ; through a certain great 
quarter, and through the people. To 
the former, they assert that the present 
bill increases the influence of ministers 
against the crown : while they persuade 
the nation, that it augments the power of 
the sovereign to their injury. That they 
will fall in both these experiments, Ihave 
no doubt. In i\\Q great quarter,! trust, 
they are well understood ; because the 
princely mind of that elevated person- 
age, forms a security against their de- 
vices. They will speedily dissipate by 
their conduct, any temporary illusion 
which they may have spread among the 
multitude." Nor was Fox less severe 
in his remarks upon Jenkinson, than he 
had been, when commenting on Mr. 



Thomas Pitt. The former of those gen- 
tlemen being seated near William Pitt 
on the opposition bench, as was likewise 
Dundas, '» When I behold," observed 
the secretary, "the right honorable gen- 
tleman now surrounded by the objects of 
his early and hereditary aversion, and 
hear him revile the coalition, I am lost 
in amazement at his inconsistence. Well 
may my noble friend, the chancellor of 
the exchequer, assert, that we never 
sought to attain power by cabal, or in- 
trigue ! The safest path to royal, as 
well as to popular favour, is by reducing 
the burthens, and restoring the glory of 
the nation." Then fixing his eyes on 
Jenkinson, " let those persons," said he, 
" who aim at ojfice through other chan- 
nels, by mysterious and inscrutable 
means, speak out ! If they will not, the 
country must perceive that their arts 
cannot bear examination, and that their 
safety lies in their obscurity. The prin- 
ciples which ive profess, are thoroughly 
known. With them I prefer to perish, 
rather than maintain myself by adopting 
others," After endeavouring to do away 
the efl'ect of Powis's soliloquy, which 
seemed deeply to afl'ect him. Fox con- 
cluded by addressing his last words to 
Pitt; who in the course of a most able 
speech, had declared that " he would 
stake his character with the public, on 
t!>e dangerous nature and tendency of 
the bill under discussion." " I meet 
him," said the secretary, " in his own 
terms of defiance, and I oppose him, 
character against character. I stake upon 
the excellence of the present measure, all 
that is most dear to men ; talents, honour, 
present reputation and future fame. All 
these I risk on the constitutional safety, 
the enlarged policy, the equity, and the 
wisdom of the bill^ There were per- 
sons who thought that under all circum- 
stances of the case, the stake was by no 
means equal ; and that it resembled the 
armour of Diomed, when weighed in 
value against that of Glaucus. The di- 
vision, however, which took place at a 
very late hour, fully equalled the expec- 
tation of ministers, being more than two 
to one. Ayes, 217. Noes, 103. So 
numerous and flattering a support, which 
proved how well the secretary had pre- 
pared the ground, only accelerated the 
final catastrophe. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



441 



rSth December.] On the third read- 
ing of the bill, a new auxiliiiry appeared 
on llie side of opposilion, in the person 
of Mr. John James Hamilton, since 
raised by Piit to the dignity of a mar- 
quis ; who having taken his seat only a 
few days preceding, as a member of the 
house, opened the debate in a speech of 
considerable ability, Wilkes drew, how- 
ever, far more attention, not only by the 
decided part which he took against the 
measnre itself, but by the classic, ner- 
vous, and pointed terms in which he in- 
veighed against its fabricators. " No 
epithet," said he, " can reach the enor 
mity of its gnilt, and I shall tlierefore 
content myself with characterizing it as 
a swindling bill, drawn and presented by 
the secretary of state, to obtain money 
on false pretences. 1 consider it as the 
bitter fruit of the coalition: — for, after 
the lamentable consequences that result- 
ed from the infraction of the ^/hnerican 
charters by the noble lord in the blue 
ribband, I believe he would never have 
ventured to attack the franchises and 
property of a great chartered company, 
if he had not connected himself in im- 
pious league with so daring a colleague. 
When he had secured a fit accomplice, 
the plan and share of the plunder being 
previously adjusted, it was resolved be- 
tween them, to rob the East India Com- 
pany. I protest that I nourish no ill 
will personally, to either of the secre- 
taries of state ; but I deprecate and 
dread the unnatural, incongruous union 
of two individuals, who never could 
have been brought to coalesce, except 
for the division of the public spoils, and 
for the partition of all power among 
themselves ; to be followed by the de- 
struction of public freedom, and the in- 
dependence of this assembly. The noble 
lord possesses, I believe, the most un- 
spotted integrity: but love of place, 
combinintr with indolence of natural dis- 
position, led him throughout the whole 
progress of the American contest, to con- 
nive at men iiv public office fleecing the 
stale, beyond the example of former 
times. His own hands were clean ; but 
not so those of his dependents. As a 
private nobleman, he is formed to bead- 
mired and beloved. To a rich vein of 
elegant, brilliant and classic wit, he joins 
easy manners, unafTected suavity of 



temper, and every amiable or com- 
panionable quality. Would to heaven I 
could commend his reverence for the 
Constitution, his love of freedom, and 
his zeal for the preservation of those 
privileges and franchises, which consti- 
tute the birthright of Englishmen !" 

This accurate and admirable portrait, 
sketched by the hand of a master who 
well knew the original, was followed by 
an apostrophe to Fox, not less calculated 
to attract attention. " With the present 
colleatjue of that noble lord," continued 
Wdkes, " I have acted during many 
sessions, in hostility to him. By his 
side I fought in all the struggles to re- 
press the power of the crown. With 
what admiration have I listened to his 
manly eloquence, sustained by the 
powers of argument and reason ! So 
perfect a parliamentary debater, this 
assembly has never beheld! I grieve 
when I reflect how unavailing have been 
all our efll'orts, to prevent the dismember- 
ment of s(» large a portion of the empire. 
But I am indignant when I see the noble 
lord occupying one of the highest em- 
ployments, reconducted to power, nay, 
caresssed and cherished by the very man 
who solemnly engaged to impeach him, 
as the great criminal of state, the cor- 
rupter of parliament, the author and 
contriver of our national destruction" 
From every quarter of the house, the 
keenest shafts were aimed at the mea- 
sure ; some of which penetrated deep, 
while others only appeared to graze on 
the surface; butall left their impression. 
While Pitt powerfully sustained by Mr. 
William Grenville, and Dundas, attacked 
it with the arms of reason ; others tried 
the operation of irony and ridicule. 
Arden, who soon afterwards became 
solicitor general, on the change of mi- 
nistry, clung 10 it through every stage 
with great pertinacity and spirit, not un- 
accompanied by legal ability. The 
seven commissioners, and their eight 
assistant directors, were compared by 
Mr. Wilberforce, to so many doctors 
and apothecaries, summoned for the pur- 
pose of putting the patient, the East 
India Company, to death, according to 
the rules of art. Many members, long 
accustomed to consider Fox as the star 
by which they guided their political 
course, covered him on this occasion, 



442 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



with reproaches or maledictions. Mar- 
tin, a man, who though not disiingnished 
by superior intellectual parts, yielded to 
none in probity, invoked curses on the 
coalition, a« the grave of all principle. 
" When once the present bill is passed," 
said he, " men vviio think and act inde- 
pendently, may spare themselves the 
trouble of coming down to this assembly. 

— I will, however, steadily oppose it, 
as I have done in every I'ormer stage, 
till it is sent up to the Peers. I trust, 
they will esteem it utterly inconsistent 
either with their justice, or with their 
dignity, to pass such a bill. But even if 
it should be otherwise, one hope is still 
left us. — I mean that his majesty will 
refuse his assent to so pernicious a mea- 
sure." iMarlin did not hesitate to de- 
clare, that neither Sir George Savile, 
nor Sir Charles Turner, the latter of 
whom was already dead; and the for- 
mer lay extenuated by diseases which 
speeddy conducted him to the grave; — 
would, had they been present, have lent 
any countenance or support to the East 
India Bill. 

Sir Richard Hill, to whom scripture 
was familiar, compared the secretary's 
conduct in affecting to protect and caress 
tlie East India Company, while hn im- 
molated them to his ambition ; with the 
treachery of Joab to Ainasa, who at the 
moment that he pretended to embrace 
him, slabbed him to the heart. " If," 
added Sir Richard, '• I miglit present a 
gift to him wh(j will have extended at 
his feet, the whole patronage of the 
East, and who by this bill will be ren- 
dered greater than any oriental nabob : 

— If the secretary would deinn to ac- 
cept from my hands, so small a boon 
as a motto, I will venture to offer him, 
' N'on sum quails eram.'' " In more 
homely language, destitute of advenli- 
tious ornament. Sir Cecil Wray de- 
clared that the measure impressed him 
with horror, from its enormity, corrup- 
tioui, and pernicious consequences to the 
state. Some of the finest passages of 
Shakspeare, taken from his "Julius 
Caesar," were applied by Scott and 
Arden to Fox, as the new dictator, 
with extraordinary effect. Powis ac- 
cused the secretary with deceiving him- 
self and the house, by professions of 
zeal and disinterestedness, which served 



only as a cover to his ambitious designs. 
" He still persists," said Powis, " to 
maintain the purity of his political prin- 
ciples, and to bid his deluded co\intrymen 
confide in his fair promises. But 1 form 
my judgment by measures, not by men. 
And by that criterion I mean to try all the 
su[)poriers of the present enormi)US mea- 
sure, wliich aims a mortal blow at the 
independence of parliament." Jenkin-, 
son temperately, but in language of 
energy, depictured the unconsiituiional 
nature of the power thus atteinjjted to 
be set up, which must prove subversive 
of the royal prerogative ; and from 
opposite sides. Fox was assailed as the 
enemy of his country, who sacrificed to 
his insatiable ambition, the character, 
and the consideration, that he had 
attained by a long series of public ser- 
vices. 

Not that he by any means wanted de- 
fenders distinguished for integrity, as 
well as for legal and parliamentary 
ability. Mr. Erskine spoke repeatedly, 
at great leiigtii, during the progress of 
the bill, in support of this obnoxious 
measure. His enemies pronounced his 
perlormances tame, and destitute of the 
animation wliich so powerfully charac- 
terised his speeches in Westminster Hall. 
They maintained that, however resplen- 
dent he appeared as an advocate, while 
addressing a jury, he fell to the level of 
an ordinary man, if not below it, when 
sealed on the ministerial bench ; where 
another species of oratory was demanded 
to impress conviction, or to exhort ad- 
miration. To me, who, having never 
witnessed his jurisprudenti;rl talents, 
could not make any such comparison, he 
appeared to exhibit shining powers of 
declamation. Lee, the attorney gene- 
r»\, in a speech replete with that coarse, 
strong, and illiberal species of invective 
which usually accompanied his addresses 
to the house, and which always appeared 
to me more befitting the Robiiihood 
society, than accommodated to a legisla- 
tive assembly, treated y^ilh indignant 
contempt the repugnance manifested to 
violate the charter of the East India 
Company. He did not even hesitate to 
describe that charter, esteeined by n)any 
members so sacred, and incapable of 
subversiwn except by arbitrary violence, 
as "a mere skin of parchment, to which 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



443 



was appended a seal of wax." This 
impriuleiit, if not censurable declaration, 
coming from sucli a quarter, however 
qualified or palliated it might be by sub- 
isequent explanations, operated injuri- 
ously to ministers. With the same con- 
tumelious levity he spoke of his office, 
which, he said, " he valued not a rush ;" 
adding, " my learned friend (Arden), 
should have it to-morrow, if 1 did not 
conceive that by continuing to hold it, I 
can be of some utility to administration." 
The chancellor of the exchequer, irritated 
at the severe animadversions made by 
Mr. Thomas Pitt, on the violence with 
which administration had seized on the 
reigns of government, denied the charge 
with much indignation. His eloquence 
fell, however, far short of his feelings, 
and was addressed rather to the moral 
sense of his auditors, than it ap[)ealed to 
their understandings or to their judg- 
ment. 

General Burgoyne, arriving post from 
Ireland (spontaneously, as he asserted), 
and quitting the meaner duties of com- 
mander-in-chief, which employment he 
lield in that kingdom, in order to fulfil 
his higher obligations as a legislator at 
"Westminster, spoke warmly in favour of 
the bill. Having, many years earlier, 
acted as chairman of one of the first 
committees appointed by the house, for 
inquiring into the affairs of the east, he 
was heard with attention. He confirm- 
ed all the horrors and enormities attri- 
buted by Burke to the Europeans who 
governed Asia : atrocities, which the 
general illustrated by a citation pre- 
pared for the purpose, extracted from 
the sixth iEneid of Virgil, descriptive of 
the guilt of a powerful criminal, such as 
Hastings might be esteemed, condemned 
for his crimes on earth, to undergo the 
p-ains of Tartarus. It did not impress 
the house as powerfully as Arden's line 
from Shakspeare, directed to Fox, 

« It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;" 

or as Wilberforce's invocation to the 
secretary of state, under the character of 
the fallen angel, furnished by Milton. 
1 remember Burke addressing Lord 
Norih, when first minister, in some- 
what similar terms, shortly before his 
resignation, early in 1782. Rigby pro- 



fessing an equal contempt for quotations 
from Shakspeare, or from Milion, and 
expressing his admiration at hearing 
scripture fall from the lips of a lawyer; 
with none of which materials for debate, 
he said, that he came provided ; yet pro- 
fessed to have furnished himself with 
some arguments applicable to the subject 
under discussion. Without circumlocu- 
tion, or any false scruples of fastidious 
delicacy, he declared his utter disregard 
of the chartered rights of the company, 
which, he said, he considered "as a 
bugbear, only tit to intimidate children." 
He even advised their violation, as the 
primary step to all reform in the admi- 
nistration of India. 

No individual distinguished himself 
more throughout the whole progress of 
these interesting proceedings, than Sheri- 
dan ; whose matchless endowments of 
mind, equally adapted to contests of wit, 
or of argument, and even under the 
control of imperturbable temper, enabled 
him to extend invaluable assistance to 
the minister. But neither was Fox 
wanting to himself, or to his friends. On 
the contrary, performing every function 
of a general, and of a private soldier, 
combating in the front ranks, leaving no 
charge unrepelled, no insinnalion unno- 
ticed, no argument unrefuted ; he filled 
with astonishment, as well as with ad- 
miration, even those who thought them- 
selves best able to appreciate the magni- 
tude and extent of his parliamentary 
talents. After defending his bill from 
the severe attacks of Pitt, he did not 
disdain or omit to answer the allegations 
made by various members of inferior 
weight. 'J'o Powis, to Scott, to Dun- 
das, and even to Martin, he severally 
directed the most pointed replies, calcu- 
lated to justify him, not only as a minis- 
ter, but in his individual and moral capa- 
city. Determined on carrying through 
the hill, without a moment's delay ; 
apprehensive of new obstacles arising, 
every hour, within as well as without 
the walls of the house : and seeming to 
regard parliament as convoked, not for 
the purpose of deliberation, but of deci- 
sion ; he refused to postpone the mea- 
sure even for a single night. Vainly 
Scott adjured him, in the language of 
Desdemona to Othello, " Kill me not 
to-night, my lord ! let me live but one 



444 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



day !" The house, towards two o'clock 
in the morning, became so clamorous 
for the qiiestion» thai a division was on 
the point of taking place, wiien an unex- 
pected incident prolonged the discussion, 
and arrested the universal impatience of 
the assembly. 

Mr. Henry Flood, one of the most 
celebrated orators in the Irish Parlia- 
ment, who had just been brought in for 
the city of Winchester; rising lor the 
first time, prepared to speak in the Bri- 
tish House of Commons. His appear- 
ance produced an instant calm, and he 
was heard with universal curiosity, while 
he delivered his sentiments, which were 
strongly inimical to the East India Bill. 
Though possessing little local, or accu- 
rate information on the immediate sub- 
jerjt of debate, he spoke with great ability 
and good sense : but, the slow, measured, 
and sententious style of enunciation 
which characterized his eloquence, how- 
ever calculated to excite admiraiion it 
might be in the senate of the sister king- 
dom, appeared to English ears, cold, 
stiff, and deficient in some of the best 
recommendations to attention. Unfor- 
tunately, too, for Flood, one of his own 
countrymen, Courtenay, instantly open- 
ed on him such a battery of ridicule and 
wit, seasoned with allusions or reflec- 
tions of the most personal and painful 
kind, as seemed to overwhelm the new 
member. He made no attempt at reply, 
and under these circumstances betran the 
division. It formed a triumphant exhi- 
bition of ministerial strength, the coali- 
tion numbering 208, while only 102 per- 
sons, of whom I was one, followed Pitt 
into the lobby. Yet within twelve days 
afterwards he found himself first minis- 
ter, and so remained for above seventeen 
years. Meanwhile, the secretary never 
relaxed his exertions, till, having sur 
mounted all opposition, he carried up 
the bill, accompanied by a v;ist number 
of his adherents, who participated in his 
success, to the bar of the House of Peers. 
Its passage through that assembly being 
already secured, as he justly conceived, 
on solid grounds, and the royal negative 
never exciting any apprehension, the 
measure seemeil apparently to be placed 
beyond the reach of fortune. 

[9th — 17lh December,] But, with the 
anival of the East India Bill in the House 



of Lords, terminated nevertheless the 
prosperous career of ministers. The 
king, whose opinions and wishes, how- 
ever they might have been suspected by, 
or'even known to a few persons, were 
not as yet publicly divulged, or clearly 
ascertained ; now coming forward, as the 
urgency of the occasion seemed to de- 
mand, communicated through authentic 
cliannels, his utter disapprobation of the 
measure. Lord 'J'emple, though one of 
the first individuals thus authorized, 
formed by no means the sole or exclu- 
sive medium, through which the royal 
pleasure was so signified and circulated. 
Very little time, in fact, remained to the 
sovereign, if he desired to avert the im- 
pending misfortune. For, the secretary 
of stale, who seems to have been well 
aware that as soon as the measure was 
felt and understood, it would excite uni- 
versal alarm ; had betimes secured such 
a majority in the upper house, as must 
speedily have left to tiie crown no pos- 
sible means of relief, except one scarcely 
known to the British Constitution since 
the revolution of 1688 ; namely, a re- 
fusal of the royal assent to the bill, after 
its passage through both Houses of Par- 
liament. In this critical juncture, his 
majesty caused such arguments or expos- 
tulations to be offered to many members 
of the House of Lords, spiritual, as well 
as temporal ; and the necessity of re- 
sistance was so strongly depictured by 
his emissaries, as to overturn all Fox's 
machinery in an instant. Proxies given 
to the minister, were suddenly revoked; 
and after first leaving the administration 
in a minority of eight, upon the question 
of adjournment; the bill itself was sub- 
sequently rejected two days later, by 
nineteen voles. One hundred and se- 
venty-one peeTs voted on the occasion, 
either in person, or by proxy ; a prodi- 
gious attendance, if we consider the 
limited numbers of the British peerage 
at that time. 

The Archbishops of Canterbury and 
of York, led the way, through the I'ormer 
prelate, whose connexions, political and 
matrimonial, seemed to connect him with 
the coalition, had been previously re- 
garded as a firm supporter of the mea- 
sure. The latter (Markham), who was 
not less a courtier than a scholar, through- 
out life always kept his eye constantly 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



445 



nxed on the throne. Nor can it excite 
surprise, that all those noble individuals 
without exception, who occupied situa- 
tions in the royal household, or near the 
king's person, should, without fasti- 
diously hesitating, give the example of 
tergiversation. The greater number 
among ihem, had only assented to the 
East India Bill, on a supposition, and 
under the belief, that it had received the 
previous concurrence or approbation of 
his majesty. They abandoned ministers, 
and joined the crown ; manifesting by 
their votes, how vast is the personal in- 
fluence of the sovereign, when strenu- 
ously exerted, over the members of the 
upper House of Parliament. The Prince 
of Wales, wlio had only taken the oaths 
and his seat in that assembly, on the 
lirst day of the session, the llth of No- 
vember; when it was moved to adjourn 
on the 15lh of December, had voted in 
person with the administration. But, 
having received a notification of his fa- 
ther's disapprobation of tlie East India 
Bill, and of the whole conduct of minis- 
ters, he absented himself on the second 
division, when that measure was finally 
rejected. Lord Rivers, one of the lords 
of the king's bedchamber, who had given 
his vote by proxy to the coalition, on 
the first question, withdrew it on the se- 
cond division; as did the Earls of Hard- 
wicke and of Egremont. Lord Stor- 
raont, though as being a member of the 
cabinet, and president of the council, he 
had personally supported the bi/l on the 
15th, when he considered it as having 
the sanction of the crown, yet voted on 
the other side, forty-eight hours after- 
wards. His uncle, the Earl of Mans- 
field, who was supposed to have in- 
fluenced him in this determination, exhi- 
bited the same example. Both were 
present in the first division, as support- 
ers of the measure ; and both appeared 
in the house as enemies to it, when 
thrown out on the 17lh of December. 
The Earl of Oxford, one of his majesty's 
most ancient servants, who had been 
near his person more than twenty years, 
in the capacity of a lord of the bed- 
chamber ; having been induced to sup- 
port the coalition by his proxy on the 
15ih, sent it to the opposite side, on the 
subsequent division. Fox and Burke, 
together with many of their warmest ad- 
38 



herents, who during the progress of 
the first debate had remained on the 
steps of the throne, in order by their 
presence to encourage their friends in 
the upper house, had the mortification to 
witness the defeat experienced on that 
evenini^ ; — a defeat which served as a 
warning of its final destiny. 

The debates which took place in the 
upper house, on the two questions of ad- 
journment and of rejection ; however 
inferior an interest they excited, when 
compared with the discussions that agi- 
tated the House of Commons on the same 
subject; yet strongly arrested national 
attention. Lord Thurlow, after repro- 
bating the bill, and treating with con- 
temptuous ridicule the reports of the 
" select committee," on which defective 
or erroneous foundations, the pretended 
necessity for the measure rested ; de- 
clared that " if it passed, the king would 
in fact take the diadem from his own 
head, and place it on the head of Mr. 
Fox." In more intemperate language, 
scarcely befitting so dignified an assem- 
bly, the Earl of Abingdon, a nobleman of 
very eccentric character, and restrained 
by no forms of parliamentary decorum, 
while expressing his abhorrence of a 
coalition which had given birth to this 
political monster; qualified Charles 
James Fox by name, as " a mountebank 
secretary of state, accustomed formerly 
to ascend the stages at Covent Garden, 
and at Westminster Hall, from which he 
harangued the mob ; but now calling 
himself the minister of the people, though 
animated by the criminal ambition of 
Cromwell, and aiming at regal power." 
He even accused the secretary wiih ex- 
ceeding in violence, by his seizure of 
the East India Company's charter, the 
worst acts of those tyrants, Charles the 
Second, and his brother James. With 
great pertinacity, the Duke of Richmond 
pointed out the injustice of the measure : 
nor did the lies of consanguinity whicii 
connected him with Fox, prevent him 
from severely arraigning the recent grant 
of a pension of one thousanil pounds a 
year, made to Sir William Gordon ; in 
order, by vacating his seal for Poris- 
mmith, that he might enable government 
to introduce Mr. Erskine into the House 
of Commons, at this critical juncture. 
Unsolicited, and unconnected with party, 



446 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Lord Camden entered his strong protest 
against such an infraction of all law on 
the part of adininisiratioii, by bringing 
forward an act, not, as it professed to be, 
of regulation, but of rapacious confisca- 
tion. 

Ministers, thus powerfully assailed, if 
they exhibited the talents, by no means 
displayed the energies, exerted by their 
opponents. Lord Loughborough, on 
■whom devolved the principal weight of 
defending the government, found himself 
ill supported in that attempt. The 
Speaker, Lord Mansfield, voted indeed 
with administration on the question of 
adjournment; but remained altogether 
silent, and extended no active assistance. 
Conscious that his colleagues had lost 
the confidence of the king, the Duke of 
Portland alluded with warmth, in the 
course of debate, to Lord Temple's re- 
cent audience of the sovereign, which he 
denounced as a violation of the Constitu- 
tion. But that nobleman avowing the 



peared so clearly demonstrated, unless 
by a decided personal effort to arrest the 
bill in its progress through the House of 
Lords, that the country al large affixed 
its sanction to the act. There were, 
nevertheless, it must be admitted, many 
individuals who thought that the royal 
disapprobation should have been earlier 
signified ; and who inclined to accuse 
the king of something like duplicity or 
deception, in his treatment of adminis- 
tration. We must however candidly 
allow, that he was not bound to observe 
any measures of scrupulous delicacy, with 
men who had entered his cabinet by vio- 
lence, who held him in bondage, and 
who meditated to render that bondage 
perpetual. Nor was it easy for him to 
discover and to detect, by the force of 
his own intellect, without legal assistance, 
the invasions on his independence and 
prerogative, contained in the provisions 
of the bill, as originally submitted to 
him ; till they were exposed and made 



fact, and justifying it as the privilege of i manifest, by the discussions that took 



an hereditary counsellor of the crown, to 
offer advice, called on the duke to bring 
forward against him a specific charge. 
Lord Shelburne, though he once, 1 be- 
lieve, attended in his place, took no part 
whatever in the discussions, nor ever 
voted on the question, either in person, 
or by proxy : — a line of conduct, which, 
when we consider that he had been ex- 
pelled from power by the coalition., only 
a few months earlier, opened a wide 
field for political speculation, on the mo- 
tives of his silence or secession. 

It will be readily admitted, that if we 
try the conduct of George the Third, in 
personally interposing to influence the 
debates, and to render himself master of 
the deliberations of the upper house, by 
the spirit of our Constitution, as fixed 
since the expulsion of James the Second ; 
it appears at first sight, subversive of 
every principle of political freedom. 
Such an ill-timed and imprudent inter- 
ference, had in fact laid the foundation of 
all the misfortunes of Charles the First. 



place in the House of Commons. The 
rapidity with which it was carried up to 
the Peers, and the little delay which Fox 
evidently meant it should there undergo, 
before it was presented for his concur- 
rence, left him no option in his line of 
conduct, and very little time for action. 
These reasons exculpated and justified 
an interference, apparently so irrecon- 
, cileable with the genius of the British 
Constitution. A fact not generally 
known, but not the less true, is, that his 
majesty was advised, and had taken the 
resolution, if the bill had actually passed 
the House of Lords, to have nevertheless 
refused to it the royal assent. He would 
then have instantly changed his ministers, 
dissolved the parliament, and thrown 
himself for protection upon his people. 
Those persons who have had the bes 
opportunities of knowing his character, 
and appreciating his firmness under the 
most alarming or distressful circum- 
stances, while sustained by the convic- 
tion of acting right ; will not doubt or 



But the same line of conduct, which in disbelieve the fact. Nor would the na- 



1641 excited general indignation, in 1783 
awakened no sentinient of national con- 
demnation. On the contrary, the king's 
position being perfectly understood ; the 
impossibility of his extrication from the 
ministerial toils wound about him, ap- 



tion, probably, have condemned his con- 
duct, or have delivered him up again into 
the hands of tiie coalition. Happily, 
however, the middle line which he 
adopted, prevented the necessity of re- 
curring to such painful extremities. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



447 



[17th December]. Though Fox's 
bill was thus rejected by the up'per house, 
he still remained, together vvitji Lord 
North, in possession of their respective 
offices, no change wliatever in adminis- 
tration iiaving yet taken place. Fox 
even delivered, as secretary of state, 
from the treasury bench, the most bitter 
and animated philippic ever pronounced 
within the walls of the House of Com- 
mons ; in the course of which, he dealt 
out every accusation against the sove- 
reign, and those members of the House 
of Peers ; the praetorian bands, or rather 
i\\e janizaries, as he denominated them ; 



formity.with the acts of George the Third, 
in thus personally exerting himself, 
through various noble individuals, to 
throw out the East India Bill. The 
elements of the business being arranged 
and prepared, a second motion was pro- 
posed from the ministerial side of the 
house, reprobating, as " subversive of 
the Constitution, the attempt to report 
any opinion of his majesty upon a de- 
pending bill, with a view to influence 
members." Its object being to de- 
signate and to criminate Lord Temple, 
who had exerted himself more than 
any other peer in circulating the royal 



who had strangled the measure by their: wishes, the proposition was strongly op- 
sultan's order. Nor did he hesitate to i posed by Mr, William Grenville, that 
compare the paper intrusted by his ma- j nobleman's yoiingestbrother. He called 
jesty to Lord Temple, which had oper- j on the accuser, to stand forth, and to 
ated such injurious effects to theadminis- | make good the charge, 
tration, with the rescript of Tiberius sent I Pill, after treating with derision the 
to the Roman senate from Capraea, for preparatory formalities wliich introduced 
the condemnation of Sejanus, unheard in 1 the resolution then submitted to the 
his defence, and without adilucing proofs j house, demanded on what ground the 
of his guilt. In classic language, and in I assertion ilself reposed, except upon 
the words of Juvenal, he reprobated such I vague surmise, or common rumour? 
an interference, as wholly destructive of 



the British Constitution 

The whole of this debate formed one 
of the most curious and singular scenes 
ever witnessed ; the ministers being vir- 
tually out of office, though still occupying 
their official seats; while Pitt and his 
friends, though nominally in opposiiion, 
in fact possessed the royal confidence. 
Fox anticipated indeed with certainty, the 
total rejection of his bill in the upper 
house : but as the Peers sate late before 
the division took place, the fact was not 
known at the hour when the secretary 
made his memorable philippic. The pro- 
ceedings in the House of Commons, were 
opened with a sort of mock solemnity, 
calculated to give them a degree of drama- 
tic effect ; the mace being sent round, on 
a request made to the Speaker, for the pur- 
pose, to summon the attendance of all 
members found in the adjacent rooms. 
This extraordinary mandate from the 
chair, so unusual, was designed to spread 
alarm, as if the privileges of the house 
were invaded by the unconstitutional in- 
fluence or interference of the crown. 
Precedents were sought for and found, for 
the vote proposed to be adopted, in the 
year 1640, when the conduct of Charles 
the First was said to exhibit a striking con- 



Fox now came forward for the last time 
in his ministerial capacity, and in a 
speech of unreasonable length, but of 
prodigious energy, accompanied with 
more than ordinary as[)efity of language, 
he endeavoured to rally his disheartened 
troops ; among whom, many already 
began to perceive that they had com- 
mitted themselves, on erroneous suppo- 
sitions, beyond their intentions. We 
may, indeed, safely assume, that only a 
small proportion of the five hundred and 
fifty-eight members who then composed 
the lower House of Parliament, pos- 
sessed ability, industry, and leisure suf- 
ficient, in addition to local knowledge, 
for enabling them to weigh in their owa 
scales, the East India Bill ; — a measure 
of so complex and comprehensive a na- 
ture in itself; and at that time, not at all 
generally understood throughout the 
kingdom. Fox's followers, it is true, 
were for the most part, zealously and 
personally attached to him, as their sole 
leader round whom they rallied, in or 
out of power. But Lord North counted 
many adherents, who, in supporting his 
measures, believed that they were main- 
taining the government, and looked 
more to the minister than to the man. 
Various individuals held offices in the 



448 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



roval household, or about the court ; | like manner, no sooner were pretended 



among which description of members, a 
great defection must naturally be ex- 
pected. Such was the state of that 
assembly on the night of the 17ih of 
December ; one of the most extraordi- 
nary to be found in our history ! 

'' The deliberations of this evening," 
observed Fox, when he rose, " must de- 
cide whether we are to be henceforward 
freemen or slaves ; whether this house 
is the palladium of liberty, or the engine 
of despotism ; whether we are prospec- 
tively to exercise any functions of our 
own, or to become the mere echo of 
secret influence. I trust Englishmen 
will be as jealous of that influence, as 
superior to open violence. The bill, 
though matured by all the abilities of 
this house, and though supported by 
nearly two to one, on every division 
during its progress, will in all proba- 
bility be lost elseivhere. By whom ? 
By an independent majority? No! 
Bv the votes of the lords of the bed- 
chamber." After exhausting his resent- 
ment on those noble persons, who had, 
as he asserted, " forfeited by tiieir con- 
duct, every claim to the character of 
wentlemen, and degraded the character- 
istic independence of the peerage, as 
well as villified the British legislature in 
the eyes of all Europe," the secretary 
diverged to other topics of declamation. 
" On what foundation," demanded he, 
" do the ministers stand, who come into 
office by means of secret influence ? 
Have they not a halter about their 
necks ? They hold their employments, 
not at the option of the sovereign, but 
of the very reptiles who burrow under 
tiie throne. What man would stoop to 
such humiliation ! Boys, without judg- 
ment, experience, or knowledge of the 
world, may thus precipitately follow the 
headlong course of ambition, and vault 
into the scat, while the reins are com- 
mitted to other hands ; but the minister 
who can submit to such degradation, and 
the country which tolerates it, must be 
mutual curses to each other." 

Having thus depictured Pitt's position. 
Fox turned round upon Jenkinson. 
" During the interregnum of the last 
spring," observed he, " I never had a 
doubt, with whom that disgraceful sus- 
pension of government originated. In 



grounds of objection stated to the East 
India Bill, than I instantly looked to the 
same quarter. The same dark and 
mysterious cabal which then invested the 
throne, misleading the royal mind with 
unworthy arts, has been once more em- 
ployed to perform a similar part. But 
will this enlightened country revert to 
those ages when princes were tyrants, 
ministers were minions, and government 
only intrigue? For God's sake, in every 
case strangle us not in the very moment 
when we look for success, by an infa- 
mous band of bed-chamber janizaries ! 
When the hour arrives, and it may not 
be very distant, which shall dismiss me 
from the public service, I will not imi- 
tate the example set me by the late 
chancellor of the exchequer, of lingering 
in office after the national voice calls on 
me to be gone. I did not come in by 
the Jiat of majesty , though by that fiat 
I am not reluctant to go out. I ever 
stood, and wish only to stand, on public 
ground. The people of England have 
made me what I am. It was by their 
partiality I have been called to a station 
in their service. Perhaps it would not 
be treating them well, hastily or precipi- 
tately to abandon the post which tJiey 
have confided to me." Fox concluded, 
nevertheless, this harangue, one of the 
most violent ever pronounced in my 
time, within the walls of the house, by 
an encomium on the very sovereign 
whose service he was about to quit, and 
on whom he had thrown out so many 
severe reflections. " No man," said he, 
" venerates him more than I do, for his 
personal and domestic virtues." But 
as he subjoined, that " the present gene- 
ration regarded his majesty for the virtu- 
ous example which he exhibited, and 
posterity would long adore him for his 
progeny,''^ Pepper Arden did not fail to 
remark, that Fox's veneration for the 
sovereign arose principally from attach- 
ment to his posterity. 

Vainly, nevertheless, Pitt urged him to 
retire, and thus to anticipate his dismis- 
sion from employment. Content with 
rendering the majority of the house sub- 
servient to his views, by passing various 
resolutions, calculated not only to stig- 
matize the late interference of the 
crown ; but intended at the same time to 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



449 



prevent ihe inlerruplion of their delibera- 
tions, by any act of prerogative ; all 
w^hich motions he carried by a majority 
of more than two to one ; the coalition 
ministers refused to give in their resig- 
nation. Under these circumstances, 
which called for decision, the king dis- 
played no irresolution. Conscious that 
he had advanced too far to recede, either 
with honour or with benefit, he passed 
the whole of the 18th of December, in 
making dispositions for the formation of 
a new cabinet ; and finding, at a laie 
hour of the evening, that the two secre- 
taries of state declined to resign, he sig- 
nified to them, by a messenger, that he 
had no further occasion for their ser- 
vices. They received at the same 
time, information, that a personal inter- 
view would be disagreeable to him ; and 
were ordered to deliver up the seals of 
their respective departments, through the 
medium of the two under-secretaries, 
Fraser and Nepean. Mr. Fox imme- 
diately complied ; but Lord North, hav- 
ing deposited the seal of his office in the 
hands of his son, Colonel North, one of 
his under-secrelaries, who could no 
where be found for a considerable time ; 
the king wailed patiently at St. James's, 
till it stiould be brought to him. Mr. 
Pollock, first clerk to Lord North's 
office, who had already retired to rest, 
being called out of his bed, in conse- 
quence of the requisition from his 
majesty, went in search of Colonel 
North. Afier a long delay, he was 
found, and produced the seal ; which 
being brought to the king about one 
o'clock in the morning, he delivered it 
into Lord Temple's hands, and llien re- 
turned to the queen's house. 

[I9th December.] On the ensuing 
day, it being indispensable to form a 
government with the least possible 
delay, Mr. Pitt, notwithstanding his 
youth, was placed at the head of the 
new cabinet, as first lord of the treasury, 
and chancellor of the exchequer ; an in- 
stance without precedent in our annals, 
and which will probably never be again 
realised ! Lord Bolingbroke, then Mr. 
St. John, had indeed, under Q,ueen 
Anne, been made secretary at war, as 
early in life ; and we have since seen 
Lord Henry Petty, now Marquis of 
Lansdown, at about the same age, raised 
38* 



to the chancellorship of the exchequer, 
in 1806, after Mr. Pitt's decease. But 
there is a wide interval, from either of 
the above examples, to the elevation be- 
fore us. If we reflect likewise on the 
decided majority against which Pitt 
had to contend in the House of Com- 
mons, conducted by such energies and 
talents as Fox possessed ; we may be 
tempted on first consideration, to accuse 
him of imprudence and temerity. The 
event nevertheless proved, that in ac- 
cepting employment, under all the dis- 
advantages here enumerated, he had 
maturely weighed the peril and the con- 
sequences. Other impediments, not 
less serious, presented themselves in the 
interior of tlie cabinet recently formed ; 
where Lord Temple insisted on the im- 
mediate dissolution of parliament, as a 
step necessary to their ministerial pre- 
servation, if not even to their personal 
safety. But Pitt, with consummate 
judgment, while he retained in his own 
hands so powerful an engine, which he 
held suspended over the House of Com- 
mons, abstained from using it, till the 
progress of affairs should justify the in- 
terposition. Conscious that no act of 
the royal prerogative, could be more 
generally repugnant to the inclinations 
of the members of tne lower house, than 
a dissolution before they had sat half the 
period for which they had been elected, 
he resisted Lord Temple's proposition ; 
who, in consequence, immediately re- 
signed, only three days after his ap- 
pointment ; thus involving the half- 
formed administration in confusion and 
embarrassment, not wholly exempt even 
from some degree of ridicule and of dan- 
ger. Never did any ministrj'^ com- 
mence its career under a more inaus- 
picious and apparently desperate pre- 
) dicament, which was destined so long 
j to retain possession of the reins of 
power ! 

Pepper Arden having moved Pitt's 
writ for the borough of Appleby, Dun- 
das, acting as his delegate while he could 
not be personally present in the house, 
endeavoured to induce that assembly to 
meet on the subsequent day (Saturday, 
the 20lh of December), in order to expe- 
dite the passage of the land tax. But 
Fox, now out of office, affecting to sup- 
pose that an immediate dissolution of 



450 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Parliament impended, peremptorily re- 
fused his consent to the proposition. He 
observed, that " though he did not deny 
the right of the crown to dissolve, yet 
no person would venture to say, such a 
prerogative ought to be exercised, merely 
to suit the convenience of an ambitious 
young man" Lord Mulgrave, who 
not long afterwards became joint pay- 
master of the forces under the new mi- 
nistry, supported Mr. Dundas ; and in 
the course of his speech expressed great 
pleasure, that " a faction which had too 
long maintained possession of power, 
was at length driven from place." Lord 
North and Fox being seated close to each 
other on the opposition bench, sustained 
by a very numerous attendance of their 
friends, constituting an undisputed ma- 
jority of the members present; a loud 
and general laugh arose among them, at 
the word faction. I am glad," re- 
siimed Lord Mulgrave, " to find that 
gentlemen are so merry upon their mis- 
fortune. I still, however, rejoice tiiat 
their power is extinct. Not that I mean," 
looking at Lord North, " I am glad to 
see my noble friend in the blue ribband, 
out of employment. I respect his cha- 
racter. 1 too well know his integrity 
and abilities, not to wish that he were in 
office; but I lament to behold him in 
such bad company." Kenyon likewise 
spoke on the same side, with his cha- 
racteristic disregard of ail personal ob- 
jects or interests, though he was made 
attorney general only a {e\\ days after- 
wards, for the second time. " I am 
neither in the secrets of those persons 
"who are just dismissed," said he, " nor 
of their successors ; and therefore I can- 
not know whether Parliament will, or 
will not be dissolved. If a dissolution 
should take place, I am ignorant whether 
I may have a seat in the next House of 
Commons. Nor, indeed, do I wish it. 
But be that as it may, I will support the 
proposition of Mr. Dundas, because the 
most fatal consequences to public credit 
must ensue, if the land tax does not 
speedily pass." LortI North answered 
both Kenyon and Lord Mulgrave, wiih 
his accustomed suavity, wit, and powers 
of argument: but Fox, holding fast the 
supremacy which he possessed over thi- 
ll uuse, refused to permit the assembly lo 
meet on the following dav. Nor did 



Dundas venture on a division, well 
knowing how decided a superiority of 
numbers the coalition could command 
within those walls. An adjournment 
then took place. 

[20th and 21st December.] Mean- 
while the sovereign proceeded to consti- 
tute a new administration ; but, even 
after Lord Temple's resignation, when 
the cabinet was at length completed, Pitt 
might be said to constitute its whole 
strength in one house, as Lord Thur- 
low equally sustained the weight of go- 
vernment in the other assembly. The 
great seal was entrusted to the latter, for 
the fourth time under the reign of George 
the Third. Lord Gower, made Presi- 
dent of the Council, and the Duke of 
Rutland, who was appointed privy seal, 
brought indeed, collectively, a consider- 
able accession of parliamentary interest 
and connexions; but, could boast only a 
very scanty addition of eloquence, or of 
talents. The new secretaries of stale, 
Lord Sydney, and the Marquis of Car- 
marthen, even if their abilities had been 
of the most brilliant description ; — an as- 
sertion which assuredly could not be 
made consistently with truth; — yet 
were both members of the House of 
Peers: a disadvantage only to be sur- 
mounted by Pitt's taking on himself, the 
whole weight of business in the House 
of Commons, and thus uniting in some 
measure in his own person, the defence 
of every department. Lord Howe, re- 
stored lo the head of the admiralty, was 
re-admitled into the cabinet ; and the 
Duke of Richmond relumed lo the ord- 
nance ; bul no mention was ever made 
of Lord Shelburne, for any place in the 
administration. He seemed to be com- 
pletely extinct in the public recollection. 

Sir George Howard obtained the com- 
mand of liie forces ; but neither he, nor 
the Duke of Richmond, were taken into 
the cabinet. The new commander-in- 
chief, a man of almost gigantic stature 
and proportions, who had long been de- 
corated with the order of ihe Bath, was 
universally esteemed ; himself highly 
bred, an accomplished courtier, and a 
gallant soldier : but like Sir John Irwine, 
of whom I have had occasion to speak, 
he owed his military elevation and em- 
ploy n)enis, more perhaps to royal favour 
than to any distinguished talents, or pro-» 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 451 



fessional services'. He was one of the brother of Sir Robert, who had represent- 
represeiitalives for tlie town of Stamford, ed the English sovereign, at the courts 
His legiiimate descent from, or alliance of Louis the Fourteenth and Fifteenth ; 
by (lonsanguinily with the Dukes of he might at least be regarded as equal ia 
Norfolk, notwithstanding the apparent talents, to any of the noblemen who had 
evidence of his name, was, I believe, not , filled that office during the last years of 
established on incontestable grounds. ! George the Second, or under the reign 
He attained, as did General Conway, of George the Third ; if we except, as 
not many years afterwards, to the rank we must do, Jjord Slormont. To Marie 
of field marshal ; a dignity of which the ' Antoinette, the French queen, the Duke 
British service had antecedently furnish- of Dorset rendered himself highly accep- 
ed only a few examples. For the em- ; table, possessed her esteem, and enjoyed 
bassy to Paris, the Duke of Dorset was | some degree of her personal favour ; — 
selected by Pitt. As he honoured me j circumstances by no means unessential 
with his friendship down to the close of; to a man placed in his public situation, 
his life, or rather till he survived him- [ as that princess performed a much more 
self, it may be naturally expected that I! important part in the cabinet and councils 
should saw a few words respecting him. ' of Louis the Sixteenth, than did the two 
He was the son of Lord John Sackville, queens, her immediate predecessors, 
elder brother of Lord George ; and sue- i Maria Theresa, daughter of Philip the 
ceeded collaterally to the title, on the Fourth, King of Spain, who espoused 
demise of his uncle, Charles, second Louis the Fourteenth ; and Maria Lec- 
Duke of Dorset, mentioned so frequently zinska, consort of his successor, possess- 
in " Dodington's Diary," as the Earl of ed throughout their whole lives, no 
Middlesex. The duke, when named em- ' shadow of political power of interest, 
bassador to Versailles, had nearly attained Marie Antoinette's protection, aided by 
his fortieth year. His person, if not' his connexion with the Polignacs, had 
handsome, was highly agreeable; his ^ sufficed to procure for the Count d'Adhe- 
features, pleasing ; the expression of his ' mar, at the conclusion of peace, the em- 
countenance, noble, and interesting ; his bassy to the court of England : but he 
manners soft, quiet, ingratiating, and ! was far inferior in every accomplishment 
formed for a court ; destitute of all affec- , of mind and of manners, to the Duke of 
talion, but not deficient in dignity. He Dorset. 

displayed indeed, neither shining parts, | Mr, Arden became solicitor general. 
nor superior abilities. Yet, as he pos- Nature has seldom cast a human being 
sessed good sense, matured by know-j in a less elegant or pleasing mould, 
ledge of the world, had travelled over a Even Dunning's person would have 
considerable part of Europe, and had im- j gained by a comparison with Arden's 
proved his understanding by an extensive j figure and countenance. Nor were his 
acquaintance with mankind, he was well legal talents more conspicuous in the 
calculated for such a mission. He had general estimation of the bar. But his 
passed much time in Italy, where heim-; earl)' acquaintance with Pitt, which time 
bibed a strong passion for all the fine had matured into friendship, covered or 
arts, and a predilection for men of talents ; concealed every jurisprudential deficien- 
and artists; --a taste which he indulged! cy. That powerful protection, in defi>- 
even beyond the limits of his fortune,! ance of Lord Thurlow's avowed dislike, 
and in the gratification of which, he mani- ! or rather antipathy, conducted the new 
fested that he inherited some of the quali- [ solicitor general rapidly to the honours 
ties of his celebrated ancestor, Charles, | and dignities of the law ; finally placing 
Earl of Dorset. But the mediocrity of j him, where almost all those individuals 
his estate, when contrasted with his high patronised by the minister, found their 
rank, imposed limits on the liberality of ultimate repose, in the House of Peers, 
his disposition. Considered as embassa- ! He possessed no mean talents for debate, 
dor to France, though he could not sus- j and displayed not only ardour, but abi- 
tain a comparison for diplomatic ability, i lity in the defence of his friends. When 
or strength of intellect, with tiie Earl of j Fox, at this very time proposed that a 
Stair, or with the first Horace Walpole, j resolution should be adopted, declaring 



452 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



any minister criminal who should advise j brother to the Earl of Warwick, resigned 
his majesty to dissolve the parliament, 
Arden instantly stood up to reprobate ' 
such doctrine. *' What impediment," 
exclaimed lie, " can be opposed to the 
just prerogative of the crown ? A reso- 
lution of this house ? He must be in- 
deed a timid minister, unfit to govern 
this great country, who can be deterred 
from advising a dissolution, by any terror 
of such a nature. Is this House of Com- 
mons to judge upon a question of their 
own continuance, or annihilation ? That 
measure is not to be tried before such 
judges. It will be determined by another 
house within these walls ; and they may 
possibly applaud, instead of censuring or 
condemning the resolution. I admit that 
it is no light matter to advise such a. 
step : but the individuals who are to be 
annihilated by its operation, are of all 
others the least proper to decide respect- 
ing it." Fox replied, that " he must be 
a bold minister indeed, who should dare 
to despise the voice of the people." But 
Arden rose a second time, and while he 
admitted that the people merited every 
attention, when their opinion was solemn- 
ly or clearly pronounced, maintained, 
and distinctly repeated his original de- 
claration. It must likewise be allowed, 
that no man in parliament, had given a 
more pertinacious and unremitting oppo- 
sition to Fox's East India Bill, than Ar- 
den. The last blow aimed at it, before 
it passed the lower house, came from 
his lips. For I recollect, that after that 
obnoxious measure had been carried, on 
the third reading, by a majority of more 
than two to one ; the solicitor general, 
Mansfield, having risen to move for leave 
to bring up a clause, declaring it to be a 
public bill ; Arden exclaimed, that " he 
had no objection : but that he was not 
surprised at its having escaped his learned 
friend's memory, as every other person 
considered the bill to be a private job.'''' 
With that stigma impressed on the mea- 
sure. Fox, regardless of the sarcasm, 
bore it in triumph to the bar of the Lords. 
The king's table, covered with badges 
of office, seals, wands, and gold sticks, 
profusely given in by the adherents of 
the dismissed ministers, presented an 
extraordinary spectacle. Among the 
foremost to testify his ministerial fidelity, 
the Honorable Charles Greville, next 



his office of treasurer of the household. 
Possessing, like his uncle. Sir William 
Hamilton, an elegant mind, and a taste 
for many branches of the fine arts, which 
pursuit had carried him into expenses 
beyond the bounds of severe prudence ; 
his resignation of such an employment 
could not therefore be to him in any 
sense, a matter of indifference. I have 
heard Mr. Greville, whom I very parti- 
cularly knew, often say, that the king 
most kindly expostulated with him, when 
he entered the closet to lay down his 
place, and urged him by no means to 
commit an act so unnecessary ; the 
treasurership of the household being, not 
a ministerial, but a personal situation in 
the family of the sovereign. I ought 
likewise to add that Fox, who well knew 
Mr. Greville's private embarrassments, 
had, with a liberality of mind truly noble, 
exhorted him to retain his post ; absolv- 
ing him at the same time from all con- 
siderations of a political kind. But his 
feelings of honour were too delicate, to 
permit of his following either the sug- 
gestions of convenience, the exhortations 
of Fox, or the expostulations of his 
sovereign. He retired for several years 
from court, and from public life, into 
comparative obscurity. 

Lord Hinchingbrook, less scrupulous, 
and perhaps with better sense, instead of 
quitting his office of master of the buck 
hounds; though his father, the Earl of 
Sandwich, followed the fortunes of the 
cofdition ; wisely abandoned that ob- 
noxious party, and declined to give in 
his resignation. Sir George Yonge 
went back to his office of secretary at 
war which he had held under Lord Shel- 
burne's administration ; a post that seem- 
ed to be hereditary in his family ; his 
father. Sir William Yonge, having occu- 
pied it with much distinction, under the 
reign of George the Second. Sir Wil- 
liam, who performed no inconsiderable 
part in the political annals oi that period, 
was equally distinguished likewise in 
another line, among the men of wit, 
pleasure, and gallantry, Lady Vane 
makes honorable mention of him, in. 
those Memoirs of her Life, which 
Smollet has inserted in the third volume 
of his "Peregrine Pickle." I have 
heard Lord Sackville say, who remem- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



453 



bered Sir William Yonge, that, when 
secretary at war, iiaving waiieil otficially 
on John, Duke of Ariryle, then coni- 
mander-in-cliief of the lorces, in order to 
make his report on a matter of business ; 
the duke kept him standing, wiiile he 
himself remained sealed for a considera- 
ble time. Their ministerial conference 
being ended, he immediately requested 
Sir William to lake a chair. " No 
sir," replied he, " if the secretary at 
war is not worthy to sit down in the 
presence of the commander-in-chief; it 
would be altogether unbecoming Sir 
William Yonge, to be seated in com- 
pany with the Duke of Argyle." So 
sayinu, he abruptly quilled the room. 
Sir George Yonge, with whom I was 
much acquainted, did not want talents, 
and he maintained his place in a debate, 
though he possessed no pretension to 
eloquence : but in parliamentary capa- 
city, I always considered him as inferior 
to his father. 

[22d — 24th December] Meanwhile 
Fox, who remained completely master 
of the House of Commons, where Mr. 
Pitt could not appear during the time 
necessary for his re-election ; might be 
said to sway with absolute power, the 
deliberations of that assembly. His 
first cares were directed to prevent either 
a prorogation, or a dissolution of parlia- 
ment, by adopting resolutions calculated 
to render each of those proceedings diffi- 
cult and dangerous to ministers. Hav- 
ing consented to pass the land tax bill, 
for whicti act of compliance with public 
necessity, he assumed no ordinary merit, 
as a proof of his superiority to all 
interested or factious views, he made a 
full display of his omnipotence within 
those walls. Nor could all the assu- 
rances given by Mr. Dundas from the 
treasury bench, though confirmed by 
Mr. Bankes, the friend and representa- 
tive of the new first minister; declaring 
by his express authority, that he would 
neither advise such an act of preroga- 
tive, nor would continue in office, if the 
crown had recourse to it ; prevail on 
Fox to allow of an adjournment fur the 
Christmas recess, till he had voted, 
without experiencing any impediment, 
an address to the throne, of tlie most 
criminating nature, which was ordered 
to be presented by the whole house. 



Affecting to consider Pitt as a mere crea- 
ture of secret influence, the child of the 
bacdi stairs, Fox treated Bankes's reite- 
rated protestations in the name of the 
chancellor of the exchequer, with the 
most insulting and contemptuous levity 
or disregard " As far as that gentle- 
man's private character is concerned, 
said Fox, " I would readily take his 
word ; but to speak plainly, if I was, 
myself, in the situation which he now 
fills, knowing as much as I do of the 
power of secret influence, I would not 
ask any man to take my word. Be- 
cause at the very moment when I might 
be engaged in declaring that parliament 
would not be dissolved, that very mea- 
sure might be determined on, in conse- 
quence of secret advice. — It is the duty 
of the house to banish that pernicious 
and baneful agent, secret influence, for 
ever from about the throne." Bankes 
still pressing the point, and repeating, 
that " if any idea of proroguing or 
dissolving parliament should be enter- 
tained anywhere, Mr. Pitt would instant- 
ly resign ;" Fox replied, " I have no 
doubt that he might act spiritedly on the 
occasion : but what compensation could 
his resignation produce to the public 
for the evils which must result from a 
dissolution? — There is not a moment 
to be lost ! and I hope that if any 
adjournment at all takes place, it will 
only be for a few days." 

On receiving the king's answer, 
which, though gracious and conciliating 
in its expressions, did not breathe the 
less determination ; after passing upon 
it the most severe comments, as a mix- 
ture of duplicity and ambiguity, Fox 
then permitted of an adjournment for 
the short period of sixteen days ; an 
interval indispensably requisite to com- 
plete the ministerial arrangements. 
The resignation or dismission of the 
new administration, was however confi- 
dently anticipated by the party, and 
announced by Fox himself in one of his 
speeches; — I think, on the 24th of 
December; — when he ventured to pre- 
dict, that its duration could not possibly 
exceed a few weeks. " The state of 
this country," exclaimed he, " will not 
admit of a long recess : — for, as the 
present ministers cannot stand long; 
and indeed, to talk of the permanency of 



454 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



such an administration, would only be 
laughing at and insulting them ; it will 
become necessary to move tor another 
set of writs, after the holidays, in the 
room of those gentlemen who must 
vacate their seats, on the formation of a 
new government. In order therefore to 
prevent tlie calamities that menace the 
Constitution, I would propose the short- 
est recess possible." — "It may be 
urged, that knowing, as I do, the mi- 
nistry cannot last, 1 manifest an impa- 
tience to be restored to oflice. I do not 
k^iow that I shall form one of the next 
administration ; but I confess, I am im- 
patient that the sense of the house may 
be speedily taken on the present minis- 
ters." So confident was he, indeed, or 
at least he pretended to be, of Pitt's in- 
evitable dismission, that he mentioned in 
a subsequent part of his speech, the 
youth of the chancellor of the exche- 
quer, and the weakness incident to his 
early period of life, as the only possible 
excuse for his temerity in accepting 
office. How far Fox thoroughly be- 
lieved his own predictions of his rival's 
imminent fall, may perhaps be ques- 
tioned ; but the most experienced mem- 
bers among them, with VVelbore Ellis 
at their head, joined ostensibly in this 
opinion ; which, it must be confessed, 
was built upon all the precedents known 
since the elevation of the House of 
Hanover to the throne. 

Lord North, who had been absent, 
from the effect of indisposition, during a 
great part of the debates, while the East 
India Bill was in its progress through 
the House of Commons; made ample 
compensation for his short and involun- 
tary retreat, by his presence and ex- 
ertions after the dismission of ministers. 
During the number of years that I sat 
with him in Parliament, I never witness- 
ed a more brilliant exhibition of his in- 
tellectual powers, than on the 22d of 
December, when Erskine moved for an 
address to the throne, deprecating a dis- 
solution. Indeed, from the instant he 
rose, till he concluded, almost every sen- 
tence teemed with the keenest wit, or 
with the most severe, yet delicate satire. 
Ill the commencement of his speech. 
Lord North justified by cogent argu- 
ments, his union with Fox, as having 
been dictated by state necessity and pub- 



lic utility; eulogizing in animated lan- 
guage, the virtues, no less dian the 
abilities, of his late colleague, whom he 
wished in future always to be designated ' 
as his " Right Honorable Friend." 
"Our politicaljConnexion," continued he, 
" was lounded on principles of mutual 
honour. The great points of policy on 
which we had ditrered, being no more, 
we thought that without inconsistency 
we might cordially act together. The 
experiment has succeeded. No little 
jealousies have disturbed our union. All 
has been good faith on one part, and con- 
fidence on the other. No unworthy 
concessions were made by either side. I 
appeal to my Right Honorable Friend, i 
if I ever renounced or sacrificed any I 
opinion resting on principle, unless 
when the propriety of such renunciation 
became apparent from reason and argu- 
ment. On the other hand i must de- 
clare in justice to him, that he never 
abandoned any principle which he main- 
tained when in op[)osition to my govern- 
ment." — " We are charged with having 
seized on the reins of power. This, I 
confess, is a charge which I do not un- . 
derstand ; — for, the country waited full 
six weeks, without having any adminis- 
tration. Every effort was vainly ex- 
erted to form a cabinet, and when all 
means failed, the ministers quitted their 
offices. The cabinet remained empty ; 
so that if we seized on it, we could only 
have so done, by marching in after the 
garrison had fled ; who, while evacu- 
ating the fortress, exclaimed, ' what a 
cursed coalition is this, which expels us 
from our situations !' — If, however, we 
did get possession of power, we at least 
carried it by storm, bravely, in the face 
of the enemy, not by sap. We made 
our advances above ground, in view of 
the foe. Not by mining in the dark, 
and blowing up the fort, before the gar- 
rison knew that any attack was medi- 
tated." 

The ingenuity, pleasantry, and force 
of this eloquent defence, can hardly be 
exceeded. Then, after severely arraign- 
ing the mode of Pill's admission into the 
cabinet, which he stigmatized as surrep- 
titious and unconstitutional ; he diverged 
with inconceivable humour into the 
path of ridicule, so analogous to liis for- 
mation of mind. Alluding to the wish 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



455 



expressed more than once by Mr. Mar- 
tin (borrowed from Hotspur's invoca- 
tion in Sliakspeare),that a sUirling should 
be perched on llie Speaker's chair, who 
might incessantly repeat the words, 
" Cursed coalition /" he observed, that 
so long as an honorable member of that 
house, "continued to pronounce those 
sounds, as if by rote, and without any 
fixed idea, let what would be the subject 
of debate ; he conceived the starling to 
be unnecessary, inasmuch as the gentle- 
man would make just as great an im- 
pression as the bird on his hearers." 
Having convulsed the house with laugh- 
ter, by this severe, but ludicrous re- 
mark, he compared, or rather he con- 
trasted, the conduct of the two men who 
were shut up in the Eddystone Light- 
house, during six weeks, with the oppo- 
site line of action embraced by Fox and 
himself. " Those men," said he, "from 
reciprocal enmiiy, preferred letting the 
fire go out, and beholding the navy of 
England dashed to pieces, rather than 
lend each other any assistance. But, 
we, animated by other and more en- 
larged sentiments, considered the pre- 
servation of the vessel of stale, our pri- 
mary duty ; and, we agreed, that at all 
events, the fire in the lighthouse should 
not bt extinguished." An allusion so 
ingenious, as well as felicitous, almost 
electrified his audience ; and if wit could 
have supported or restored the coalition, 
it must, when falling from his lips, have 
overborne every impediment. But the 
moral impression made on the public 
mind, to their disadvantage, daily ac- 
quiring strength, finally completed their 
downfall, though the catastrophe was 
protracted for more than three months, 
by various circumstances. 

[26th — 31st December.] If the strug- 
gle for power had lain only between 
Pitt and Fox, the former of whom, 
whatever might be the extent of his 
talents, was unable to command a ma- 
jority upon any question that arose 
in the House of Commons, while the 
latter carried every motion ; the contest 
would, no doubt, have been soon de- 
cided. Or had the dispute been, as 
under Charles the First, between the 
sovereign, claiming to exercise preroga- 
tives antiquated and oppressive, on tlie 
one hand, and the representative body 



on the other, propelled and sustained by 
the people, as their organs and protectors 
against arbitrary violence, — the termi- 
nation might have been foreseen without 
much penetration. But Fox, though he 
was become by his union with Lord 
North, master of the deliberations of the 
lower house, had sacrificed to that very- 
union, in a considerable degree, the good 
opinion of the country ; and the remainsi 
of his former popularity which survived 
his coalition with Lord North, had since 
been shipwrecked in the India Bill. 
He had, therefore, imprudently, though 
as it would nevertheless seem, reflec- 
tively engaged in a conflict where the 
crown and the nation both combined 
against him. Without the aid of the 
people, the sovereign would, indeed, 
liave been powerless. As little could 
the House of Peers, unsupported by the 
public voice, have checked his career. 
It was their union which became irresis- 
tible. Fox, who, whatever his admirers 
may assert, possessed more genius, elo- 
quence, and talent, than prudence or 
judgment, does not appear to have 
deeply weighed and appreciated these 
facts before he entered the lists. Un- 
fortunately for him, too, the champion 
wanted by the crown, and who seemed 
to be expressly made for the conjuncture, 
presented himself in Pitt. His name, 
rendered illustrious by his father's public 
services ; the decorum of his manners, 
so opposed to those of Fox ; even his 
very youth, which should have operated 
against him, appeared to recommend him 
to national favour. The king availed him- 
self of these aids to overwhelm the coali- 
^ion under the ruins of the fortress which 
they had so nearly constructed, and 
fondly deemed inassailable. Only time 
was still wanting in order to enlighten, 
to awaken, and to animate the people at 
large ; who not being as yet fully in- 
formed upon all the points of Fox's bill. 
required to be roused into exertion, be- 
fore ihe last address should be made to 
them as electors. 

I well remember, not more than a fort- 
night subsequent to the period of which 
I am now speaking. Governor Johnstone 
rising in the hoiise ; — I believe, it hap- 
pened on the first day of their meeting 
after the recess, the 12lh of January ; — 
insisted wiili great force of reasoning, on 



456 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



this point. I knew Johnstone well, 
consiiited, and indeed acted in some de- 
gree of concert with liim, througiiout 
the whole progress of the East India 
Bill, He was not less attached to Lord 
North, than myself; but that amiable 
nobleman, as well as most accomplished 
statesman, no longer held the reins. 
Surrendering all his own volitions, he 
seemed to adopt those of his more active, 
as well as ambitious colleague : — for, 
assuredly, Lord North, if he had not 
been associated with Fox and Burke, 
would never, from the suggestions of his 
own judgment, or inclination, or opinion, 
have originated so strong and unconsti- 
tutional a measure. He was carried 
along by the torrent, and finally swept 
away in its course. Johnstone, address- 
ing the House of Commons, expatiated 
on the rapacity, and other features of 
Fo.x's Bill, " It becomes," said he, 
" more detested from day to day, by the 
wisest and most impartial men through- 
out the nation, as the confiscating prin- 
ciple on which it is founded, and the 
artifice with which it has been carried 
on so far towards its completion, are 
more known and understood by all ranks. 
The rejection of so dangerous an expe- 
riment on the British Constitution, is re- 
warded by every thinking individual, as 
one of the greatest triumphs over inordi- 
nate ambition, recorded in our annals, I 
do not assert that these sentiments have 
as yet pervaded the lower orders of so- 
ciety. The dangers arising from poli- 
tical or legislative institutions, when 
veiled by the arts and eloquence of su- 
perior statesmen, or of accomplished 
orators, are not immediately obvious to 
the wisest capacity, and make their way 
slowly to vulgar comprehension. Thank 
God, they are obviated for the present 
moment ! But whether there exist sense 
and virtue sufficient in the country, to 
protect us from the machinations still 
carried on against tht4public freedom ; — 
forms the great cause of that struggle, on 
which we are assembled to decide with- 
in these walls." 

Pitt, with a judgment beyond his 
years, instead of prematurely dissolving 
the House of Commons, as a man of 
meaner talents, or of less resource, would 
have done ; undertook the experiment of 
endeavouring first to conciliate, or to 



convince, the majority ; thus allowing 
the popular sentiment full leisure to ex- 
pand, and finally to overpower all resist- 
ance : while he reserved for the pro- 
per moment, whenever it should be 
thoroughly matured, his final appeal to 
the country, by a dissolution. Such 
was the real state of afi'airs in the last 
days of December, 1783, at the time 
when Pitt, contrary to all precedent, and 
under apparent difficulties the most in- 
surmountable, ventured to accept the 
reins of government. 

It forms an object of the most natural 
and rational curiosity, minutely to survey 
him at this critical period of his life. He 
was not then much more than twentyr 
four years and a half old, and conse- 
quently had not attained the age, at which 
many individuals, under the testamen- 
tary dispositions of their parents, are 
still legally considered to be in a stale 
of tutelage or minority. In the forma- 
tion of his person he was tall and slen- 
der, but without elegance or grace. His 
countenance, taken as a whole, did not 
display either the fine expression of cha- 
racter, or the intellect of Fox's face, on 
every feature of which, his mind was 
more or less forcibly depictured. It was 
not till Pitt's eye lent animation to his 
other features, which were in themselves 
tame, that they lighted up, and became 
strongly intelligent. Fox, even when i 
quiescent, could not be mistaken for an } 
ortlinary man. In his manners, Pitt, if 
not repulsive, was cold, stiflf, and with- 
out suavity or amenity. He seemed 
never to invite approach, or to encourage 
acquaintance ; though, when addressed, 
he could be polite, communicative, and 
occasionally gracious. Smiles were not 
natural to him, even when seated on the 
treasury bench ; where, placed at the 
summit of power, young, surrounded by 
followers, admirers, and flatterers, he 
maintained a more sullen gravity than 
his antagonist exhibited, who beheld 
around him only the companions of his 
political exile, poverty, and privations. 
From the instant that Pitt entered the 
door-way of the House of Commons, he 
advanced up the floor with a quick and 
firm step, his head erect and thrown 
back, looking neither to the right nor to 
the left ; nor favouring with a nod or 
a glance, any of the individuals sealed 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



457 



vn either side, among whom, many who 
possessed rive thousand pounds a year, 
would liave been gratified even by so 
slight a mark of attention. It was not 
thus that Lord Nortli or Fox treated par- 
liament; nor Iroin them, would parlia- 
ment have so patiently endured it : but 
Pitt seemed made to guide and to com- 
mand, even more than to persuade or to 
convince, the assembly tliat he addressed. 
In the flower of youth when he was 
placed at the head of administration, he 
manifested none of the characteristic vir- 
tues or defects usually accompanying 
that period of life. Charles the Twelfth, 
King of Sweden, could not have exhi- 
bited more coldness, indifference, or 
apathy towards women ; a point of his 
character, on which his enemies dwelt 
with malignant, though impotent, satis- 
faction ; while his friends laboured with 
equal pertinacity to repel the imputation. 
To him the opposition applied, as had 
been done to his father, the description 
given of a Roman youth : 

" Multa tulit, fecitque Puer; suJavit et alsit ; 
Abstinuit venere." ■ — 

In order to justify him from such a sup- 
posed blank in his formation, his adhe- 
rents whispered, that he was no more 
chaste than other men, though more de- 
corous in his pleasures ; and they as- 
serted, that he made frequent visits to a 
female of (hsiinguished charms, who re- 
sided on the other side of Westminster 
Bridge : but I never could learn from 
any of them, her name or abode. Pitt's 
apparent insensibility towards the ntiier 
sex, and his chastity, formed, indeed, 
one of the subjects on which the mino- 
rity exhausieil their wit, or rather, their 
malevolence ; as if it had been necessary 
that the first minister of George the 
Third, should be, like the chancellor of 
Charles the Second, " tlie gre;itpst liber- 
tine in his dominions." I recidlect, soon 
after Pitt became confirmed in power, 
his detaining the House of Commons 
from tlie business of the day, during a 
short time, while he went up to the 
House of Lords ; and as Mrs. Siddons 
was to perform the part of " Belvidera" 
that evening, when Fox never faileil, if 
possible, to attend, seated among th(^ 
musicians, in the orchestra at Drury 
39 



Lane, the opposition impatiently ex- 
pected Pitt's return in order to propose 
an adjournment. As soon as the door 
opened, and he made his appearance, 
one of them, a man of a classic mind, 
exclaimed, 

" Jam redit et Virgo /'* 

If, however, the minister viewed wo- 
men with indifference, he was no enemy 
to wine, nor to the social conviviality of 
the table. His constitution, in which a 
latent and hereditary gout early dis- 
played itself; which disorder, heighten- 
ed by political distress, domestic ami 
foreign, carried him off at forty-seven ; 
always demanded the aid and stimulus'of 
the grape. It was not therefore in him, 
so much a gratification or an indulgence, 
as a physical want, though he unques- 
tionably yielded to its seductions, with- 
out making any great effort at resistance ; 
resembling in this respect, a distinguish- 
ed consular character of antiquity, rela- 
tive to whose virtue Horace says, 

" Narratur et Prisci Catonis, 
Saepe Mero caluisse Virtus." 

In the autumn of 1784, he had, indeed, 
nearly fallen a victim to one of those 
festive meetings, at which no severe re- 
nunciations were enjoined by the host, 
or practised by the guests. Returning 
by way of frolic, very late at night, ora 
horseback to Wimbledon, from Addis- 
combe, the seat of Mr. Jenkinson, near 
Croydon, where the party had dined. 
Lord Thurlow, who was then chancellor, 
Pitt, and Dundas, found the Turnpike 
Gale situate between Tooting and Stieat- 
ham, thrown open. Beingelevated above 
their usual prudence, and having no ser- 
vant near them, they passed through the 
gate at a brisk pace, without stopping to 
pay the toll ; regardless of the remon- 
strances or threats of the keeper of the 
turnpike, who running after them, and 
believing them to belong to some high- 
waymen, who had recently committed 
depredations on that road, discharged 
the contents of his blunderbuss at their 
backs. Happily he did no injury. To 
this curious and narrow escape of the 
first minister, which furnished matter of 
pleasantry, though perhaps of rejoicing, 
to the oppogiiion, allusion is thus made 
in the " Rolliad :" 



458 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



" How as he wandered darkling o'er the plain, 
His reason drown'd in Jenkinson's cham- 
paign, 
A rustic's hand, but righteous fate withstood, 
Had shed a premier's, for a robber's blood. 

Probably, no men in high office, since 
Charles the Second's lime, drank harder 
than Pitt's companions; as, in addi- 
tion to the individuals already named, 
we should not omit the Duke of Rutland 
and Lord Gower, neither of whom pro- 
fessed or practised mortification. Once, 
and once only, the House of Commons 
witnessed a deviation from strict sobriety 
in the first minister and the treasurer of 
the navy ; who having come down after 
a repast, not of a Pythagorean descrip- 
tion, found themselves unable to manage 
the debate, or to reply to the arguments 
of the minority, with their accustomed 
ability. No illiberal notice or advan- 
tage was however taken of this solitary 
act of indiscretion. The house broke 
up, and it sunk into oblivion. Fox 
never subjected himself, either in, or 
out of office, to similar comments. He 
was always fresh ; but the treasury 
bench, under the coalition ministry, had 
not wanted some noble advocates of the 
House of Howard, for the quick circula- 
tion of the bottle. 

Pitt, at his coming into office, was 
soon surrounded by a chosen phalanx of 
young men, who participated in his 
triumph, pressed near him on a day of 
expected debate, and constituted the re- 
source of his leisure hours. Powis, 
when describing about this time, " the 
forces led by the right honorable gentle- 
man on the treasury bench," in his 
speech of the 9lh of March, 1784, only 
a few days previous to the dissolution 
of Parliament ; said, " The first may be 
called his body guard, composed of 
light young troops, who shoot their little 
arrows with amazing dexterity, against 
those who refuse to swear allegiance to 
their chief." High birth, personal 
devotion, and political connection, more 
than talents, formed the ordinary foun- 
dation of the minister's partiality for 
those distinguished individuals ; most of 
whom, with only one exception, we have 
since seen elevated to the peerage, or 
loaded with preferments and sinecure 
appointments. In general, the Duke de 
Montausier's observation to Louis the 



Fourteenth, when speaking of Versaillea, 
" VoKS avez beau /aire, sire, vous rVen 
ferez jamais qu unfavori sans merite,^^ 
might well apply to them. With Fox's 
associates and comrades. Hare, Fitz- 
patrick, and Sheridan, they could sus- 
tain no competition for mental endow- 
ments. Lord Grenville, then Mr. Wil- 
liam Grenville, must not however be 
included in this remark. His near 
connection with the first minister, by 
cousanguinity, when added to his distin- 
guished abilities, placed him on far 
higher ground. As little will the obser- 
vation apply to Lord Mornington, since 
created Marquis Wellesley ; to the pre- 
sent Earl of Harrowby, then Mr. Ry- 
der ; or to Wilberforce : all three, men 
of undisputed talents. 

In suavity of temper, magnanimity of 
disposition, and oblivion of injury or 
ofi"ence. Fox rose superior to Pitt. 
Even Dundas possessed far more libe- 
rality of character, as he manifested on 
many occasions. I have heard Fox, 
after dealing out the severest insinuations 
or accusations against Lord North, when 
that nobleman was at the head of the 
treasury, towards the end of the Ameri- 
can war ; on being convinced that he had 
exceeded the fair limits of parliamentary 
attack, or had deviated into personal 
abuse, explain, retract, and apologise for 
his violence or indecorum. Mr. Pitt, 
though he rarely committed such a 
breach of propriety, and was more mea- 
sured in his censure or condemnation, 
seldom, if ever, made concession. He 
even tried, at an early period of his mi- 
nisterial career, to overbear Sheridan, hy 
making sarcastic allusion to the theatrical 
employments or dramatis avocations of 
that eminent member, as forming a more 
appropriate object of his attention, than 
parliamentary declamation and pursuits; 
— allusions, which, however classic the 
language in which they were couched, 
miiihl be justly deemed illiberal in their 
nature. But Sheridan, "wiili admirable 
presence of mind, turned against him his 
own weapons ; leaving behind him the 
impression of his genius, drawn from 
the very key on which Pitt had pressed, 
when he applied to the first minister the 
denomination of the " Angry Boy," 
with which Ben Jonson furnished him 
on the instant. 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



459 



In classic knowledge and acqnire- 
ments of every kind, as drawn from 
Greek and Roman soiiroes, Put and Fox 
might fairly dispute for pre-eminence ; 
but the latter left his rival far behind, 
in all the variety of elegant information 
derived from modern history, poetry, 
and foreign languages. We ought 
not, indeed, to be surprised at this supe- 
riority, if we recollect that Fox was 
above ten years older tlian Pitt, liiat he 
nourished a much stronger natural attach- 
ment to polite letters, and enjoyed infi- 
nitely more leisure for its indulgence. 
Pitt, as far as my means of information ! 
ever enabled me to form a judgment, pos- 
sessed comparatively small general ac- 
quaintance with those anthors, which 
furnish the libraries of men of taste and 
science. How, indeed, we may ask, 
should he ever have attained it ? Several 
months before he completed his twenty- 
second year, he found himself, with a 
very slender fortune, placed in the House 
of Commons, which situation opened to 
his aspiring anil ambitious mind, the 
most brilliant prospects of elevation. 
From that period, if we except the pro- 
rogation of 1781 ; — for in 1782, he was 
chancellor of the exchequer, and in 1783, 
he visited the continent; — what portion 
of time could he devote to literary pur- 
suits or accomplishments ? Near seven 
years later than the period of which I 
speak, in the autumn of the year 1790, 
when it was expected that a rupture 
would have taken place, between the 
crowns of Great Britain and Spain, re- 
specting the affair of Nootka Sound ; be- 
ing alone with him in Downing-street, 
and conversing on the subject of the 
Spanish possessions lying "along the 
shore of the Pacific Ocean, he owned to 
me that he not only never had read, but, 
he assured me, he never had heard of 
Commodore Byron's Narrative of his 
Shipwreck in the '' Wager," on the 
coast of Patagonia : — A book to be 
found in every Circulating Library. But, 
on the other hand, the rapidity and faci- 
lity with which he acquired, digested, 
and converted to purposes of utility, his 
knowledge, was altogether wonderful. 
With the French language he was gram- 
matically conversant ; but, at twenty-tive 
he spoke it imperfectly, and wrote in it 
without freedom or facility, though he 



subsequently improved in these particu- 
lars. I repeat it, as a secretary of state 
for the foreign department, he could have 
sustained no competition with Fox, in 
all the branches of solid, or of ornamental 
attainment, that qualify for such a situa- 
tion. 

It is not easy to decide relative to their 
respective superiority in eloquence. 
Fox's oratory was more impassioned ; 
Pitt's could boast greater correctness of 
diction. The former exhibited, while 
speaking, all the tribunitian rage ; the^ 
latter displayed the consular dignity. 
But it must not be forgotten that the 
one commonly attacked, vvliile the other 
generally defended ; and it is more easy 
to impugn or to censure, than to justify 
measures of state. Had they changed 
positions in the house, the character 
of their speeches would doubtless have 
taken a tinge, though it would not have 
been radically altered, by sucli a varia- 
ti()n in their political destiny. From 
Fox's finest specimens of oratory, much, 
as it appeared to me, might generally 
have been taken away, without injuring 
the eflfecl, or maiming the conclusion. 
To Pitt's speeches nothing seemed 
wanting, yet was there no redundancy. 
He seemed, as by intuition, to hit the 
precise point, where having attained his 
object, as far as eloquence could efTecl 
it, he sat down. This distinctive and 
opposite characteristic of the two men, 
arose, partly at least, from an opinion or 
principle which Fox had adopted. He 
assumed, thai one-third of his audience 
was always either absent, or at dinner, 
or asleep; and he therefore usually made 
a short resumption or epitome of his 
arguments, f(»r the benefit of this part of 
the members. So that, after speaking 
at great length, and sometimes apparently 
summing up, as if about to conclude; 
whenever he saw a considerable influx 
of attendance, he began anew : regard- 
less of the impatience manifested on the 
part of those whose attention was already 
exhausted bv long exertion. Pitt never 
condescended to avail himself of such a 
practice; neither lengthening his speeches 
nor abbreviating them, from any con- 
siderations except the necessity of fully 
developing his ideas. Indeed, so well 
was the relative proportion of time gene- 
rally taken up by the two speakers, on 



460 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



great occasions, known to tlie old mem- 
bers, that they calculated whenever Fox 
was three hours on his legs, Pitt replied 
witliin two. In all the corporeal part of 
oratory, he observed, likewise, more 
moderation and measure than Fox ; who 
on great occasions, seemed, like the 
Pythian priestess, " to labour with ih' 
inspiring God," and to dissolve in floods 
of perspiration. The minister, ii is true, 
became sometimes warmed with his sub- 
ject, and had occasionally recourse to 
his handkerchief; but rather in order to 
take breath, or to recall his thoughts, by 
a momeniaiy pause, than from physical 
agitation. 

A vital defect in Pitt's composition as 
a man, must be esteemed his want of 
economy ; it was hereditary, constitu- 
tional, and remained insurmountable 
down to the close of his life. The great 
Earl of Chatham, his father, had to con- 
tend with the same characteristic defi- 
ciency ; and never understood, as Lord 
Holland had done, the art of accumula- 
ting a fortune. But the first Mr. Pitt, 
besides the lucrative sinecure of the 
privy seal, which he held during several 
years, enjoyed the estate of Burton Pyn- 
sent in the county of Somerset, be- 
queathed to him by Sir William Pyn- 
sent, together with a pension of three 
thousand pounds a year, bestowed on 
him by the crown. None of these pos- 
sessions, however, descended to his 
second son, whose wiiole patrimonial 
inheritance amounted, I believe, only to 
five thousand pounds ; and it never re- 
ceived any ostensible augmentation, ex- 
cept a legacy of three thousand pounds, 
bequeathed him in October, 1787, by 
the Duke of Rutland. We may, there- 
fore, be enabled, with these data, to form 
some idea of the elevation of Pitt's mind, 
his contempt of money, and his disregard 
of every selfish or interested object ; 
when, on Sir Edward Walpole's decease, 
in January, 1784, he disdained to take 
the clerkship of the pells in the exche- 
quer, ihough, as the head of that depart- 
ment, he might have conferred it on 
himself; though Lord Thurlow pressed 
him not to reject such a fair occasion of 
rendering himself independent, and 
though every man in the kingdom must 
have approved the act, on an impartial 
survey of his situation. For he might 



not have retained his official employ- 
ments during a single week. Perhaps 
it is to be regretted that he should have 
made such a sacrifice of private interest 
to glory ; but it operated throughout his 
whole life, and even beyond the grave, 
by its elTect on parliament and on the 
nation. Antiquity cannot exhibit any 
more shining instance of disinterested- 
ness, either drawn from Theban and 
Athenian story, or from the consular 
ages of Rome. Juvenal's observation 
on human nature. 



" Quis enim virtHtem amplectitur ipsam, 
Praemia si tollasl" 



did not seem to apply to Pitt. Possibly, 
however, on a deep estimate, he found 
even his pecuniary recompense in this 
noble act of renunciation. The House 
of Commons would hardly have bestow- 
ed the posthumous marks of solid admi- 
ration and respect, which they voted in 
1806, on any minister who had enjoyed 
during two and twenty years a sinecure 
place of three thousand pounds per an- 
num, in addition to his official emolu- 
ments. 

The salaries and other advantages an- 
nexed to the place of first lord of the 
treasury and chancellor of the exche- 
quer, even though unaided by any pri- 
vate fortune, yet undoubtedly, with pru- 
dent management, might have been 
found adequate to Pitt's annual expendi- 
ture. But when unsupported by eco- 
nomy, they proved wholly insufllicient 
for the purpose. When he was ap- 
pointed first minister, hisyoungesi sister, 
Lady Harriet Pitt, resided with him, 
and superintended his establishment in 
Downing-street. She possessed, in ad- 
dition to other eminent intelleciual en- 
dovvnients, that quality which her father 
and brother wanted ; and so long as she 
personally controlled his domestic afl^airs, 
I have been assured that they were re- 
strained within very reasonable limits. 
Unfortunately for him, in September, 
1785, within two years after he came 
into power, Lady Harriet gave her hand 
to Mr. Elliot, who became Lord Elliot, 
on his father's demise ; and subsequent 
to her marriage, Pitt's pecuniary con- 
cerns fell into the utmost disorder. 
Debts accumulated ; and it was com- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



461 



tnonl}' asserted, tliat llio collectors of the 
taxes found more ditliculiv in levying 
them from the chancellor of the exche- 
quer, than from almost any other inha- 
bitant of Westminster. Even trades- 
men's bills, particularly those of coach- 
makers, were said to be frequently paid, 
not in money, but by ordering new arti- 
cles, and thus augmenting the pressure 
of the evil itself. 

It was not till 1792, on the Earl of 
Guildford's decease (better known to us 
as Lord North), that iMr. Dundas having 
learnt the intelligence, and knowing his 
friend's disinterestedness, hurried to St. 
James's, went into the closet, and asked 
of his majesty, the place of lord warden 
of Cinque Ports, for Pitt ; which office 
the king immediately conferred on him, 
though ilBhad been previously intended 
by the sovereign, as I know, for the late 
Duke of Dorset. Such was the superi- 
ority of the first minister's mind, to every 
object of personal emolument or acqui- 
sition, that he disdained to ask any in- 
dividual reward, even from the prince 
whom he had so long and so efficaci- 
ously served. For my knowledge of 



on the circumstances here enumerated, 
we may regret, but we cannot wonder, 
that after holding the reins of govern- 
ment almost his whole life, and confer- 
ring so many dignities, as well as offices, 
during a period, taken altogether, of near 
nineteen years, he should ultimately die 
not only poor, but oppressed under a 
burtlien of debt. Yet must we distin- 
guish between a sort of virtuous, or at 
least, venial poverty, if I may so express 
myself, caused by want of economy, iu 
a man who devoted his exertions to the 
public service ; and Fox's similar wants, 
produced by a rage for play, which not 
only reduced him from affluence to a 
state of dereliction, but finally compelled 
him to accept an eleemosynary contribu- 
tion from his political and personal 
friends, in order to furnish him with the 
means of subsistence. It is unnecessary 
to contrast the two positions or charac- 
ters, which undoubtedly excite in our 
minds very opposite sensations, and 
awaken widely (lifTerenl degrees of mo- 
ral censure or disapprobation. 

Pitt's great superiority over his antago- 
nist, and his consequent ministerial suc- 



this curious and interesting fact, I am cess, flowed principally from two causes, 
indebted to the Right Honorable William The first was, his admirable judgment. 
Dundas, nephew to ihe late Lord Mel- That intelligence restrained his parlia- 



ville, whose authority on such a point, I 
presume, is superior to all contradiction. 
The salary, which in Mr. Pitt's person 
was rendered nominally three thousand 
five hundred pounds a year might have 
formed a very handsome addition to his 
official income; but the necessary de- 
ductions of many kinds to be made from 
that sum ; the expenses which he innir- 
red in altering or embellishing VValmer 
Castle ; and more than both these 
sources of expenditure, his facility or 
liberality in granting small pensions to 
invalided or aged artificers, of various 
denominations, belonging to the Cinque 
Ports ; so many combined causes re- 
duced the real receipt below half its 
ostensible amount. Yet when he went 
out of offlce in 1801, loaded with debts, 
he possessed no other independent means 
of subsistence. It is indeed true, that as 
early as 1790, he had been elected master 
of the Trinity House ; but I have always 
considered that appointment, though 
highly honorable, as unproductive of any 
pecuniary emolument. When we reflect 
39* 



mentary exertions during the American 
war, and induced hiin, while heaping ac- 
cusations on the ministers, to spare the 
king. I know that he received a hint, 
soon after he began to speak in the 
House of Commons, warning him to 
avoid that rock on which Fox had split, 
and to be cautious how he mentioned, or 
alluded with severity, to tiie royal name. 
He did not despise the advice. The 
same superior intelligence impelled him, 
when Lord North was driven from 
power, to refuse office under an adminis- 
tration, which, he foresaw, from its com- 
ponent materials, could only be of short 
duration. It dictated to him, to lake the 
chancellorship of the exchequer under 
Lord Shelburne ; but it equally suggest- 
ed to him, the impracticability of retain- 
ing the situation of first rainisier, when 
pressed by his majesty in March, 1783, 
to assume tliat high office, after the Earl 
of Shelburne's resignation. In renoun- 
cing a situation so flattering to his pride 
and his ambition, though it lay coiujdele- 
ly within his grasp, he exhibited, when 



462 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



not twenly-four, the deepest and calmest 
discernment : for if he had yielded to his 
own inclinations and ihe wishes of the 
sovereign, it seems certain that he could 
not liave mainlained himself in power 
against Fox and Lord North ; who had 
not then committed any other act calcu- 
lated to excite the public condemnation, 
except the mere approximation of their 
respective parliamentary adherents, fol- 
lowed by their own political union. 

Piit, with consummate judgment, wait- 
ed till the coalition had brought forward 
the " East India Bill," and could no lon- 
ger recede, in order to profit of their in- 
discretion. He accepted in December, 
the two employments, which, nine months 
earlier, he had wisely declined ; ex- 
hibiting, on both occasions, equal ability : 
but he never associated Lord Shelburne 
to his power, nor allowed him a place 
in the cabinet. His whole conduct, 
while struggling against Fox's majority 
in the House of Commons, during suc- 
cessive months, which I witnessed, form- 
ed the triumph of paramount capacity 
over imprudent ambition and rapacious 
precipitation. If we were to pursue the 
comparison lower down in Pitt's life, we 
should trace the same effects resullintr 
from similar causes, during the critical 
conflict which look place between iiim 
and Fox, in the winter of 1788 ; when 
the latter, instead of advising the heir 
apparent to accept the regency under any 
conditions, however apparently severe, 
on whi<rh parliament might think proper 
to confer it during the uncertain nature 
of the king's malady, laid claim lo it for 
his royal highness, as a matter of right. 
The minister instantly perceived, and , 
fastened, like an eagle, on his adversary's 
error ; vvhich, by producing delay, hap- 
pily allowed time for his majesty's re- 
covery, and of course perpetuated tlie 
duration of Pitt's power. But this part 
of his ministerial conduct, belongs to an- 
other period of the " Memoirs of My Own 
Time." 

The second point that gave him an 
ascendant over Fox, arose from the cor- 
rectness of his deportment, and regularity 
of his private life. This circumstance, 
which, under Charles the Second, 
would have counted for little in the scale, 
operated with decisive effect in his fa- 
Tour, under a prince such as George the 



Third. Nor did it produce less bene- 
ficial results among the people at large. 
Some internal guaranty, drawn from 
moral character, high integrity, and in- 
disputable rectitude of intention, seemed 
indeed necessary, in order to justify to 
the nation, tlie choice of the sovereign, 
when entrusting to a young man, desti- 
tute of properly, the finances and con- 
cerns of an empire, reduced by a long 
and disastrous war, to a state of great 
depression. Pitt possessed in fact no 
other slake to deposit, as a security for 
his good conduct, unless we take into 
our calculation, his possible reversion of 
the Earldom of Chatham. He had like- 
wise to contend, like Epaminondas in 
antiquity, with another deficiency. Dur- 
ing the whole course of the eighteenth 
century, and I believe I maysay, since 
the accession of Elizabeth, he is the only 
English first minister who lived and 
died in a state of celibacy. He was not 
therefore attached lo the commonwealth 
by tliose endearing ties, which hlend the 
statesman with the husband and the 
father ; thus giving a species of com- 
pound pledge for exemplary conduct, to 
the country. Henry Pelham, who pre- 
sided over the councils of Great Britain 
during ten years, under George the Se« 
cond, was, it is true, like Pitt, only a 
younger son of a noble house ; but his 
brother, the Duke of Newcastle, might 
be justly considered as one of the great- 
est subjects in fortune, as well as in 
rank, to be found within the kingdom. 
Mr. Pelham, who married a daughter of 
the Duke of Rutland, had likewise by 
her a numerous family, and possessed 
in his own persot\, considerable landed 
properly. 

Even Fox, though he remained long 
unmarried, yet finally entered into that 
state ; and he aspired lo have done it 
much earlier in life, if his efforts for the 
purpose had not proved unsuccessful. 
During the early pari of Hastings's trial, 
in 1787, he raised his eyes and hopes to 
the Duke of Newcastle's box in West- 
minster Hall, where usually sat Miss 
Pulteney, afterwards created by Pitt, 
Countess of Bath in her own right ; then 
justly esteemed one of the richest heir- 
esses in the kingdom. After exhibiting 
his great powers of oratory, as a publie 
man, in the manager's box below, he 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



403 



someliines ascended in his private capi'.- 
city, to try the effect of his eloquence 
under tlie cliaracter of a lover. All his 
friends aided a cause, which, hy render- 
ing their i-liief independent in his fortune, 
would have healed the pecuniary wounds 
inflicted hy his early indiscretion. Ge- 
neral Filzpnlrick, with friendly solicitude, j 
usually kept a place for him, near the ' 
lady ; and for some time, the courtsiiip 
assumed so auspicious an appearance, 
that I remember, Hare, when speculating 
on the probable iss\ie of the marriage, 
said, with admirable humour, that " they 
would inevitabl}^ be duns, with black 
manes and tails:" alluding to the lady's 
fair complexion and red hair, contrasted 
with Fox's dark hue. The affair never- 
theless terminated, from whatever cause, 
without success. Pitt, ihougli, at different 
periods of his life, he distinguished cer- 
tain ladies, some of whom I could name, 
by marks of great predilection ; and in 
one instance seemed even to meditate 
marriage, yet never persisted in the at- 
tempt : but his name, descent, abilities, 
and private character, surmounted every 
impediment to his elevation. Fox could 
no more have been placed at the head of 
the treasury, than Dean Swift could have 
been made Archbishop of Canterbury ; 
or than Lord Bolingbroke, under Queen 
Anne, or the Duke of Wharton, under 
George the First, could have filled the 
office of first minister. He wanted, like 
them, an essential quality. I will not 
say, high moral character ; — for, I. be- 
lieve, his honour, integrity, and probity, 
were above all impeachment or reproach ; 
but correct moral deportment. Of this 
deficiency he was, himself, sensible, and 
was said to have once expressed his 
conviction of it, in laconic, but forcible 
terms. 1 resume the progress of events. 
While Pitt unquesiionably anticipated 
the probable necessity for his ultimately 
recurring to the measure of calling toge- 
ther a new House of Commons; he by 
no means disdained to avail himself of 
all the means and modes that could be 
suggested, for diminishing, and if possi- 
ble, annihilating the majority, to which 
Fox owed ills actual consequence. Every 
effort was exerted by himself, and by 
his friends, in order to accomplish that 
point. The recess, limited to little more 
than a fortnight, allowed him only a very 



short siiace for exertion ; and the num- 
bers which had hitherto supported the 
coalition, during the progress of the 
" East India Bill" through the house, in 
every stage generally amounted to double, 
or almost double the votes on the oppo- 
site side. Two hundred and seventeen 
members had voted for its commitment ; 
a great proportion in an assembly, then 
composed only of five hundred and fifty- 
eight persons. To reduce such a supe- 
riority, first to sometiiing approaching 
an equality, and finally to a minority, 
might well seem a hopeless undertaking ; 
even admitting all the venality, want of 
principle, or tergiversation, with which 
that assembly has been so often reproach- 
ed. Much more success was, however, 
expected from applications addressed to 
the part of the coalition which might be 
considered as holding to Lord North ; 
than from the adherents of the Rocking- 
ham party, or among the personal sup- 
porters and friends of Fox. Many of 
Lord North's political connexions, who 
had in fact voted with him on the India 
Bill, under a conviction of the measure 
itself having obtained the consent of the 
crown ; were naturally disposed to with- 
draw their support, if not to tranfer their 
services, on the discovery of their mis- 
take. There existed only three ways 
by which Fox's majority might be re- 
duced. In consequence of the attend- 
ance of new members, who had not 
hitherto taken any part. By the future 
non-attendance of those, who had sup- 
ported the coalition up to the present 
time ; and lastly, by desertion from the 
enemy's ranks, over to those of the new 
administration. The latter votes, as 
counting double, of course became most 
sought after and valued. 

A separation had, indeed, already 
taken place among Lord North's imme- 
diate personal followers. Of the two 
former secretaries of the treasury. Sir 
Grey Cooper continued to support him 
invariably : but Robinson, conceiving 
himself absolved from any obligation to 
accompany his ancient principal, through 
all the consequences of liis new political 
alliances, quitted altogether thai party. 
No man in the House of (Commons, as 1 
have had occasion to remark, knew so 
much of its original composiii^n ; the 
means by which every individual at- 



464 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



tained his seat; and in many instances, 
how far, and lliroiigh what channels, he 
might prove accessible. Though Mr. 
Pitt made the fifili first minister, whom 
that parliament had beheld in the short 
space of little more than twenty-one 
months ; yet the individual members 
composing the lower house, had under- 
gone only a very trifling variation since 
the general election. Recourse was. 
therefore had to Robinson, under the 
present delicate and arduous circum- 
stances of public afll'airs, in order to ob- 
tain his active exertions for government. 
He qomplied with the application, and 
unquestionably rendered very essential 
service. I have always considered the j 



under the last princess of the Stuart line, 
at a lime that parliaments were not 
septennial, but only triennial ; we may 
be quite assured, that thej' did not be- 
come more virtuous after the accession 
of ihe reigning family, when the House 
of Commons was elected for seven years. 
Proofs of the venality practised by 
Sir Robert Walpole, during the whole 
courseof his long administration, ii seems 
unnecessary to produce, as that minister 
did not disclaim or resent the imputation. 
Nor did his political adversaries disdain, 
whatever professions of public virtue 
they might make, to have recourse to 
the same unworthy expedients, in order 
to effect his removal. We have the 



Earldom of Abergavenny, as ttie remiine- authority of a member of their own body, 



ration given by tfie crown, for that as 
sistance, though I by no means assert it 
as a fact. Robinson's only daughter 
and child had been married some years 
before, to the Honorable Henry Neville, 
eldest son of Lord Abergavenny ; who 
was placed at the head of the list of e«?-/s, 
created by Pitt, on the 11th of May, 
1784, not five months after the facts took 
place, under our discussion, 



forthefact. " Don Car/os" (Frederick, 
Prince of Wales), says Mr. Glover in 
his " Memoirs," recently [)ublished, 
" told me, that it cost him twelve thou- 
sand pounds in corruption, particularly 
among the tories, to carry ihe West- 
minster and Chippenham elections in 
1742, and other points, which compelled 
Lord Orford, at that time Sir Robert 
Walpole, to quit the House of Corn- 



While I am engaged on the subject of I mons." It is difficult to adduce more 



the House of Commons, and of the 
influence or corruption by which it has 
been always managed, particularly dur- 
ing the last, and a part of ihe present 
reign ; I shall relate some curious par- 
ticulars, which cannot perhaps be intro- 
duced with more propriety than in this 
place. We may see in the " Memoirs 
of Prince Eugene of Savoy" (which 
work, though composed under its present 
form, by the lale Prince of Ligne, with 
whom I was well acquainted at Vienna, 
is founded on original papers or docu- 
ments) ; wliat influence he attributes to 
the " presents of Champagne and Bur- 
gundy," made by Marshal Tallard, then 
a prisoner of war in England, to " Right 
Honorable Members of Parliament." 
Nay, the prince asserts positively, that 
in the same year, 1711, when he came 
over in person to London, with the 
avowed object of retaining, if po-^sible, 
dueen Anne and her ministers, in the 
grand alliance against France ; he had 
recourse, linnself, to corruption. " Je 
Jis des preiens,''^ says he, " car, on pent 
acheter beaucoup en Jlngleterre " If 
such constituted the ordinary practice 



satisfactory and unimpeachable proof of 
any fact, as Glover was a man of strict 
veracity. Neither was Mr. Pelham, 
who, after a short interval succeeded Sir 
Robert, and held his situation near 
eleven years ; though he maybe justly 
esteemed one of the most upright states- 
nien who presided in the councils of 
George the Second ; less liable to the 
accusation of corrupting parliament, 
than was his predecessor. 

A friend of mine, a man of rank and 
high character, whom 1 do not name, 
because, beinir still alive, I consider 
myself not at liberty to divulge it ; but 
whose name would at once stamp the 
veracity and authenticity of whatever 
he relates ; has freqiienily assured me, 
that about the year 1767, he was per- 
sonally acquainted with Roberts, who 
had been secretary of the treasury 
under Mr. Pelham : but who was then 
old, infirm, and near his end. He lies 
buried in Westminster Abbey, in Foetus 
Corner, where his epitaph describes 
him, as " The most Faithful Secretary 
of the Right Honorable Henry Pelham." 
This gentleman conversing: with Roberts, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



465 



upon the events of those times when he 
held a place under administraiion, and 
partifularly on the manner in which the 
House of Commons was then managed; 
Roberts avowed without reserve, thai 
while he remained at the treasury, 
there were a numher of memhers who 
regularly received from him their pay- 
ment or stipend, at the end of every 
session in bank notes. The sums, 
which varied according to the merits, 
ability, and attendance of the respective 
individuals, amounted usually from five 
hundred pounds, to eight hundred pounds 
per annum. "This largess 1 distributed," 
added Roberts, " in the Court of Re- 
quests, on the day of the prorogation of 
Parliament. I took my stand there ; and 
as the genilemen passed me, in going to, 
or returning from the house, I conveyed 
the money, in a squeeze of the hand. 
Whatever person received the ministerial 
bounty in the manner thus related, I 
entered his name in a book, which was 
preserved in the deepest secrecy ; it 
being never inspected by any human 
being, exci pt the king and Mr. Pelham. 
On the decease of that minister in M^i, 
his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. 
Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, and others 
of the cabinet, who succeeded to power ; 
anxious to obtain an accurate knowledge 
of the private state of the House of 
Commons, and particularly to ascertain 
the nanies of all the individuals who 
received money during Mr. Pelham's 
life, applied to me for information. 
They further demanded of me to sur- 
render the hook, in which, as they 
knew, 1 was accustomed to enter the 
above particulars. Conceiving a com- 
pliance to be dishonorable, I perempto- 
rily refused to deliver it up, except by 
the king's express command, and to his 
majesty in person. In consequence of 
my refusal, they acquainted the king 
with the circumstance, who sent for me 
to St. James's, where I was introduced 
into the closet ; more than one of the 
above-mentioned ministers being pre- 
sent. George the Second ordered me 
to return him the book in question, 
with which injunction I immediately 
complied. At the same time taking the 
poker in his hand, he put it into the fire, 
made it red hot, and then, while we 
Stood round him, he thrust the book 



into the flames, where it was imme- 
diately reduced to ashes. He considered 
it in fact, as too sacred and confidential 
a register, to be thus transferred over to 
the new mit)isters, and as having be- 
come extinct with the admiuisiraiion of 
Mr. Pelham." 

It is unquestionable that the Duke of 
Newcastle, ibouffh he failed in i^etting 
possession of his brother's secret infor- 
mation, in consequence n( RoberTs firm- 
ness ; yet pursued the same mode of 
management, on becoming himself, first 
lord of the treasury. Under Lortl Bute's 
government, when, from a variety of 
causes, a violent opposition in Parlia- 
ment arose, which required the whole 
power of ministry to stem, similar prac- 
tices were carried to a greater length. 
J(din Ross Mackay, who had been pri- 
vate secretary to the Earl of Bute, and 
afterwards, during seventeen years, was 
treasurer of the ordnance ; a man with 
whom I was personally acquainted ; 
frequently avowed the fact. He lived to 
a very advanced age, sal in several Par- 
liaments, and only died, I believe, in 
1796. A gentleman of high professional 
rank, and of unimpeached veracity, who 
is still alive, told me, that dining at the 
late Earl of Besborough's in Cavendish 
Square, in the year 1790, where only 
four persons were present, including 
himself; Ross Mackay, who was one of 
the number, gave them the most ample 
information upon this subje(!t. Lord 
Besborough having called after dinner, 
for a bottle of excellent champagne, a 
wine to which Mackay was partial ; and 
the conversation accidentally turning on 
the means of governing the House of 
Commons, Mackay said that " Money 
formed after all, the only effectual and 
certain method." " The peace of 1763," 
continued he, " was carried through and 
approved by a pecuniary distribution. 
Nothing else could have surmounted the 
difficulty. I was, myself, the channel 
through which the money passed. With 
my own hand I secured above one hun- 
dred and twentj' votes, on that most im- 
portant question to ministers. Eighty 
thousand pounds were set apart for the 
purpose. Forty members of the House 
of Commons received from me a thou- 
sand pounds each. To eighty others, I 
paid five hundred pounds a-piece." 



466 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Mackay afterwards confirmed more than 
once, this fact, to the genlleman above- 
mentioned, who related it to me. He 
added that Lord Besboroiigh appeared, 
himself, so sensible of the imprudence, 
as well as impropriety of tlie avowal 
make by Mackay, at his table : that his 
lordship sent to him, and to the fourth 
person who had been present on the oc- 
casion (the late Reverend Mr. Duiens), 
next morning, to entreat of them, on no 
account to divulge it during Mackay's 
life. What attestation so strong of the 
truth of this anecdote can be produced, 
as the testimony of the late Bishop of 
Llandafi"! He expressly informs us, in 
the " Anecdotes" of his life, just pub- 
lished, that the Earl of Shelburne, then 
first minister, assured him on the 17th of 
February, 1783, that " he," Lord Shel- 
burne, " well knew, that above sixty 
thousand pounds had been expended 
(among the members of the House of 
Commons), in procuring an approbation 
of the peace of 1763." 

Wilkes was, however, perfectly well 
instructed on the subject, and made no 
secret of his information, even at the 
time when the treaty of Fontainbleau 
was a recent transaction. In his memo- 
rable letter addressed from " Paris, 22d 
October, 1764," to the Electors of 
Aylesbury, he says, " I will not compli- 
ment the present profligate majority in 
the House of Commons, so far as to say, 
they were so well informed, that they 
knew the exact truth of every assertion 
in the ' North Briton,' No 45. One 
particular, however, came within their 
knowledge ; the means by which it is 
hinted that the entire approbation of 
Parliament, even of the preliminary 
articles of the late inglorious peace, was 
obtained ; and the previous step to the 
obtaining that entire approbation, the 
large debt contracted on the civil list. 
They knew this assertion was extremely 
true, and I am as ready to own that it 
was extremely scandalous.^' It is im- 
possible to convey a charge of such a 
nature, in less equivocal or anibiguous 
language. 

Relative to the three successive ad- 
ministrations, after Lord Bute's seces- 
sion from power; namely, that of 
George Grenville, of the Marquis of 
Rockingham, and of the Duke of Graf- 



ton, which comprised, the whole period 
of time between April, 1763, and Janu- 
ary, 1770, I can state nothing from my 
own personal knowledge. Bradshaw 
conducted that department, as is well 
known, under the Duke of Graflon. 
The same system certainly continued to 
be acted on during the period of the 
American war, when Robinson, and 
under him, Brummell, were its agents. 
I remember, Mr. Whilbread, with whom 
I was well acquainted, one of the most 
upright, honest, and benevolent men who 
ever sate in Parliament, at that time 
member for Bedford; rising in his place, 
on the 19th of March, 1782, staled to 
I the house, that during Lord North's ad- 
I ministration, many millions had been 
lost to the nation, by exorbitant con- 
tracts, and wasteful bargains. " Some 
of the former," added he, " are so lucra- 
tive, that even though thousands of 
pounds might be given for them, yet 
they would produce a large profit. I do 
not charge the noble lord at the head of 
the trea'^nry, with ever receiving one 
penny of such money. I believe he 
never did : but, the individuals who 
transacted those matters at the trea- 
sury, are well known. Nor is it any 
secret, to whom the contracts in ques- 
tion are given, by favour or preference. 
That all the business of the treasury, 
admiralty, navy, victualling, and ord- 
nance, is conducted on the same cor- 
rupt principles, is a fact beyond dis- 
pute." Lord North was not present 
when Mr. Whilbread spake ; but no de- 
nial of these allegations was made or at- 
tempted by an)'^ of his friends. 

Burke on the following day ; — a day 
memorable in the reign of George the 
Third, as on it Lord North laid down 
his power; — observed in the metapho- 
rical and elevated style familiar to him, 
" We have witnessed, Mr. Speaker, for 
numerous years, the system of corrup- 
tion advancing. We have beheld it with 
melancholy and depression. For, from 
the prodigious power of that corruption, 
from the towers and battlements with 
which it was fortified, we nourished no 
hopes of being able to overthrow it. We 
remained therefore, from our dejection, 
inactive. Despair rendered us submis- 
sive. This torpor gave to the enemy 
additional force. It even gave them an 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



467 



appearance of stability, by which delu- 
sive advantage, weak men were seduced 
to join tliem, and wicked men became 
" confirmed in tiieir adherence." tSuch 
was the lanirua(:e held at that lime, within 



that period, made no scruple of advanc- 
ing similar charges, without circumlocu- 
tion or delicacy. Sir George Savile, on 
the I'iihof June, in the same year, 1781, 
exceeded in severity, or rather in aspe- 



the walls ot the House of Commons. I [ rity, anything that I witnessed ; and he 



incline nevertheless strongly to iloubt 
whether, towards the terminalion ol Lord 
North's ministry, these practices subsist- 
ed in all their force ; by which 1 mean 
lo say, that I question whether any in- 
divulual member of the house, was paid 
for his vote and support in bank notes; 
as it would appear had been done under 
Waljjole, Pelham, and most, if not all 
their successors, down to that lime. 
More refinement had insensibly been in- 
troduced into the distribution of pecuni- 
ary gratifications ; which were conveyed 
in oblique shapes, such as lottery tickets, 



did it with perfect impunity. After 
branding the loan recently negotiated, 
with tlie epithets of venal, corrupt, and 
disgraceful, he added, that "such a mea- 
sure constituted an act of plinidei' and 
robbery committed on the nation, in order 
to bribe ivith the spoil those members of 
the house, who persisted in a conspiracy 
for the destruction of their country. The 
minister might just as well say in plain 
terms lo his followers, I know that you 
disapprove this ruinous and accursed war 
with America : but as it is indispensable 
to prosecute it, for the preservation of 



scrip, jobs, contracts, and other benefi- i my employment, provided you consent 
cial forms, by whii;h the majority was { lo raise thirteen millions on your con- 



kept together, for near seven years, in 
defiance of a most unibrtunale, if not an 
ill conducted war. 

Sawbridge, who without the learning 
or the talents of Algernon Sydney, pos- 
sessed as republican a spirit as that illus- 
trious and utifortunate individual, put a 
case hypoiheiically, in the course of one 
of his speeches, which the house perfect- 
ly understood. I was present on the 
occasion, which happened in March, 
1781, under Lord JNorih's administra- 
tion, during the discussion of the loan 
negotiated in that session. Sawbridge's 
words were nearly these : " Perhaps, 
Mr. Speaker, it may chance at some 
future period, — for, the age is too vir- 
tuous to admit its possibility in these 
days; — that a meniber of Parliament 
may retire behind the Speaker's chair 
wiih the first lord of the treasury, and 
engage to support him on all questions, 
provuled he (the meml)er), shall be al- 
lowed lo subscribe for ten thousand pounds 
of the present loan." liOrd North, when 
Sawbridge sat down, instanily rose, in 
order to answer and to deny, or to refute 
other passages of his speech : but to the 
allusion above cited, he made no reply, 
nor aitempted to rebut such an impiiia- 
tion ; probably because he knevv ihat 
Sawbridge, if contradicted, could name 
his man. Neither was he called to order 
for it. Indeed, Fox, Burke, George 
Byng, and others of the opposition of 



stiluenls, 1 will allow you to share one 
million of the money among yourselves, 
who are my accomplices.^'' Not a word 
was said from the treasury bench, nor 
any indignation expressed also unquali- 
fied an accusation. 

Fox observed no measures, when de- 
claiming against the asserted corruption 
of Parliament. " The minister," ex- 
claimed he, " well aware, that he must 
die with the present war, has encoun- 
tered shame and embraced it, in order to 
produce its continuance. His support- 
lers well know that their payment, like 
his own bread, depends on its prosecu- 
tion. The war begets extraordinarie?, 
which beget loans, which beget dou- 
ceurs, which beget members of this 
house." Such was the language of op- 
position in 1781. I heard Fox pro- 
nounce those words above cited. In 
thus endeavouring to vilify and degrade 
the first minister, he only looked to the 
immediate object of overturning the ad- 
ministration ; inconscious within how 
short a time he should be induced to 
form a coalition with the very nobleman, 
whom he had denounced for successive 
years, as the destroyer of his native 
country. In February, 1782, Burke, 
pleading the cause of Hohen, the Jew, 
who had sufl^ered in his property, ai the 
capture of St. FiUstatius ; Jenkinson, 
secretary at war, demanded, " what was 
the specific object that he had in view ? 



468 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



Did he mean to move for a grant of pub- 
lic money to the petitioner ?" If so, he 
entreated Burke to reflect on the conse- 
quences to which such a precedent would 
lead. " Oh I" answered he, " ministers 
may easily make compensation to Mr. 
Hohen, without putting their hand in the 
public purse. They may give him a slice 
of the loan ; for those profits are not es- 
teemed public money ; or, they may 
place him en croupe of some overgrown 
contractor,'''' 

One of the most humiliating scenes 
that I ever witnessed, as affecting Lord 
North in his ministerial capacity, and 
which occasioned him the greatest em- 
barrassment, took place just at the time 
when Burke made these severe animad- 
versions. A contract of a most improvi- 
dent nature had been concluded with a 
member of the house, an East India di- 
rector, one of the two representatives 
lor a Somersetshire borough, by the 
board of ordnance. The article furnish- 
ed was saltpetre, for which a very ex- 
orbitant price was given to ttve con- 
tractor. George Byng, aided by Hus- 
sey, and by Colonel Barre, with most 
meritormus and indefatigable pertinacity, 
traced, developed, and exposed the 
whole transaction. Lord Townsend, 
then master-general of the ordnance, dis- 
avowed any knowledge whatever of it. 
by the mouth of his friend Courtenay, 
and reprobated the business. Under 
these distressing circumstances, the first 
minister had no other refuge or means 
of extrication, than to protest his total 
ignorance of the contract, the terms of 
which he admitted to be enormous ; 



with him upon every question; nor 
would his head, indeed, have been 
secure, from 1777 down to 1782, unless 
he could have counted upon such a 
steady and numerous support, at a time 
when every month teemed with misfor- 
tunes or defeats. Of this great body, 
only a comparatively small portion had, 
however, continued to adhere to him, 
after he joined with Fox ; and many 
more had quitted him on the first intro- 
duction of the " India Bill," or subse- 
quent to its rejection. Still, even in the 
last (lays of December, 1783, vviien dis- 
missed from employment, he remained 
the nominal head of a considerable party; 
upon many individuals composing which 
it was natural to suppose tliat an im- 
pression might be made, by representa- 
tions addressed to their principles, their 
passions, or their interests. Nor can 
Mr. Pitt, standing as he did, in the 
critical, as well as hazardous predica- 
ment of having accepted the first offices 
of government, unsupported in one 
House of Parliament, be blamed for 
availing himself of every fair or honor- 
able means, to diminish the majority 
possessed by his adversaries. I am at 
the same time persuaded, from the eleva- 
tion of his mind, and the purity of his 
principles, that he was incapable of 
authorising, no less than Robinson would 
have disdained to practise, any other 
methods of procuring adherents, than 
such as the British Constitution either 
recognizes, or which are in fact insepa- 
rable from its practical existence. 

Among the persons of eminence to 
whom Mr. Pitt had recourse for support, 



and he therefore proposed to omit the at this delicate crisis of his ministerial 



article of saltpetre, amounting to near 
£150,000, if the house would vote the 
remaining articles of the ordnance esti- 
mates. Fox launched out on the occa- 
sion into severe, as well as indignant 
comments, on the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer's conduct. No reply was made 
by Lord North, and on the question 
being put for receiving the report, mi- 
nisters carried it only by a majority of 
thirty; the respective numbers being 
122 and 92. 

Lord North, when first minister, was 
supposed to command full one hundred 
and seventy members at his absolute 
devotion, who were prepared to vole 



life, when every parliamentary aid which 
could sustain him against the coalition, 
was anxiously sought after, the late Lord 
Sackville attracted much attention. That 
nobleman had hitherto taken no decided 
part in the debates, during the progress 
of the "East India Bill;" though he 
voted against it personally in both the 
divisions which look place on the 15th 
and 17lh of December, in the House of 
Peers. He had, indeed, early consiih^red 
it to be a measure which would excite 
great fermentatioH througliout the coun- 
try, as well as opposition on the part of 
the crown, when its political conse- 
quences came to be well appreciated and 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



469 



tinderslood. He even repeatedly pre- 
dicted, tliat it would probably overturn the 
ministry of Lord North and Fox, Im- 
pressed with these sentiments, he ex- 
horted his nephew, the Duke of Dorset, 
who arrived in London from Paris, soon 
after the session opened ; to be cautious 
how he engaged himself too far in sup- 
porting it, till he had ascertained and 
sounded the ground. The duke profited 
of the advice. Lord Sackville, besides 
his own vote, and his brother-in-law Lord 
Milton's proxy, of which, from his influ- 
ence over that nobleman's mind, he 
might be said to dispose, in the same 
House of Parliament; brought in gratui- 
tously two members at East Grinstead ; 
for, he had a mind too noble ever to sell 
either of the seats ; — thus commanding 
or influencing four votes, in addition to 
his own personal weight and connexions. 
I cannot pass over Lord Milton, who 
was afterwards created Earl of Dorches- 
ter, without saying a few words respect- 
ing himself and his family. He de- 
scended collaterally, if not directly, from I 
Damer, tlie famous miser, whom Swift 
has commemorated ; and Lord Milton 
had attained a very advanced period of 
life, at the time of which I now speak. 
Neither his person, nor his manners, were 
attractive ; but though difficult of access, 
reserved, and repulsive in his exterior, he 
possessed solid intellectual parts ; and no 
man of his high rank in the kingdom, 
entertained with greater magnificence. 
In his youth, the duel which he fought 
with Earl Paulet, had rendered him scarce- 
ly less distinguished, tlian Lord Byron 
became in consequence of his fatal en- 
counter with Mr. Chavvorth ; and nei- 
ther the one, nor the other, remained 
exempt from reflections on the circum- 
stances supposed to have respectively 
taken place. If Lord Byron was tried 
by his peers. Lord Mdton underwent 
scarcely a milder inquest, from the pre- 
judices imbibed respecting the transac- 
tion. At his seat of Milton Abbey in 
Dorsetshire, wiiere he maintained a 
gloomy and sequestered splendour, analo- 
gous to his character and habits, he had 
made immense landed purchases ; which 
exhausting his pecuniary means, exten- 
sive as they were, reduced him to a spe- 
cies of temporary distress, and realized 
Horace's 
40 



' Magnas inter opes inops." 



His palace in town, contiguous to Hyde 
Park, from the secluded life which Lord 
Milton led, and the very limited number 
of persons who ever entered within 
its gates, obtained the denomination of 
" Milton's Paradise Lost." His very 
appearance conveyed indeed an idea of 
" dry and bald antiquity," misanthro- 
py, and inaccessibility : but when he 
occasionally unbent himself in select 
society, his conversation was interesting, 
often witty, and sometimes cheerful. Of 
his three sons, I had the honour to know 
only the second, who succeeded his 
father as Earl of Dorchester, and was 
one of the most engaging, lively, but 
eccentric noblemen of his time. It is 
difficult to convey an idea of the species 
of humour thatcharacterized him, which 
was truly original, and irresistibly 
comic ; nor did he commonly impose 
any severe restraints on its indulgence. 
Lady Melbourne passing him, one very 
cold day, in her carriage, as he stood 
conversing with Partington, an eminent 
solicitor, at the corner of Lower Brook- 
street, Grosvenor Square, she bowed 
to him. Unwilling to take off his own ^ 
hat in the severe stale of the atmosphere, 
he instantly made free with that of Par- 
tington ; who having his back towards 
Lady Melbourne, was not a little sur- 
prized at finding himself thus made the 
involuntary instrument of Mr. Darner's 
good breeding. Having however per- 
formed this act of civility by proxy, he 
coolly replaced Partington's hat on the 
head of its owner, with many apologies 
for the freedom. He survived his father 
only a Cew years, and dying unmarried, 
a martyr to the gout, the title of Earl of 
Dorchester expired in his person. I re- 
sume the thread of public affairs. 

During the Christmas recess, after 
the adjournment of the two houses, 
Lord Sackville went down to his seal at 
Drayton. Mr. Pitt having applied to a 
member of the House of Peers, request- 
ing his exertions to procure Lord Sack- 
ville's personal attendance and support 
in that assembly, at a moment of such 
difficulty ; he mentioned my name to 
the minister, as a person capable, from 
the friendship with which Lord Sack- 
ville honoured me, of facilitating his 



470 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



wishes on the subject. The nobleman 
in question, subsequently called on nie, 
at a very lal©. hour of the night, of the 
29th of December, after I was in bed, 
and acquainted me with the above-men- 
tioned circumstances. Impelled by the 
wish of serving Mr. Pitt, and supporting 
his majesty's government, 1 waited on 
him, next morning, at his brother Lord 
Chatham's house in Berkeley Square, 
where he then resided; and at his desire 
undertook the service. Bui 1 candidly 
informed him at the same lime, that, 
from my knowlodge of Lord SackviUe's 
political sentiments, and for the obvious 
reasons which must render Lord Howe, 
as well as the Marquis of Carmarthen, 
who were both members of the new ad- 
ministration, personally distasteful to 
him ; I doubted his compliance, unless 
the solicitations were sustained from va- 
rious quarters. And I exhorted him, 
not only to write himself, to Lord Sack- 
ville, but to procure similar applications 
from his three personal friends in the 
cabinet; the chancellor, the lord presi- 
dent, and Lord Sydney. Mr. Pitt readily 
adopted the suggestion. I Itieu assured 
him that I would set off on the following 
day ; it being previously settled, that the 
messenger, who was to be charged with 
the ministerial letters for Drayton, should 
not pass me on the road, but allow ine 
to arrive before him at my destination. 

On the ensuing morning, being the 
31st of December, I left London very 
early, in order to have time for convers- 
ing with the Duke of Dorset, in my way 
to Lord Sackville. The Duke was then 
on a visit at Lord Salisbury's, at Hat- 
field. 1 acquainted him with the object 
of my journey, in the success of which 
he co-operated with all his exertions. It 
was past ten at night when I reached 
Drayton, in most inclement weather. 
Lord Sackville, whom I found engaged 
at chess with his youngest daughter, ex- 
pressed some surprise at my first en- 
trance into the apartment. But his na- 
tural penetration soon led him to con- 
ceive, that my visit at such a season, 
must have originated in a deeper motive 
than friendship or amusement. As soon 
as we were alone, I therefore told him 
the cause of my unexpected arrival, and 
related every circumstance that had 
taken place, except the advice which I 



had ventured to offer Mr. Pitt, respecting 
applications from his friends in tlie cabi- 
net. Next day, the messenger brought 
the despatches ; and Lord Sackville, after 
perusing them, returned the answer 
which I had foreseen ; namely, that 
" though he neither desired, nor would 
accept any office under ministry, nor ask 
any favour from the new administration, 
either for himself, or for his connexions ; 
yet, that his principles, and the dutiful 
submission that he felt towards his ma- 
jesty, would impel him to give every 
support to the government, in the pre- 
sent arduous crisis of public affairs." 
He punctually performed this promise, 
evincing himself a steady friend to the 
ministry, during the whole future pro- 
nress of the eventful contest then carry- 
ing on in Parliament. 

[1784. — 1st — lOih January.] It was 
not, however, by individual applications 
of any kind, nor even by private exer- 
tions and assistance, however successful 
they might be, nor even by the personal 
interference of the sovereign himself, that 
Mr. Pitt could have been maintained in 
office. The public, and the public only, 
enabled him to defeat the powerful pha- 
lanx drawn up against him. During the 
two first weeks of December, while the 
fate of the " India Bill" remained still 
doubtful, the committee of proprietors, 
wl'.ich sat unintermittingly in Leadenhall- 
sireet, sounded the alarm from one end 
of the kingdom, to the other extremity. 
A member of that committee, who took 
an active part in their deliberations, as- 
sured me, that in the circular letters 
which they addressed to almost every 
town, or corporate body throughout 
Great Britain ; they contented them- 
selves with saying in few words, " Our 
property and charter are forcibly in- 
vaded : look to your own !" This la- 
conic invocation bore some analogy to 
one of the puritanical appeals made 
under Charles the First, to the English 
people, when, in the language of Scrip- 
ture, their leaders exclaimed, " 'i'o your 
tents, O, Israel!" A copy of Fox's 
bill, enclosed, which served as the best 
commentary on the text, soon produced 
corresponding and general effect. Ridi- 
cule and satire joined their aid to expose 
the coalition to laughter or contempt. 
Two prints in particular, both conceived 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



471 



with admirable humour, were circulated 
throughout tlie inetro[)olis. In one. Fox, 
under the character of a " political Samp- 
son,'* appeared carrying away on his 
shoulders the India House, llial he had 
pulled down ; out of the windows of 
which edifice, the terrified directors were 
endeavourinii to effect their escape. The 
other print, denominated '* The tri- 
umphal entry of Carlo Khan into Delhi," 
dispU\ ed the secretary of state, habited 
in the costume of a Mogul Emperor, 
seated on an elephant, whose counte- 
nance bore a most striking resemblance 
to Lord North ; and preceded by Burke, 
as his trumpeter. It is difficult to con- 
ceive the moral 0[)eration, and wide dif- 
fusion, of these caricatures, through 
every part of the country. 

Towards the commencement of the 
new year, the first minister exhibited 
(perhaps not without profound design), 
a proof of power, which his predecessors i 
had never been able to display during 
their administration ; by elevating his 
relation and active supporter, Mr. Tho- 
mas Pitt, to the peerage. Burke, only 
a few days afterwards, alluding to the 
circumstance, in the course of one of his 
speeches, observed, "A person who was 
very recently a member of this assembly, 
has just been, — not transported, — but 
translated to a place of rest ; the House 
of Peers; which place. Lord Chester- 
field used sometimes to denominate the 
Hospital of Incurables, or of Invalids. — 
The person whom 1 mean, is Lord Ca- 
melford, who, like Elijah, has been rapt 
up into the heaven of rest. To whom, 
he has lefi his cloak, it is not my busi- 
ness to enquire." Then having read 
several passages from a pamphlet, attri- 
buted to Mr. Thomas Pitt, in which pro- 
duction, the constitutional right of the 
House of Commons to advise the sove- 
reign was strenuously maintained, and 
eloquently enforced ; Burke added, 
" Perhaps this pamphlet may be consi- 
dered as liis cloak, which he has left to 
his disciple on the treasury bench." 
Pitt, who was present, did not conde- 
scend to notice such an attack. 

Before the month of January elapsed, 
two other individuals, namely, Mr. Car- 
teret, brother of Lord Weymouth : and 
Mr. Eliot, member for Cornwall, whose 
eldest son married Lady Harriet Pitt, in 



the course of the subsequent yean; were 
raised by him to the same dignity. He 
probably meant to show his adherents, 
as well as his opponents, in the House 
of Commons, the facility with which he 
disposed of the honours of the crown, 
withheld by the sovereign from the coa- 
lition; and consequently, the rewards 
which might attend their early repairing 
to the royal standard. In order to coun- 
teract this display of ministerial favour, 
and with a view to keep their forces to- 
gether, his antagonists were said to have 
promised a long list of contingent British 
peerages, exceeding thirty in number, to 
their principal friends in the lower 
house. The names of these gentlemen 
were in general circulation ; and the 
greater part of them have since, at dif- 
ferent periods subsequent to the French 
revolution, received from Pitt the boon, 
which they had failed to obtain from the 
coalition administration. 

[12lh January.] Whatever favourable 
effect, the peerage conferred by the mi- 
nister on Mr. Thomas Pitt, might pro- 
duce within the walls of the House o.^ 
Commons; an act which he performed 
soon afterwards, operated far more bene- 
ficially for him without doors, on the 
minds of the public. Sir Edward Wal- 
pole's death having vacated the lucrative 
post of clerk of the Pells in the exche- 
quer ; Pitt, instead of taking it for him- 
self, or conferring it on his brother Lord 
Chatham, as might notonly have seemed 
natural and venial, but as he was urged 
to do by his political friends ; imme- 
diately gave it to Colonel Barre, in order 
to extinguish the ample pension enjoyed 
by that gentleman ever since Lord Shel- 
burne's accession to power. So un- 
usual a proof of superiority to pecuniary 
temptation, exhibited by a man destitute 
of patrimonial fortune ; even though it 
might have originated in deep policy, 
more than in disinterestedness, as his 
enemies asserted or insinuated ; yet 
attracted just admiration and extorted 
general applause. Fox, nevertheless, 
while he admitted the abstract merit 
of the action itself, did not repro- 
bate with less severity, the principles on 
which Pitt had acquired possession of 
ofhce. Nor did he display with less 
ostentation, on the day when the House 
of Commons met, after its short ad- 



472 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



jonrnment, the unlimited command that 
he exercised over the majority of that 
assembly. Of this empire he gave the 
most convincing proof, by not only, in 
parliamentary language, taking posses- 
sion of the house when it re-assembled, 
but by precluding the chancellor of the 
exchequer, in subversion of all usage, 
from being heard, though charged with 
a message from the king, till Fox had 
submitted and carried five resolutions, in 
a committee on the state of the nation. 
Three of these he moved himself. The 
other two he delegated to Lord Surrey, 
who was said to have been selected from 
among the nu(nerous candidates for par- 
liamentary service, in consequence of a 
classic recommendation. It having been 
agitated at the meeting of the opposition, 
held on the preceding evening at Bur- 
lington House, what individual to choose 
for bringing forward two of the resolu- 
tions next day in the House of Com- 
mons ; and opinions being divided on 
the subject, Sheridan, when asked for 
his sentiment, exclaimed with Richard, 

" Saddle black Surrey for the field to-morrow!" 

'J'hroughout the whole debate which 
took place on that occasion, Fox ap- 
peared as the arbiter of the scene, pro- 
j)elling, restraining, and directing the 
machine, according to his volition ; 
while the minister, sustained only by 
the vast powers of his mind, and a con- 
sciousness of possessing equally the 
royal and the popular favour, struggled 
vainly against the current. He was 
borne away, together with his followers, 
by its violence ; after making an elo- 
quent and masterly, but ineffectual ap- 
peal to the candour of his audience. 
Erskine, who performed a conspicuous 
part during the discussion of that me- 
morable night, was placed, if I may so 
express myself, by Fox in the front 
ranks. In the course of a long speech, 
lie drew a parallel, or rather a contrast, 
between the late secretary of state, and 
the actual first minister. The latter, he 
depictured as devoured by an insatiable 
thirst of power, and throwing into con- 
fusion the whole frame of government, 
in order to attain the highest offices of 
state, without passing through any sub- 
ordinate employments. " How differ- 



ent," continued he, " has been the pro 
gress of my honorable friend ! He- was 
not hatched at once into a minister, by 
the heat of his own ambition. He passed 
through the inferior gradations, and ma- 
tured his talents in long, as well as 
laborious opposition ; arriving by the 
natural progress of his powerful mind, to 
a superiority of political wisdom, univer- 
sally felt and acknowledged." The 
parody which he drew I'rom tlie fourth 
scene of the third act of " Hamlet," 
intended to display Pitt under two oppo- 
site points of view ; first, as a patriot, 
when formerly united with Fox, and 
next, as the creature of secret influence, 
did not, however, appear to produce on 
his heaters the same strong impression 
which the citations from " Julius 
Caesar" had done, when applied to Fox 
by Scott and by Arden. Powis, though 
he continued to speak of the late East 
India Bill, in terms of the strongest 
abhorrence, as a measure, which, if 
it had not been frustrated, would 
have inflicted a mortal blow on our con- 
stitutional frame ; yet expressed his 
ardent wish, that the stale might not 
lose the benefit of Lord John Cavendish's 
integrity, and of Fox's resplendent 
abilities. " It would immortalise," he 
said, " the individual who could effect a 
reconciliation, and produce a union, 
between the late secretary, and the pre- 
sent chancellor of the exchequer."' 
Widely different was the language held 
by Mr. Pulteney and by Governor John- 
stone. Those two brothers, acting to a 
certain degree in concert, extended an 
invaluable assistance to the new admi- 
nistration. The elder, Mr. Pulteney, 
who represented Shrewsbury, under a 
very forbidding exterior, and a still more 
neglected, or almost threadbare dress^ 
which he usually wore, concealed strong 
sense, a masculine understanding, and 
very independent, as well as upright 
principles of action. Nor did he want 
a species of eloquence, though it could 
boast of no elegance or ornament. Re- 
presenting, in consequence of his mar- 
riage, the name and family oi Pulteney, 
so eminent under the reign of George 
the Second ; inhabiting the mansion of 
the celebrated Earl of Bath, in Picca- 
dilly ; and heir matrimonial to that dis- 
tinguished nobleman's vast landed pro- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



473 



perty, Pulteney was always heard with 
attention. 

Fox, in a speech of the most inflam- 
matory and criminating description, hav- 
ing rung the changes upon secret influ- 
ence, concealed advisers, and all the 
apparatus of the back stairs, hy wliich 
he accused his rival of having unconsti- 
tutionally ascended to power, and having 
strenuously exhorted the house to adopt 
measures without delay, for preventing 
the possibility of their own dissolution, 
Pulteney rose. "The present moment," 
observed he, "calls on every man to 
come forward, and I do not hesitate to 
assert, that far from approving resolu- 
tions calculated to prolong the duration 
of this assembly ; I think, whenever it 
is suspected that the House of Com- 
mons does not speak the sentiments of 
the people, it ought to be dissolved. 
That suspicion is strongly entertained 
at this time, because the house has 
passed a bill which is reprobated by the 
nation. I will even go farther, and 
maintain, that the more violent are the 
resolutions into which they enter, with 
a view to prevent their dissolution, the 
more ouaht their political extinction to 
be accelerated. Much obloquy and cla- 
mour have been excited relative to secret 
influence. But even if it existed, I see 
no injurious consequences to be appre- 
hended from its operation : — for as 
every measure advised, can only be 
carried into efl'ect by efficient ministers, 
they must be devoid of all honour or 
spirit if they would execute measures not 
their own. On the other hand, he must 
be a dastardly minister, who, finding 
Parliament engaged in prosecuting mea- 
sures odious to the country, would 
hesitate to advise their dissolution. And 
does any man doubt, that a House of 
Commons may speak a language op- 
posed to the sentiments of the country ? 
Ttie support which the noble lord in the 
blue ribband found within these walls, 
during successive years, when prosecu- 
ting the American war, may convmce the 
most incredulous person. I do not scru- 
ple to declare, that the administration just 
dismissed from power, formed a blockade 
round the sacred person of the sovereign, 
and endeavoured to despoil him of every 
attribute of majesty, except its external 
decorations, or its empty pageantry." 
40* 



Those opinions which Pulteney al- 
ways niainlained with stern severity, but 
in temperate language, Governor John- 
stone enforced with the violence of 
manner and tone, characteristic of his 
natural disposition. " Instead," ex- 
claimed he, " of admitting that the 
horrors and rapacity of the East India 
Bill, produced its rejection in tlie upper 
house, the late secretary tells us that it 
proceeded entirely from secret influence. 
But what proof of the pretended fact 
does he adduce ? None. It is merely 
the catch-word of a party, invented to 
delude the credulous vulgar, and to 
render the sovereign, or his servants, 
unpopular. The same cry was raised 
against the noble lord in the blue rib- 
band ; but he now protests that no such 
influence ever existed, to his knowledge. 
Indeed he must either confess that such 
was the case, or subscribe to his own 
meanness in submitting to it. What 
stronger attestation can be given that it 
is chimerical, since the noble lord, though 
now acting in perfect conceit with his 
late colleague, and willing to avail him- 
self by every expedient, of the clamour of 
the hour ; yet when called on to speak 
from his own personal experience while 
first minister, declares the accusation to 
be totally groundless ? — The present 
proceeding appears to me to have been 
open and avowed, not concealed. A 
noble earl, convinced of the fatal conse- 
quences which must have resulted from 
the East India BHl, both to the sove- 
reign and to his fellow subjects ; is said 
to have demanded an audience, in which 
he fully explained them to his majesty. 
The nobleman in question having re- 
lated the purport of this interview, and 
its operations on the royal mind, to 
various of his friends, a resistance was 
set on foot to oppose the passage of the 
measure itself through the upper house. 
A change of administration naturally and 
properly followed. What! are we to 
deny the king the privilege of convers- 
ing with his own subjects and nobles ! 
If so, we deprive him of the power of 
dismissing his ministers." — " We have 
doubtless a right to demand that the 
government shall be entrusted to men of 
ability and integrity. But if these 
qualities are found in the present cabinet, 
and if the measures which they propose, 



474 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



appear to be wise, it is the height of fac- ' 
tion to refuse our support lo vsuch men." 
Stimulated by the personal attacks 
made upon him, not only by Fox, but 
from various other quarters of the house ; 
all accusing him of the attainment of 
power through secret influence, and 
demanding an unequivocal explana- 
tion of his intentions relative to the 
dissolution of Parliament; the chan- 
cellor of the exchequer now came 
forward in his own person. Having de- 
nied in the most positive terms, the alle- 
gations advanced to prove his unconsti- 
tutional attainment of office, " I declare," 
continued he, " that I came up no back 
stairs. When my sovereign was pleased 
to send for me, in order to know whe- 
ther I would accept of employment, I 
was compelled to go to the royal closet ; 
but 1 know of no secret influence. My 
own integrity forms my protection 
against such a concealed agent ; and 
whenever I discover it, the house may 
rest assured, 1 will not remain one hour 
in the cabinet ! I will neither have the 
meanness to act upon advice given by 
others, nor the hypocrisy to pretend 
when the measures of an administration 
in which I occupy a place, are censured, 
that they were not of my advising. If 
any former ministers are hurt by these 
charges, to than be the sting! Little 
did I conceive that I should ever be ac- 
cused within these wails, as the abettor 
and tool of secret influence ! Tlie nature 
and the singularity of the imputation, 
only render it the more coniemplible. 
This is the sole reply that I shall ever 
deign to make. The probity and recti- 
tude of my private, as well as of my 
public principles, will ever constitute my 
sources of action. I never will be re- 
sponsible for measures not my own, nor 
condescend to become the instrument of 
any secret advisers whatever. — With 
respect to the questions put to me on the 
subject of a dissolution of Parliament, it 
does not become me to comment on the 
expressions composing the gracious an- 
swer of the sovereign, delivered by him 
from the throne. Neither will I com- 
promise the royal prerogatives, nor 
bargain it away in the House of Com- 
mons !" 

This speech, the dignity, elevation, 
and firmness of which, it is not easy to 



appreciate fully,^ when we reflect that it 
was pronounced by a minister, in an 
assembly of which his- adversaries pos- 
sessed a decided majority ; called up 
Lord North. I think I never saw him 
so much agitated, except once, when 
Barre was the cause. He could not in- 
deed remain silent under imputations so 
severe and pointed, as were those levelled, 
at him by Pitt. With more indignation 
than was natural to him, he repelled the 
charges of m.eanness and hypocrisy : — 
accusations, which, he said, were the 
most gross and scandalous that he had 
ever heard within the walls of that house. 
Sheridan retorted on the chancellor of 
the exchequer with still greater asperity ; 
applying to his ministerial conduct, the 
very epithets which Pitt had used, when 
addressing Lord North. R-igby even 
indirectly accused the minister of put- 
ting a fallacy into the sa-cred mouth of 
majesty, with intention to deceive that 
assembly. Alluding to the late answer 
from the throne, to the address of the 
Commons, he observed that " a Newgate 
solicitor, he was persuaded, would not 
have descended to so low and scandalous 
a mode of deception, if any intention 
existed of dissolving Parliament, after 
the assurances to the contrary given by 
tlie king." One of Lord Surrey's mo- 
tions, calculated to stigmatize his majesty 
personally, as having permitted " his- 
sacred name to be unconstitutionally 
used, in order to affect the deliberations 
of Parliament ;" was voted by a very 
considerable majority, in a crowded 
house, at seven o'clock in the morning. 
Yet, even amidst so consj)icuous a 
triumph, Fox might find subject for just 
apprehension, in his already diminished 
numbers. Instead of dividing, as he 
had done before the recess, nearly two- 
to one upon almost every question, he 
carried the first division against adminis- 
tration, upon "going into the committee 
on the order of the day," by only thirty- 
nine ; though four hundred and twenty- 
five members voted on the occasion., 
Lord Surrey's resolution passed, it is 
true, hy fifty four ; but as only three 
hundred and tliirty-eight persons voted 
on that question, it appeared evident that 
the augmentation on the side of opposi- 
tion, arose from the better discipline and 
closer attendance enforced among theie- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



475 



followers, than was observed by the ad- 
herents of government. When Fox, 
elated by his advantage, attempted, four 
days afterwards, on the 16lh of January, 
lo make the house declare, that '* the 
continuance of ministers in office, was 
contrary to the principles of the Consti- 
tution," lie found his majority declined 
to twenty-one, on a division wiieretiiree 
hundred and eighty-nine members voted. 
His parliamentary ascendancy, therefore, 
however apparently imposing, palpably 
rested on a most precarious and decaying 
foundation. 

[]16lh January.] Some features of 
this discussion, which took place on the 
state of the nation, were of a nature to 
make a deep impression on the memory. 
I have already mentioned, that during 
the existence of the coalition administra- 
tion, intentions had unquestionably been 
nourished, of transporting Lord iNorlh to 
the upper House of Parliament: — in- 
tentions, the accomplishment of whicli 
was frustrated by the king. Powis, 
during the debate in question, having { 
expressed his anxious wish, that a union | 
might take place between Pitt and Fox ; 
after passing very high encomiums ou 
both, as men of transcendent abilities, 
fitted for tlie government of a great coun- 
try, added, " I do not, however, approve 
of the coalition between the late secretary 
of state, and the noble lord in the blue 
ribband. The ambition of the former, is 
indeed laudable in itself; but, I believe 
he is not delicate about the means of its 
gratification. I perceive likewise plainly, 
the difficulty of inducing the two right 
honorable gentlemen to act together: — 
for the noble lord must not be disgraced. 
He shines indeed nf> longer, except with 
a borrowetl light. He is a man of 
whom I cannot say, lauclamlus ; but 
ornandus, tollendus. I would that such 
could be the case." Lord North, in the 
course of his speech, having alluded with 
great good humour, to Powis's observa- 
tions, however painful, on his shining 
with a borrowed lustre ; observed, that 
a classic ex[)ressfor} had been applied to 
him, though with the difTerence of a 
monosyllable ; — non laudandus ; — or- 
nandus — tollendus. "I hope," con- 
tinued he, " tollendus is not to be under- 
stood in the worst sense. It is not 
meant to kill me. It is only intended 



that I should be ornandus: — in vulgar 
English, kicked up stairs. But, sir, I 
feel no inclination to be kicked up stairs. 
1 should be very unwilling to stand in. 
the way of any political agreement which 
might be beneficial to the country ; yet 
I will not go up to the House of Peers. 
I will remain in this assembly, for the 
purpose of defending my honour and 
character. If in the course of nature, 
such an event should indeed take place, 
I shall esteem tl a very great distinction. 
I mean, provided the present ministers 
will suffer this house to retain its appro- 
priate privileges in the British frame of 
Constitution. If they do not sufler any 
Constitution at all to survive, then I will 
repair to that house, as to a place of rest, 
a place of sleep, where I may repose 
during the rest of my life. But, neither 
my honour nor my character will allow 
me at present to accept of a peerage. Its 
acceptance would place me in Agrip- 
pina's situation, when she says, ' /e vols 
croitre les honneurs, et tomber man 
credit.'' " So much suavity, taste, and 
wit, did that most amiable, as well as 
accomplished nobleman, usually mix up 
with his addresses to Parliament! 

He had not many imitators ; — for, 
never, I believe, were debates conducted 
with more asperity and personal recri- 
mination, than during the period of Pitt's 
and Fox's contest for power. Accusa- 
tions the most futile and unbecoming in 
their nature, were preferred on both 
sides, with the view of rendering each 
other odious to the nation. Sir Richard 
Hill, member for Shropshire, animadvert- 
ed with some severity, on the frequent 
attendance, and marks of warm interest 
exhibited by the Prince of Wales, while 
present in the lower house. " VVhat~ 
ever censure may be lavished on secret 
influence," observed he, " con'M/;/ influ- 
ence must necessarily be pernicious. 
The former may produce possible 
benefit. The latter never can, under 
any circumstances. What might be the 
consequence, if it should happen that 
an heir apparent attended the debates of 
this assembly, and endeavoured by his- 
looks or gestures, to countenance a fac- 
tion, and to injluence individual votes? 
Might not such conduct be esteemed a 
species of corrupt influence V* A very- 
general cry oi order I accompanied with 



476 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



testimonies of disapprobation, arising 
from various parts of the house ; Lord 
Melbourne, who then occupied the place 
of a gentleman of the bedchamber to the 
Prince of Wales, declared that the words 
spoken, amounted to a direct attack on 
his royal highness, and therefore he 
should demand proof of the alleged fact. 
Sir Richard replied, that " the prince to 
whom he alluded, was only a suppositi- 
tious personage." Lord Delaval, on 
whom the coalition ministers had con- 
ferred an Irish peerage, only a few 
months earlier ; and who was raised to 
the British peerage by Pitt, about two 
years later ; — a nobleman with whom 
I had the honour of being much acquaint- 
ed, and whom I may have occasion to 
mention again in some part of these 
Memoirs ; — rose to remark, that " the 
Prince of Wales acted most wisely in 
attending debates, for the purpose of im- 
bibing just ideas of that Constitution, 
which must probably at some future day 
be placed under his protection, as its 
natural guardian." But Hill, not at all 
disconcerted, calmly answered, that " for 
such purposes as those just mentioned, 
he could have no objection to his royal 
highness's appearance in that house." 
Here the conversation terminated. 

The prince, though from deference to 
his father's wishes, signified to him, he 
had absented himself on the day when 
" the East India Bill" was finally reject- 
ed in the upper house, yet did not the 
less retain and avow his predilection for 
its authors. His presence in the House 
of Commons, among the Peers, where 
he took his place under the gallery, might 
therefore be considered as indirectly en- 
couraging to Fox and the coalition. 
Frederic, Prince of Wales, his grand- 
father, had, however, as is well known, 
given the same marks of partiality to the 
minority which drove Sir Robert Wal- 
pole from power, in the beginning of 
1741, without exciting any comment or 
disaiiprobation. Pulleney, then at the 
head of opposition, even alluded in one 
of his speeches, to his consciousness of 
the august personage before whom he 
spoke. Sir Richard Hill, whom I very 
particularly knew, was one of the most 
upright, disinterested, and honest men 
who ever sat in Parliament. Andrew 
Marvel was not more incorrupt ; but his 



religious cast of character laid him open 
to the shafts of ridicule. His manners 
were quaint and puritanical ; his address, 
shy and embarrassed. He possessed how- 
ever a most benevolent disposition, toge- 
ther with a great estate, which enabled 
him to gratify his generous and philan- 
thropic feelings. Sir Richard, though 
he attained to old age, being, I believe, 
seventy-five at the time of his decease, 
remained always unmarried. In the 
simplicity, singularity, and eccentricities 
of his character, as well as deportment, 
he always reminded me of Addison's Sir 
Roger de Coverley. The " Rolliad," 
which treats him with severity, describes 
him as 

" Friend of King George, but of King Jesus 
more." 

In the same manner the Earl of Dart- 
mouth, while a member of Lord North's 
cabinet, being likewise known to enter- 
tain very deep sentiments of religion, 
had obtained from the opposition of that 
time, the nick-name of " the Psalm 
Singer." 

The indecorous personality of debate 
that distinguished the lower house, dur- 
ing this extraordinary crisis of afTairs, 
produced scenes apparently unbecoming 
the assembly where thev originated, and 
such as we would vainly ex()ect to find 
in more tranquil periods of our parlia- 
mentary history. General Ross, a man 
of very eccentric manners, rising in his 
place, accused a lord of the bedchamber, 
the Earl of Galloway, with endeavouring 
to influence his vote, by allusions or di- 
rect intimations of the royal dis[)leasure 
at his supporting the coalition. Lord 
Galloway's brother, the Honorable Keith 
Stewart, read a written denial of the as- 
sertion : but the general persisted in 
maintaining the charge. He had served 
with great gallantry and distinction, 
under General Eliott, during the memo- 
rable siege of Gibraltar ; where he com- 
manded the troops employed on the 27th 
of November, 1781, in the sally made 
from the garrison with such success, 
when the lines and batteries of the be- 
siegers were burned or destroyed. This 
extraordinary attack on Lord Galloway, 
was commonly denominated " General 
Ross's sa//?/." Lampoons, a weapon, 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



477 



in the manqffement of whicli, the opposi- 
tion unquestionably excelled their oppo- 
nents, were circulated wilh great assi- 
duity and efl'ect. In one of them, 
Stewart was thus apostrophized : 

" Captain Keith, Captain Keitii, 

Ki'cp your tongue in your teeth, 

Lest you bedchamber secrets betray ! 
And if you want more, 
Why, my bold commodore. 

You may borrow of Lord Galloway." 

Keith Stewart, who was a captain in 
the royal navy, had incurred, as a pro- 
fessional man, some censure or reflec- 
tions,, perhaps very unjustly, during the 
war wilh Holland, for havinsj allowed a 
homeward bound Dutch ship of war to 
slip thrfiugh the Downs, and reach the 
Texel, while he was said to have been 
on shore at Deal. His brother. Lord 
Galloway, having, like Lord Sandwich, 
the inside of his mouth most defectively 
furnished for purposes of mastication, it 
was well known, used a complete set of 
artificial teeth. Sir Richard Hill, accus- 
tomed almost always to draw his allu- 
sions or authorities from Holy Writ, en- 
deavoured to prove that even benefits 
might result from secret influence, by 
adducing the instances of Haman and of 
Mordecai. " The honest Israelite," he 
observed, " repaired privately to court, 
and averted the danger which threatened 
the people of God, from Hainan's ambi- 
tion ; who being driven from the cabinet, j 
was finally suspended on a gibbet." I j 
thought, however, at the time when Sirj 



vassing for votes, from one extremity of 
the kingdom to the other: — an imputa- 
tion repeated in still stronger language by 
General Conway, who denominated 
their agents, rat catchers; but which 
charge was repelled by the chancellor of 
the exchequer, as wholly destitute of 
proof. On the other hand, Rigby com- 
plained that Robinson, in the anticipa- 
tion of a speedy dissolution of Parlia- 
ment, had made use of ministerial in- 
fluence, to afl'ect the future election of a 
member for the borough of Harwich ; 
though he did not think proper to ground 
any specific motion on liis complaint. 

Fox, alluding to the reflections which 
had been thrown out by Sir Richard 
Hill, on the Prince of Wales, for attend- 
ing questions under agitation in that 
house, exclaimed with warmth, " God 
forbid that royal personage should not 
participate in its political concerns ! 
Where can he so well imbibe a know- 
ledge of the principles of our Constitu- 
tion, as within these walls ? How can 
he better illustrate the excellence of his 
character, than by thus blending personal 
respect for the king his father, with 
attachment to his country ?" Not deter- 
red however by such observations, from 
animadverting on other circumstances 
connected with his royal highness's per- 
sona appearance under the gallery ; the 
new treasurer of the navy remarked 
hypotheiically, that " if the great person- 
age in question, not content with mere- 
ly listening to the debates, should on 
any occasion testify by his behaviour or 
Richard pronounced this speech, that Pitt I gesticulations, while in the house, a pre- 



was not perfectly pleased with the com- 
parison made between liiiDself and Mor- 
decai. Even Dundas, who might have 
been esteemed incapable of descending 
to such modes of attack ; yet, when re- 
ferring to Lee's very imprudent asser- 
tion, made, I think, on the I2th of .lanu- 



dilection or partiality for any set of 
men ; such marks of his preference 
would be unbecoming, and might operate 
as a means of influence." No answer 
was given by any member of the oppo- 
sition, to the supposed case thus stated : 
but Lord North, in the course of the 



ary, that " a charter was only a scroll of I evening, after expatiating on the eminent 



parchment, with a piece of wax dangling 
to it ;" observed, that it had been asked 
with equal reason, " What was the great 
harm of hanging an attorney general ? 
An hanged attorney general, was only 
a carcase dangling at the end of a rope." 
Sheridan, however, retorted on him with 
equal ability and severity, for this cti- 
rious metaphor. Lord North did not 
scruple to accuse the ministers wilh can- 1 



virtues of the heir apparent, expressed a 
becoming admiration at " his attending 
the House of Commons, where he might 
imbibe the true spirit of our Consiilulion, 
and become acquainted with the nature of 
this limited government, rather than lis- 
tening to flatterers. The comments on 
this delicate subject, proceeded no fur- 
ther, and were not renewed during th© 
remainder of the Parliament. 



478 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



[23d January. 3 The city of London 
led the way to the rest of ihe kingdom, 
by going up at thisjuncture to the foot of 
the throne, wiih an address, tlianking his 
majesty for the very interference, which 
the House of Commons had pronounced 
to, be subversive of the Consiitution. 
They retorted at the san)e lime, upon 
the authors of Fox's India Bill, the 
charge of " raising a power unknown to 
this free government, and highly inimical 
to his safety." Eiicourajjed by sucii 
unequivocal demonstrations of the affec- 
tion of the .metropolis, and of the corre- 
sponding dei'eciion in the opposition 
ranks, Pitt fiad already, framed and 
brought forward another East India Bill, 
the second reading o( which look place 
at tliis time. All the faculties of the two 
great leaders, who had originated those 
respective measures, were exerted in its 
attack and its defence. Fox, after con- 
trasting its pretended inefficiency and 
fluctuation of system, with the vigour 
which characterised his own measure for 
the government of our Asiatic posses- 
sions, concluded by protesting, " If the 
present 6i// is adopted, the company may 
continue to transmit orders to iheir ser- 
vants. They may fill their despatches, 
with morals and with ethics ; but all 
their commands will be perused with in- 
difference, and treated with disrepecl. 
If adopted, I do not hesitate to assert 
that India is lost, irrecoverably lost for 
ever." This most unfortunate predic- 
tion was not however meant so much for 
futurity, as calculated to operate on the 
appreliensions of his audience. Tlie 
chancellor of the exchequer, with more 
attention to the patience of the house, 
briefly pointed out as dangerous, as .well 
as unconstitutional nature of the power, 
proposed by Fox to be vested in Lord 
Fitzwilliam, independent of the crown; 
dependent on the good graces of the 
ministers who could command a majo- 
rity in Parliament." The division took 
place before midnight, when Pitt's bill 
was rejected only by eight votes, out of 
four hundred and thirty-six persons who 
divided. Such, indeed, was Fox's con- 
sciousness of these victories finally termi- 
nating in defeat, that no sooner had he 
thrown out the bill of the minister, 
than he moved for leave to introduce 
his own bill a second time ; but so 



changed and modified in its leading 
principles, as to be scarcely recogni- 
sable for tlie same measure. He un- 
questionably perceived when too late, 
the error into which his own ill regulated 
ambition, propelled by Burke's ardent 
and theoretical spirit, had precipitated 
the party. In order, iTierefore, to con- 
ciliate the favour of the house, and of the 
country, to the measure, he now offered 
to abandon almost all its obnoxious 
provisions ; particularly the patronage, 
which had excited so much obloquy and 
clamour. There remained only two 
fundamental principles or features, which 
he declared himself unable to retract, 
namely, the permanency of the system 
for the government of India, under par- 
liamentary, not royal authority ; and 
secondly; that the supreme control itself 
should be established, noton the. Ganges, 
but here at home. The proposition 
however, appeared to be no longer suited 
to the exigency. It is impossible not to 
accuse Fox of betraying want of judg- 
ment throughout every part of the trans- 
actions which led to his ministerial down- 
fall. A cautious, or a temperate states- 
man, would not have furnished the sove- 
reign to whom he was personally unac- 
ceptable, with the means of precipitating 
him from the elevation which he had 
attained with so much labour. Had the 
coalition made a judicious and moderate 
use of their power, the king, however he 
might have lamented his situation, could 
not have liberated himself from their 
yoke. They enabled himj by their 
errors, to emancipate himself. When 
we reflect that another coalition, formed 
by Lords Grenville and Grey, unin- 
structed l)y experience, renewed and ex- 
hibited in 1807, nearly the same error, 
followed by the same results, it affords 
no common matter of astonishment. 

After the rejection of the minister's 
bill for the government of India, Fox, 
sustained by members in various parts 
of the house, endeavoured to force from 
Put an explicit declaration of his inten- 
tions relative to a dissolution of Parlia- 
ment ; but neither menaces nor expostu- 
lations cotdd prevail over his determina- 
tion to observe a profound silence on 
that point. He resembled a rock against 
which the waves dashed and spent their 
force. To General Conway, who ac- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



479 



cused him of attaining power by uncon- 
stitutional means, anil existing by cor- 
ruption, he replied with great dignity, 
but r-efnsed to answer any interrogatories 
from individuals. " I will be tlie sole 
judge of my own honour," said he, 
" and though I have not been long accus- 
tomed to the strong language used within 
these walls, yet neither unsupported 
slander, nor intemperate threats, shall 
discompose my temper." Vainly Fox 
exhausted his indignation on the minis- 
ter's "sulky silence, and want of decency 
towards the house." With as little 
efTect, Lord Surrey pledged himself, if 
Pitt persisted in denying the information 
demanded, to bring forward a motion of 
a compulsory, or a criminating nature. 
Lord North and Sheridan each assailed 
him with every weapon of debate ; 
while Martin, notwithstanding his avowed 
detestation of the coalition, declared tliat 
on this occasion he could not support 
administration ; but would abandon them 
if the threatened resolution should be 
brought forward. Pitt remained im- 
moveable. It was a moment of crisis; 
the majority irritated, clamorous, and 
ripe to have come to a vote of a violent 
nature. But Fox, who well knew that 
any such act would only furnish a mo- 
mentary triumph, followed by the de- 
struction of his parliamentary machinery, 
interposed with apparent moderation. 
" Perhaps," observed he, " the minister 
conceives that because he has insulted 
this house to such a point, he may pro- 
ceed still farther. I am, nevertheless, 
averse to take any intemperate advantage 
of his conduct." He, therefore, pro- 
posed an adjournment of a lew. hours, 
till 12 o'clock of the same day (Saturday, 
24th of January), expressing his hope 
that a full attendance should then take 
place. His expectations were realized ; 
for I have rarely witnessed a greater 
number of members than assembled on 
the occasion. Fowls instantly rising, 
with marks of strong and visible emotion, 
reiterated Fox's question of the preceding 
night ; but Pitt, though he no longer 
declined making any reply, yet was 
with difficulty induced to guaranty the 
existence of the House of Commons, 
even for eight and forty hours. With 
that slender a.ssurance of their duration, 
they instantly adjourned. 



Notwithstanding the rising indignation 

of the capital and the country, which 
every day manifested itself with aug- 
menting energy, in favour of administra- 
tion ; yet the minister's situation at this 
juncture, equally painful in itself, as it 
was without precedent in our parliamen- 
tary history, appeared to be at times not 
wholly exempt from personal danger. Fox 
might be said, without either metaphor or 
exaggeration, to hold suspended over his 
head the severest marks of the indigna- 
tion of an ofTended House of Commons. 
His removal from the king's presence 
and councils, as an enemy to his country; 
his impeachment, or his commitment to 
the Tower; any, or all of these propo- 
sitions, might probably, nay, might cer- 
tainly have been carried, in moments of 
effervescence, when the passions of a 
popular assembly, inflamed by such a 
conductor as F'ox, seemed to be ripe for 
any act of violence. The irritation and 
impatience produced by debates, pro- 
tracted or repeated night after night, 
rendered his followers susceptible of 
impressions the most hostile to the 
minister ; who, in sullen majesty, or in 
contumelious silence, heard, unmoved, 
their clamorous denunciations, seated 
calmly on tlie treasury bench. Mr. Pitt 
displayed in that situation, during suc- 
cessive weeks, a combination of forti- 
tude, self-possession, presence of mind, 
and ability, which I never recollect with- 
out admiration. He did not, indeed, 
manifest the suavity, amenity, and wit, of 
Lord North, or of Sheridan. But always 
; preserving the command of himself, he 
was never led into deviations from cau- 
i tion and prudence, even when he seemed 
most to set at defiance, the menaces of 
his adversaries. If we reflect on his 
period of life, our surprise is augmented. 
He constituted, indeed, in himself, the 
administration which he defended ; and 
which, without hiin, could not have 
been maintained for a single week in 
existence. 

It may naturally be asked, why Fox, 
holding in his hand so powerful an en- 
gine as the majority of a House of Com- 
mons, which assembly, he well knew, 
might every day be dissolved ; and the 
individual members composing which 
superiority, he saw diminishing after 
almost every debate or division, in con- 



480 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



sequence of the natural operation of a ! 
variety of obvious causes ; yet should 
never have let fall its vengeance on the 
head of the minister, whom he apparent- 
ly held in his power? Why, when he 
saw all the ordinary expedients exhaust- 
ed or ineffectual, which might compel 
the king to dismiss his administration, 
or induce the ministry to resign ; did he 
tamely wait, till Mr. Pitt's measures 
being ripe, and the country having de- 
clared almost unanimously on his side, a 
dissolution reduced the coalition to in- 
significance, and overwhelmed their ill- 
concerted schemes for perpetuating their 
authority? Fox wanted neither vigour, 
decision, nor inclination, to have antici- 
pated his own approaching fall, and the 
extinction of his ambitious plans. Nor 
could he deceive himself relative to the 
political destruction which impended 
over the coalition, if they did not prove 
victorious in the actual contest. How 
then, and on what principles of common 
sense, are we to explain this seeming 
contradiction in his conduct ? 

Fox possessed no absolute certainty in 
the lirst place, whatever he might be- 
lieve, that the same majority which had 
supported him in voting remonstrances 
to the throne, would either stop the 
supplies, or carry up an address for Mr. 
Pitt's removal. Various country gen- 
tlemen already called for a union, 
and thought that no administration 
from whicli he should be excluded, 
would be found equal to the national 
emergency. Even many of Fox's sup- 
porters among them loudly deprecated 
all extremities. They might abandon 
him. He might therefore be left in a 
minority, and all his consequence, as the 
head of a great party, would thus be lost 
by one imprudent step. But granting, 
however, as seemed most probable that 
he should carry a personal question 
against Mr. Pitt, by ten, twenty, or thirty 
votes in a crowded house ; what would 
be the inevitable effect of such a victory ? 
That the king, sustained by the voice of 
the country, and not susceptible of fear, 
when he believed himself to be acting 
right; instead of dismissing his minis- 
ters, would dissolve the Parliament, and 
confidently appeal to the people, against 
their own representatives. In that case. 
Fox, far from attaining his object, would 



only have accelerated a dissolution ; and 
wolild afford to his antagonist, a plausi- 
ble, if not a solid excuse, for advising 
the sovereign to adopt that measure. 
These were unquestionably, the real 
causes of Fox's seeming moderation. 
Nor did Pitt, on the other hand, want 
motives equally powerful in restraining 
him from any precipitate movement. 
The county members who supported 
him, were adverse to a dissolution, un- 
less circumstances rendered it indis- 
pensable. By temporising and protract- 
ing, however irksome, and even in some 
degree humiliating, might be considered 
his situation in Parliament ; he gave 
time for the public sentiment to be 
loudly, as well. as generally pronounced, 
and could avail himself of it at any mo- 
ment. Such were the considerations 
which mutually withheld the two chiefs 
from proceeding to extremities, till the 
natural and unavoidable progress of 
affairs, produced the final consumma- 
tion. 

[26th January.]] The idea of endea- 
vouring to reconcile two men, who com- 
bined in their characters, almost all the 
great endowments fitted for government ; 
if it could be realized, seemed apparently 
pregnant, at first view, with incalculable 
benefit to the country. Some individuals 
of respectability in the House of Com- 
mons, impelled by these feelings, under- 
took the experiment. As early as the 
20th of January, the idea was suggested 
from various quarters, in the course of 
debate ; but neither Fox nor Pitt, though 
both aft'ected to consider it as an object 
highly desirable, pretended to think it 
practicable without a sacrifice of prin- 
ciple. Fox fairly avowed that he enter- 
tained very little hope of seeing such a 
union effected, as could prove a blessing 
to the country. The chancellor of the 
exchequer professed a similar conviction, 
and stated it in still plainer language. 
" I am by no means averse," observed 
he, " to the union so strenuously and so 
respectably recommended ; but, I agree 
with the right honorable gentleman 
(Fox), that such a union, not founded on 
principle, would only prove fallacious, 
and would produce disunion in a quarter 
where it must be attended with worse 
consequences to the state, than can result 
from our disputes in this assembly." 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



4^1 



Marsham, while he coincided in senti- 
ment with the two preceding speakers, 
yet expressed his warm salislaclioii at 
the assurances wliich they gave, of ifieir 
mutual disposition to act together for the 
public extrication. But Powis, with 
more discernment, exclaimed, " A union 
of abilities has been loudly called for 
within these walls. I rather wish to see 
a union of principle. The former may 
produce discordant counsels, and feeble 
measures. The latter must have oppo- 
site results." 

In fact, however specious the project 
appeared in theory, it proved impracti- 
cable, and only served to demonstrate 
the futility of the attempt. The St. 
Alban's tavern became the scene of this 
parliamentary drama, to which place re- 
paired about sixty or more members, 
distinguished for high character, large 
property, and acknowledged uprigiuness 
of intention. Though they chose Mr. 
Thomas Grosvenor, brother to the peer 
of that name, and one of the representa- 
tives for the city of Chester, as thei'r no- 
minal chairman ; their deliberations and 
proceedings were chiefly conducted by 
two gentlemen, who had already on vari- 
ous occasions, taken a lead in the debates 
carried on within the walls of the house. 
'I'he first, the Honorable Charles Mar- 
sham, son and heir of Lord Romney, 
himself member for Kent ; though a man 
by no means prepossessing or engaging 
in his manners, which were coarse and 
inelegant; yet wanted not ability, and 
attracted deservedly general considera- 
tion in his parliamentary capacity. The 
other, Mr. Fowls, whom 1 have had so 
often occasion to mention, and who com- 
monly prefaced his speeciies, on occa- 
sions of great interest, by a copious dis- 
charge of tears, which he seemed to com- 
mand at will ; challenged attention from 
his recognised integrity, eloquence, 
energy of mind, and impariialiiy. 

The Duke of Portland, as nominal 
liead of one party, and Pitt, as leader of 
the other, afl'ected equally to receive with 
deference, the propositions made to each, 
on the part of the associated members. 
It is prob:ible, however, that the duke, in 
this profession, might be more sincere 
than the minister. Difhculiies and ob- 
jections, cither to a personal interview, 
or to a negotiation, were started in turn 
•11 



by both. Pitt refusing to resign, or even 
to hear of a virtual resignation, whicii 
was required of him, as a previous step 
to any conference lor the purpose of 
forming an extended administration ; the 
overtures were suspended, and finally 
broken ofT, in consequence of these pre- 
liminary impediments. But the patriotic 
zeal of the St. Alban's meeting, was not 
to be overcome by ordinary obstacles ; 
and they returned to the charge some 
time afterwards, apparently under more 
l)ropitious auspices. In compliance 
with their suggestion and wishes, the 
king was even induced, towards the end 
of the month of February, to send a 
message to the Duke of Portland, recom- 
mending a conference between him and 
Pitt, with a view to constitute a ministry, 
on " a wide basis, and on fair and equal 
terms." Instead of instantl}' closing 
with such a proposition, from which, 
neither the sovereign, nor the chancellor 
of the exchequer, whatever might have 
been their secret wishes, could easily 
recede, without incurring the imputation 
of insincerity ; the Duke of Portland and 
Fox thought proper to cavil about the 
acceptation of the term "equal." At 
this opening, with which they injudi- 
ciously furnished him, Pitt escaped, by 
refusing to define any expressions, be- 
fore the proposed interview. 

All further efll*orts were therefore ulti- 
mately abandoned, with a view to pro- 
duce a political union between two men, 
whose mutual animosity and rivality 
seemed to derive new force, from the un- 
successful attempts made to effect a re- 
conciliation. With whatever compla- 
cency and ostensible alacrity, Pitt inva- 
riably received tlie propositions for such 
a junction, it is difficult to persuade our- 
selves that he could cordially desire 
their accomplishment. He beheld the 
prize for which they were contending, 
nearly attained and secured. His ambi- 
tion impelled him to govern alone, with- 
out an equal and a coadjutor in the 
cabinet, of such energy as Fox. Even 
their recriminations in Parliament, which 
had been so acrimonious and so recent, 
seemed hardly to admit of being buried 
in instant oblivion, without a mutual 
sacrifice of principle. We are warranted 
therefore, in believing, that an ac.-om- 
mo (1 ation, foreedon both by imperiou 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



circumstances, would have proved hol- 
low, insincere, and of short duration. 
They appeared to be not formed for 
acting together as members of the same 
administration ; nor did ihey ever openly 
coalesce for an instant, during their whole 
remaining lives. The French revolu- 
tion itself, which successively brought 
over to government, as lo an asylum 
against the evils of a sanguinary anar- 
chical republic, so many other eminent 
individuals, at whose head were the 
Duke of Portland, Burke, and Wind- 
ham, could never induce Fox to quit the 
opposition bench. He remained fixed 
lliere above two and twenty years, till 
death liberated him from his antagonist; 
and he then only became a minister, 
when, perhaps unfortunately for his 
country, his own career drew to its 
close. 

During the debate of the 26th of Janu- 
ary, in answer to the charges brought 
against him by Fox, who called on liim 
to resign his unconstitutional power, as 
a necessary preliminary to any union ; 
the new first minister replied with equal 
dignity and force of expression. He 
seemed, indeed, to feel not the slightest 
apprehension from the indignation or the 
votes of his antagonist's majority. " I 
came into office," observed he, "to ful- 
fil the duty which I owe his majesty, 
whose confidence I have not forfeited by 
any experiment for introducing a new 
power or estate into the Constitution." 
" I consider myself as aggrieved ; since, 
wholly untried in my ministerial capa- 
city, 1 lie under the censure of a resolu- 
tion of this house : but I have at least 
the consolation to reflect, that in propor- 
tion as the present cabinet becomes more 
known, its members rise in the confi- 
dence and esteem of Parliament, as well 
as of tlie people. I may appeal for the 
truth of my assertion, to the decay ins? 
majorities of the opposition. — Not that I 
am inimical to a reconciliation or a 
union, which has been so strongly re- 
commended ; but, in order to accom- 
plish this object, all personal views or 
prejudices, all pride and punctilio, must 
be laid aside. The right honorable gen- 
tleman has insisted on the entire resig- 
nation of the present ministers, previous 
to any negotiation. But though I occupy 
an employment of eminence, it is not 



one of choice ; and I trust, whenever the 
occasion calls for it, I shall approve my- 
self neither tenacious of power, nor im- 
properly attached to office. I act from 
patriotic, not private views : but my 
sense of public duty compels me to 
retain my actual situation, till another 
arrangement can be formed ; and not to 
suffer this great country to be again 
plunged into a state of anarchy, accom- 
panied with the absence of all govern- 
ment, as we experienced on a recent 
occasion. The inflexibility and deter- 
mination manifested in Pitt's speech, 
left little rational prospect of accommo- 
dation. 

[2d — lOlh February.] The discus- 
sions which took place in the House of 
Commons, between the termination of 
January, and the middle of the ensuing 
month, though equally violent and acri- 
monious with the preceding debates, 
contained less matter of interest, or of 
novelty. Accusations, levelled against 
the " East India Bill," from the treasury 
bench ; or against secret influence from 
the opposite side ; began to weary their 
hearers, and made little impression. 
Fox continued, it is true, master of the 
deliberations of the lower House of Par- 
liament ; his majorities sometimes falling 
as low as nineteen, and at other times 
rising to thirty-one : but this precarious 
superiority was far overbalanced by his 
decline in the popular esteem. No elo- 
quence, nor any exertions of sopliistry, 
could reconcile the public to his union 
with Lord North, followed immediately 
by the introduction of a measure, ob- 
viously calculated to cement their poli- 
tical power at the expense of the crown, 
which it must have reduced to a state of 
insignificance or vassalage. During the 
course of the debate which arose on the 
2d of February, when Mr. Grosvenor 
moved that " an extended and united 
administration was necessary for the ex- 
trication of the country from its distracted 
state," great difference of opinion re- 
specting its eligibility, was exiiibited 
among the members of the assembly. 
Fowls, whose sentiments upf)n every 
point inspired great respect, declared 
that "a general coalition was now be- 
come a matter, not of choice, but of 
necessity." " No man," added he, 
" can any longer oppose it, without 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



483 



voting in effect that the national business 
shall l)e suspended, which must produce 
general ruui." Widely dillerent was 
the view of things taken by Sir Cecil 
Wray, who, however inferior to Powis 
in ability, yet, as being Fox's colleague 
for VVe&tniinsler, and possessing plain 
common sense, was heard with much 
attention. "1 cannot," said he, " con- 



mentary proceeding, Pitt commented 
with much severity and justice of ani- 
madversion. " 'Pile house," observed 
he, " has been insidiously led on from 
one resolution to another, without ever 
discussing any single proposition on its 
own proper merits. The first resolutions 
were voted at six in the morning, — a 
most unusual hour, — with scarcely any 



sistenlly with mj' duly or my principles, debate or discussion. The second grew 



contribute by my voie to replace in 
cabinet, the very individuals, who by 
their late daring invasion of the rights 
and properties of their fellow subjects, 
have been so justly dismissed by his 
majest}', and some of whom ought to 
have been brought to the block.'''' "As 
to the distractions in the stale, which are 
mentioned in the motion, I know of 
none ; nor do I believe in their existence. 
On the contrary, the people seem to be 
nearly of one opinion, respecting the 
present ministers and those recently in 
power. The former are generally re- 
garded as honest and virtuous ; while 
the others are thought to have justly 
forfeited their employments, for having 
attacked the most sacred privileges of 
their fellow citizens. There are hardly 
two opinions on this subject, without 
doors. This house, indeed, has declared 
that it has no confidence in the adminis- 
tration ; but the addresses which are 
daily pouring in from different parts of 
the kingdom, prove how much tlie 
public confide in them. 'Phe unavoid- 
able inference is, that the voice of the 
House of Commons, is no longer the 
voice of the people of EnglancL'" 

Fox, in his reply, treated the ad- 
dresses to which Sir Cecil had alluded, 
with great contumely ; not foreseeing 
how rapidly they would spread over ihe 
whole surface of the country. Of West- 
minster, and of Middlesex, he spoke as 
portions of England inaccessible to 
ministerial artifice or delusion. The 
chancellor of the exchequer having 
assented to Mr. Grosvenor's motion, 
Mr. Coke, member for Norfolk, imme- 
diately proposed, that the continuance of 
the present ministers in power is an 
obstacle to an extended and united admi- 
nistration ;" Fox thus conducting his 
majority forward from step to step, till 
he should carry them to the intended 
consummation. On this mode of parlia- 



out of the former, and were followed by 
the third. But how had they been dis- 
cussed ? As mere corollaries to the 
preceding propositions, which this assem- 
bly was bound in consistency to adopt, 
as a matter of course. Thus artfully 
have we been kept from forming a fair 
estimate of the questions submitted to 
us." — Having entleavoured to point out 
the contradictions in which Powis in- 
volved himself, by voting for the reso- 
lutions, though he opposed and disap- 
proved thein ; though he admitted that 
" they were hastily proposed, grounded 
on doubtful or unauihenticated premises, 
and held out unfair conclusions ;" Pitt 
adverted to other parts of that gentle- 
man's speech. " He does not wish me," 
added the minister, " to quit the fortress, 
as he denominates it, that I occupy, and 
to march out with a halter about my neck. 
Sir, the only fortress that I recognise, 
or ever wish to defend, is the fortress of 
the Constitution. For its preservation I 
will resist every attack, and every seduc- 
tion. With what regard, indeed, either 
to my own personal honour, or to public 
principle, can I change my armour, and 
meanly beg to be received as a volunteer 
among the forces of the enemy ? 'Phis 
is a humiliation to which I never will 
condescend." — "I am, nevertheless, flis- 
posed to facilitate, as far as my principles 
will allow me, the union so much 
desired. But I see no reason for the 
previous resignation of ministers, and 
never will consent to it. If the house 
think otherwise, there are constitutional 
means open to them, either by impeach- 
ment for our crimes, if we have com- 
mitted any, or by addressing the crown 
for our removal." Mr. Coke's motion 
passed by a majority of nineteen, in a 
very crowded house, where four hun- 
dred and twenty-seven members were 
present. • 

Notwithstanding this apparent triumph 



484 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



of the coalition, their cause declined 
in ihe public estimation from day to 
(lay. Neither the powerful eloquence of 
Fox, the sallies of wit wliich illuminated 
every speech of Lord North, nor the 
happy mixture of humour, argument, and 
satire which characterised the efTorls of 
Sheridan in parliament, could rescue the 
party from the imputation of having 
made mutual sacrifices of principle. 
Daring the debate of the subsequent 
evening, the third of February, Sheridan 
even avowed, without circumlocution, 
that when Fox first communicated to 
him the proposition of coalescing with 
his ancient adversary, he advised his 
right honorable friend by no means to 
accede to it ; as the insurmountable 
prejudices imbibed throughout the nation 
would infallibly produce the loss of his 
popularity, character, and general esti- 
mation. Sheridan added, indeed, that 
on maturely weighing the motives of 
state necessity by which it was dictated, 
when sustained by his experience of the 
honour, principles, and steadiness of 
Lord North, he rejoiced at the union 
which had taken place, even in contra- 
diction to his own advice. But it is 
evident from this disclosure of his sen- 
timents, that he reasoned more dispas- 
sionately than Fox ; who, seduced by 
his ambition, goaded by his wants, and 
beholding only the numerical ascendant 
which Lord North's junction would give 
him, in one, if not in both Houses of 
Parliament, imagined tliat he could 
coerce the sovereign, and might either 
persuade, delude, or despise the people. 
The event fully justified Sheridan's 
opinion, and manifested the superiority 
of his judgment ; since, even though we 
should admit that Lord Sholburne would 
inevitably have remained in power if 
Fox had not joined Lord North, yet the 
former must have occupied tiie most im- 
posing situation as a public man, placed 
in some measure at the iiead of the 
Rockingham party, while maintaining 
his original ground of opposition ; and 
could not probably have been long ex- 
cluded from a participation in the coun- 
sels of the crown, even by Pitt himself. 

In vain did Sheridan, with admirable 
wit, endeavour to show that an equal 
t-uTifice of all political principle^ had 
taken place on the ministerial side of the 



house as was exhibited among the mem- 
bers opposite them: — an assertion 
which he attempted to illustrate by the 
spectacle which the treasury bench pre- 
sented, where the individuals now seated 
side by side, were beheld recently acting 
in hostility towards each other. But the 
union of inferior or subordinate persons, 
did not excite sentiments of equal repug- 
nance, nor awaken such moral condem- 
nation, as the coalition of two princi- 
pals, the one of whom had, for succes- 
sive years, been loaded by the other, 
with the severest imputations, and de-. 
nounced as a just object of national ven- 
geance. In vain did Fox accuse the 
first minister,after assassinating the Con- 
stitution by secret influence, in one 
House of Parliament ; with having re- 
course to methods of the basest corrup- 
tion, in order to procure a majority in 
another." As vainly did Rigby reproach 
Pitt with lavishing peerages for the 
same purpose; while it was notorious 
that the late administration was debarred 
from conferring similar dignities, and 
had not been able to make even a single 
British peer. With as little effect did 
Marsham read the resolutions adopted 
by the meeting at the St. Alban's tavern., 
aifirming" that any administration found- 
ed on the total exclusion of the mem- 
bers of the last, or of the present minis- 
try, would be inadequate to the public 
exigencies ;" or did Powis urge the 
chancellor of the exchequer to resign, 
as a necessary preliminary to all con- 
ciliation. Pin, though he still professed 
to desire an union, " provided it could 
be effected without a sacrifice of prin- 
ciple or of honour ; yet not oidy refused 
previously to retire from office, but start- 
ed many ulterior impediments to the ac- 
complishment of the object itself. 

No symptoms of approximation be- 
tween the contending parties, beyond 
unmeaning professions of mutual disposi- 
tion to bury in oblivion past animosities, 
took place : while among their respec- 
tive adherents, a spirit of inveterate en- 
mity was exhibited. Lord Mulgrave, in 
one of his speeches, charged Fox with 
" trampling the House of Brunswick 
under foot," by his " East India Bill ;" 
and though called to ortler by the late 
secretary of state, inveighed against him 
as " a plunderer and an invaderJ* 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



485 



Governor Johnstone said, that " if an 
election for a king were to take place in 
this country, Mr. Fox should have his 
vote ; so high an opinion did he enter- 
tain of those transcendant abilities which 
the riglit honorable gentleman possess- 
ed : but wishing to preserve the Consti- 
tution, he had negatived a bill which would 
have placed its author above all control." 
" His talents," added Johnstone, "I admit 
to be pre-eminent : so were those of 
Julius Cffisar, who undid Rome. Oliver 
Cromwell, who made the House of 
Commons his instrument, overturned 
the Constitution. Such would have been 
the effect of the East India Bill, if if had 
passed the legislature. Nor,j is the con- 
tinuance of the present minister in office, 
less necessary in order to prevent the 
renewal of that measure, than was his 
original acceptance of employment, to 
defeat it in the first instance." Wilber- 
force declared, that " even if that obnox- 1 
ious bill had passed the House of Peers, 
by as great a majority as it did the lower 
house yet he should equally have thank- 
ed the crown for dismissing the late 
ministers." Pitt himself, treating with 
defiance, as well as with contempt, Fox's 
indirect attempts to force his resignation, 
called on liis antagonist to come boldly 
forward ; and either to criminate his con- 
duct as a minister, or to move a personal 
question for his removal from office. 
Professing his own purity, both as a man, 
and as a public functionary, he avowed 
his indiflerence for all the clamour of 
party, or the unfounded imputations 
brought against the mode of his attain- 
ing power ; and concluded by trusting 
that the house would do justice to the 
motives, which actuated his present line 
of conduct. 

[Ilth — 17lh February.] Burke by 
no means took the same active or con- 
spicuous part in the debates that fol- 
lowed the rejection of the " East India 
Bill," as he had exhibited while the 
measure was on its progress to the upper 
house. With the loss of the pay office, 
he seemed to have lost for a time, much 
of his energy of mind. Even Lord 
North scarcely occupied the second 
place in these parliamentary convul- 
sions, where Sheridan and Erskine, 
Fowls, and even Marsham, severally at- 
tracted almost as much attention, as the 
41* 



late first minister. His blue ribband, 
seen conspicuous among the great coats, 
buff waistcoats, and dirty boots of his 
new allies, involuntarily recalled the re- 
flection of his having given the law from 
the treasury bench, during twelve years, 
to the same assembly, in which he now- 
performed so humiliating and inferior 
a character. He bore, nevertheless, this 
political change, under which many 
men would have sunk, with that im- 
perturbable serenity and equality of 
temper, which ever distinguished him 
through life. He acquired even the ap- 
plauses of every party, by the manly 
promptitude, and cheerful readiness, 
which he showed to sacrifice all per- 
sonal objects or interests to the public 
tranquillity. When Pitt avowed, that 
however highly he might respect that 
nobleman's abilities, or esteem his pri- 
vate character, yet they could never sit 
together in the same cabinet; Lord 
North, while he loudly censured the 
contemptuous dignity, and unaccommo- 
dating spirit of the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer; nevertheless declared, that no 
considerations relative to himself, sliould 
for an instant impede the formation of a 
new ministry, consonant to the general 
wishes of the country. 
j " There may be individuals," ob- 
served Pitt, "against whom I entertain 
no personal dislike or ill-will; whose 
private character I even respect and re- 
vere : whose abilities are great ; and yet 
with whom I could never bring myself 
to sit, or to act in the cabinet." No re- 
ply could be more dignified, yet disin- 
terested, than that of Lord North. " It 
is impossible for me to avoid perceiv- 
ing," said he, " that I am the person to 
whom allusion is made. From what- 
ever quarter, however, such expressions 
may come, and with whatever form of 
words, they maybe clothed, I never will 
quit my situation, or be<lriven from the 
ground which I occupy in this country, 
to gratify the caprice or the prejudices 
of any man, whatever may be his posi- 
tion in the state, or his opinion of him- 
self. But if in the present distracted 
condition of the country, produced by 
the means which the chancellor of the 
exchequer has used for obtaining power, 
I find that the national voice demands 
my retirement ; or that public opinion 



486 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



regards me as an obstacle to that extend- 
ed and united administration, so anxious- 
ly required, God forbid that I should 
impede the consummation of such a salu- 
tary union ! No love of power or 
emolument, no object of ambition, shall 
induce me for a single day to form a 
bar to the completion of that great ob- 
ject." This declaration elicited the 
warmest expressions of admiration from 
Marsham and Powis : — Eulogiums the 
more noticed, as no individuals in the 
house had treated him with greater acri- 
mony, when first lord of the treasury, 
during the latter part of the American 
war. Powis, after panegyrising Lord 
North's virtues, subjoined, " For my 
own part, I am not among the number 
of those persons who would wish to ex- 
clude the noble lord from any place in a 
future administration ; but since he has 
so disinterestedly expressed his readi- 
ness to sacrifice his own prospects, to 
the general tranquillity and benefit, the 
fault will henceforward lie with the mi- 
nister, if he should still refuse to pay to 
the House of Commons, the deference 
due to a branch of the legislature." 

Lord North was nevertheless unable to 
prevent the borough of Banbury, for 
which place he sal in Parliament, and 
where his family had always possessed a 
decisive influence ; from joining in the 
general cry against the coalition, and 
even framing an address, thanking his 
majesty for the recent dismission from 
office, of liieir actual representative in 
the House of Commons. A delegation 
from the inhabitants of ijanbury, wailed 
on me in London, bringing with them 
the address itself;, accom[)anied by 
a request that I would present it to 
the king on the first levee day, at St. 
James's, But on full consideration,, 1 
declined taking such a personal part 
against a nobleman whom I greatly re- 
spected, loved, and honoured, though 1 
had withdrawn from the party with which 
he had connected himself. Lord North 
alluding al'ierwards, during the debate 
which took place on the 27lh of Fe- 
bruary, to this address, declared that 
" he had the consolation to know, it was 
not signed by one of those individua.ls, 
his constituents, who returned him to 
Parliament." It spoke,, nevertheless, 
t,he sentiments of a large and respectable 



portion of the inhabitants and house- 
holders of the place. 

[18lh and I9lh February.] No cir- 
cumstance could more forcibly demon- 
strate the little apprehension felt by Pitt, 
of the eflects of parliamentary indigna- 
tion ; or could prove in a stronger man- 
ner, the confidence with which his own 
popularity inspired him, than his con- 
duct at this juncture. Almost imme- 
diately after the extinction of the falla- 
cious expectations awakened by the St. 
Alban's tavern meeting, the chancellor 
of the exchequer, rising in his place, 
calmly acquainted the house, that " the 
king, notwithstanding their resolutions, 
had not thought proper to dismiss his 
ministers ; and that they had not resign- 
ed." Such a piece of information, so 
delivered, seemed meant to force the 
coalition on some measure of violence. 
Fox, nevertheless, while he did not affect 
to conceal his indignation at the affront 
offered to the legislative body, and at the 
defiance conveyed in llie minister's 
words ; yet knew too well the feeble 
state of the machine over which he pre- 
sided, to press heavily upon its springs. 
He reprobated, indeed, the treatment 
which the house experienced; — a treat- 
ment demanding, he said, exemplary 
punishment. But he concluded with 
only proposing an adjournment of eight 
and forty hours, in order to give the 
minister time for reflection. 'J'his mo- 
tion, so distinguished by involuntary 
forbearance, he carried by twelve; a 
very slender superiority, where above 
four hundred members divided. 

Fox, on this occasion, though he pre- 
tended to deprecate any intemperate step, 
and only demanded a respite of one or 
two days ; exclaiming with Dido, while 
he accommodated her complaints to his 
own feelings, 

"Tempus inane peto; spatium requiemque 
furor i ;" 

yet endeavoured, by a most able and 
lai)Oured appeal to the wounded pride of 
the house, to inflame their passions,, 
while he directed theirresentmenlagainst 
the minister. Powis highly approved 
and supported the motion, which, he 
said, was in itself moderate, forbearing,, 
and the only proper coui'se adapted to 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



4ST 



the exiraordinary circumstances of tlie 
country, as il allowed brealliing time, 
while a compromise, he hoped, might yet 
be effectuated. Hut, there were other in- 
dependent members of the house, who 
held a liifferent lansruafje. Sir William 
Lemon, one ot the representatives for the 
county of Cornwall, declared that he 
wished notforany union, on the principles 
laid down by Fox. " I never liked," said 
he, " any of the resolutions adopted by 
this assembly, of which the present mi- 
nisters are the object. I consider them 
as arbitrary, violent, and personal. The 
chancellor of the exchequer has already 
made every concession compatible with 
his private honour, and his official situa- 
tion. Those two great component parts 
of his present existence, must stand or 
fall together. 1 am happy that he has 
displayed so much firmness in so good 
a cause, and I trust he will not stoop to 
any unbecoming negotiation." 

Thus sustained from without, as well 
as from within, Pitt not only displayed 
the most determined resolution, but 
charged Fox and his adherents with sys- 
tematically withholding the supplies ; 
thus sacriiicing their country, as he as- 
serted, to private faction, enmity, or am- 
bition. A distinction was however drawn 
by the opposition, between loithholding 
the supplies, and only posfponing them ; 
which latter line of conduct, Powis, in 
moderate language, and Marsham, with 
much stronger asseveration, declared to 
constitute their sole intention. The last 
mentioned member recriminated with 
asperity on the chancellor of the exche- 
quer, as expecting from him the same 
servile submission in registering the mi- 
nisterial edicts, which the French sove- 
reigns exacted in the assemblies denomi- 
nated parliaments. With more ability. 
Fox attempted to make a compromise 
with the minister ; offering instantly to 
vote the supplies, provided that the house 
might receive assurances from him, that 
" his majesty would comply with the 
desires of his faithful commons." But, 
Pitt, after first declaring the conviction 
of " his personal honour being inse- 
parably connected with his present offi'- 
eial situation, and his determination ne- 
ver to resign asa prelude to negotiation ;" 
— • in other words, to leave his place, and 
then to treat with the opposition, in order 



to form part of a new administration ;" 
— peremptorily refused to barter office 
for supply, or to enter into any stipu- 
lation on the subject. From this reso- 
lution, expressed in laconic, but energetic 
terms, neither menaces, blandishments, 
nor expostulations, could induce him to 
recede : and after a prolonged debate of 
two successive days. Fox, as the master 
of the assembly, finally moved to adjourn 
the sitting on the state of the nation, 
which was carried without a division. 
He still remained all-powerful within 
those walls ; but Pitt's superiority lay 
without doors, in every county, town, 
and village. 

Already addresses crowded in from 
London, down to New Sarum ; a borough 
which, though consisting only of one 
solitary farm house, yet as belonging to 
Lord Camelford, who had just been ele- 
vated to the peerage, did not omit to 
offer its tribute of loyalty to the crown, 
and of abhorrence for the measures of 
the opposition. Middlesex, South wark, 
even Westminster, abandoning Fox, ap- 
proached the throne with congratulations, 
or with testimonies of approbation at the 
dismission of the late ministers. York, 
a city where the Cavendish interest had 
always been predominant, and which 
place the late chancellor of the exchequer 
actually represented in Parliament; — 
Edinburgh, Worcester, Exeter, and many 
other inferior towns, followed the ex- 
ample, which spread with rapidity 
throughout the whole island. When we 
reflect on these facts, we shall probably 
think that Mr. Pitt, whatever professions 
he might either make himself; or what- 
ever wishes for " an united and extended 
administration," he might judge proper 
to put into his royal master's mouth, in 
reply to the addresses of the House of 
Commons ; yet could have nourished no 
serious intentions of dividing his power 
with Fox. 

Among the persons of rank who acted 
a conspicuous part, and manifested more- 
than ordinary enthusiasm in the cause of 
Pitt, at this time, were two well known 
noblemen, lord Mahon, and Lord Mount- 
morres. I have already made metition 
of the former, whose eccentricities of 
dress, character, and deportment, how- 
ever great they might be, were neverlhe- 
[less allied to exlraordaniiry powers q£ 



488 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



elocution, as well as energies of mind. 
My acquaintance with him was slight; 
but, during many years I lived in habits 
of familiar and frequent intercourse with 
Lord Moiintmorres. In his person he 
was tall, slender, of a dark and adust 
complexion ; active, and always on his 
feet, to so great a degree as to convey an 
idea of ubiquity personified ; — for, he 
seemed to be in many places at the same 
time. Invariably busy, yet never attain- 
ing his object ; unsuccessful in love, in 
ambition, in every pursuit; yet still con- 
tinuing the chace. An orator in print, 
but destitute of eloquence ; and printing 
speeches which he had never pronounced. 
Fluent and plausible in conversation, 
though wanting judgment. Abandoning 
his hereditary seat in the Irish House of 
Peers, where he might have been useful 
to his country, he preferred London ; 
borne up by the fallacious hope of ac- 
quiring a place in the English House of 
Commons, which he never accomplished. 
An enthusiast in politics, he was not the 
less an economist in his expenses ; and 
though ardent in his views, always keep- 
ing his purse close shut. Perpetually 
planning marriages, but never succeeding 
in them, he finally died without entering 
into that state. Such was Lord Mount- 
morres, to whom the authors of the 
" Rolliad" have assigned two " Proba- 
tionary Odes ;" while to all the other 
individuals selected for ridicule, among 
whom I hold my place, they have only 
attributed one production of that kind. 
On the hustings, whether erected in Co- 
vent Garden, in Palace Yard, or in West- 
minster Hall, both the above mentioned 
noblemen were constantly found, as in 
their proper element ; and Fox had not 
in the whole range of the metropolis, 
two more determined enemies. Lord 
Mahon was however in all senses the 
most formidable, pertinacious, and re- 
spectable. 

As the tide of popular indignation rose 
against the " East India Bill," tumul- 
tuary meetings took place in many parts 
of the kingdom, where the general sense 
of the inhabitants was collected. West- 
minster itself, which during the last 
years of Lord North's unfortunate ad- 
ministration, had constituted the citadel 
and the sanctuary of Fox; renouncing 
iis voluntary allegiance, raised the stand- 



ard against him. lie vainly main- 
tained, both by himself, and through his 
adiierents in Parliament, particularly 
Erskine, that this painful change origi- 
nated solely in delusion or imposture : 
as if it required a superior intelligence, 
to appreciate the objects of that measure ; 
or as if Pitt, like the Magician in the 
"Arabian Nights' Entertainments," could 
transform beef and mutton, into the ap- 
pearance of human flesh. Lord North, 
alluding to one of these assemblages of 
people in Westminster Hall, which had 
very recently taken place, and at which 
Fox was necessarily present ; I think, it 
happened in the course of the debate of 
the 18th of February ; gave a most pic- 
turesque and ludicrous description of the 
scene, as well as of the principal per- 
formers. " Much," observed that face- 
tious nobleman, " has been advanced re- 
lative to the pretended popularity of the 
present minister. From what source 
does he derive such nostrums? Is it 
from the meeting, held a few days ago, 
in Westminster Hall ? One description of 
citizens there vociferated, No coalition ! 
while others exclaimed. No back stairs 
influence! But it demanded the utmost 
precision of ear, to decide which of the 
two clamours predominated. Indeed, 
the noise owed its origin, as I am assured, 
not so much to the multitude, as to two 
noble lords who were there present. The 
first (Lord Mahon), by his nervous, im- 
passioned gesticulation, and sonorous 
oratory, is well calculated to carry away 
the prize in such a contest. The disin- 
terested eloquence of the other peer 
(Lord Mountmorres), claims peculiar 
respect. Not influenced by British pro- 
perty, he has magnanimously exposed 
his person in a voyage to this island, and 
has hazarded the perils of the sea. Pro- 
fessing himself a citizen of the world, an 
advocate for the universal rights of man- 
kind, he has abandoned his native coun- 
try. He has even left its freedom in 
jeopardy, in order that he may devote 
his whole faculties to the interests and 
preservation of this nation. From the 
operation and influence of such exalted 
characters on the public mind, we cannot 
reason with safety." 

Masterly as this piece of historic ora- 
tory must be esteemed, and powerful as 
was its operation on the muscles of the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



489 



audience, when pronounced ; Lord Ma- 
hon, two daya afterwards, during the 
discussion of the 20lli February, re- 
taliated with great severity, not unac- 
companied witii ability, on his political 
adversaries. After eiiumeraiing the un- 
equivocal proofs of unp()[)ularily which 
Fox received at the meeting alluded to 
by Lord North, " Does he," exclaimed 
Lord Mahon, " interpret groans into ap- 
plause, and take hisses for approbation ? 
There was a time, when he was heard 
like an oracle ! Why ? Because the 
public credulously believed that he was 
fighting their battles, as a sincere and 
honest tribune of the people. But their 
eyes are opened since he has attempted 
to raise himself above the free Constitu- 1 
tion of his country, by aspiring to the 
place of a dictator." — " How was their 
zeal expressed ? In pretty intelligible 
words. jVo grand Moguli No India 
tyrant ! No usurper! No turncoat! 
No Catiline! If such be the popu- 
larity to which he aspires, and if such 
are the marks of approbation of which 
he boasts, long may he continue to re- 
ceive them !" Even Pitt, in the course 
of the same evening, had recourse to 
similar illustrations of the decline of 
Fox's influence over his constituents, 
who once idolized him. Having staled 
the defeat of the coalition at Reading, 
he next adverted to their discomfiture at 
Hackney, where the freeholders of Mid- 
dlesex had been convened. Fixing his 
eyes on George Byng, one of the mem- 
bers for that county,"" I see over against 
me," observed he, " a most determined 
chiefiiiiii, just returned from that field of 
warfare ; whose brow, indeed, is no 
longer, as formerly, adorned with the 
smiles of victory. Whether at JFest- 
minster it is a proof of triumph, that the 
people would not even hear the right 
honorable gentleman (Fox), who once 
could charm the multitude into mute at- 
tention ; — whether he, emphatically de- 
nominated the man, and the champion 
of the people, is now content with the 
execration of those multitudes, whom he 
so long held in voluntary bonds of at- 
tachment and homage ; — these are 
points on which I will not decide : but 
sure I am, that if Westminster consti- 
tutes his only proof, the voice of the 
people is no longer with him." Fox, 



though little accustomed to allow such 
speeches to remain unnoticed, did not 
oiler any reply either to Pitt, or to Lord 
Mahon. We may, however, form some 
idea, from the scenes portrayed within 
(he walls of the House of Commons, 
how great was the ferment which then 
pervaded the metropolis and the king- 
dom. 

[February 4lh— 16lh.] The House 
of Peers, which assembly, after arrest- 
ing the progress of the "East India 
Bill," as if exhausted by that effort, had 
ever since remained silent and supine 
spectators of the contest carrying on be- 
tween the crown and the Commons; 
exhibited some symptoms of aniniation 
about this time, by adopting, early in 
the month of February, two propositions 
of a nature tending to condemn the con- 
duct of the lower house, and to strengthen 
the hands of the sovereign. The Earl 
of Effingham, who during many years 
of his life, had manifested the most de- 
cided hostility to the king's government ; 
and who, as late as June, 1780, was un- 
justly accused of personally mixing in 
the riots of the capital ; now appeared 
as the zealous defender of prerogative. 
He was sustained by the Duke of Rich- 
mond, whose political character and 
opinions had undergone since 1782, a 
similar transformation : while on the 
other hand, the resolutions moved by 
Lord Effingham, found the warmest op- 
ponents in the Earl of Mansfield, in 
Lord Stormont, and Lord Loughborough, 
so long the systematic chum[)ion3 of 
royalty. 

Few debates more animated, as well 
as acrimonious and pfrsonal, have ever 
taken place within the walls of the 
upper house, than occurred on this occa- 
sion. While Lord Filzwilliam drew the 
most unfavourable portrait of the young 
first lord of the treasury, whom he de- 
scribed as deficient not only in expe- 
rience, and averse to every social source 
of information, but as devoured by an 
overweening and insatiable thirst of 
power; the Duke of Richmond panegy- 
rised his industry, his abstraction from 
dissipation, his application to public 
business, his frugality of the national 
treasure, and elevation of mind ; the last 
of which qualities had been so conspi- 
cuously displayed in his recent renun- 



490 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



ciation of a lucrative sinecure place. 
Lord Stormont endeavoured to point the 
general indignation against him, for his 
presumption in continuing to retain his 
situation, in defiance of the votes and 
resolutions of the House of Commons: 
while his predecessors in office. Sir 
Robert Walpole, Lord North, and the 
Earl of Shelburne, had, each in turn, 
anticipated, or respectfully obeyed the 
first demonstrations of the pleasure of 
that branch of the legislature. The 
Earl of Mansfield, with the political 
timidity so characteristic of his whole 
life, in every situation, judicial or parlia- 
mentary ; depreitated, as the greatest of 
national calamities, any resolution, which 
by interrupting the harmony subsisting 
between the two houses, might lead to a 
dissolution. He seemed to contemplate 
such an event, if it should take place, 
as commensurate with the destruction of 
the British Constitution itself; as dis- 
banding the army, laying up the navy, 
suspending the functions of governinent, 
and throwing the country into irreme- 
mediable confusion. The house, neither 
deterred nor intimidated by these de- 
nunciations, voted the resolutions by a 
large majority of forty-seven ; and fol- 
lowed them immediately wiih an ad- 
dress to the throne, expressive of their 
reliance on his majesty's wisdom in the 
selection of his confidential servants, as 
well as by the assurances of their sup- 
port, in the just exercise of those prero- 
gatives entrusted to him for the protection 
of his people. It was difficult to ima- 
gine a triumph more decisive over the 
coalition, or a more opportune and im- 
portant accession of strength 'to the first 
minister, struggling against a majority 
in the House of Commons. The king 
received, and replied to the address, in 
laconic, but warm and affectionate lan- 
guage. 

In other periods of our history, such 
an interference, followed by such a cen- 
sure, might, and unquestionably would, 
have called out the resentment of the 
representatives of the people. But as 
Fox justly dreaded all occasions of rup- 
ture, orof dispute between the two houses, 
which might atlbrd the new ministers 
a plausible pretence for the dissolution 
of parliament ; he contented himself with 
dictating and carrying six counter reso- 



lutions, tending to justify the line of con- 
duct that had been adopted by the House 
of Commons. Lord Beauchamp was 
selected for the performance of this ser- 
vice ; and after a series of debates which 
occupied eleven days, distinguished 
throughout by the same asperity as had 
been exhibited in every preceding dis- 
cussion, the resolutions finally passed 
without a division. Li the progress of 
these gladiatorial exhibitions of parlia- 
mentary ability and dexterity — for such 
they could only be deemed — Fox, con- 
scious that the conflict in which he had 
engaged wore from tlay to day a more 
sinister appearance, and must, however 
it might be protracted, terminate in his 
fall ; assumed every shape, and tried 
every means of inducing his adversary 
to propose, or to accept, some principles 
of accommodation. At one time, de- 
nouncing the fir^t lord of the treasury, 
Fox held him up to national execration, 
as a conspirator, who aimed at the life 
of the House of Commons ; which 
assembly he at the same time daily 
insulted, by appearing among them as a 
confidential servant of the crown, though 
destitute of their confidence or support. 
Changing altogether his tone, a few 
days afterwards, in soothing accents, 
calculated to win their way into the 
heart, he complimented Pitt's abilities; 
professed respect for his political prin- 
ciples ; expressed his readiness, nay, 
his eagerness, to form an union, pro- 
vided it was grounded, not on private 
interest or aggrandizement, but on great 
public meritorious motives of action ; 
apologised for any harsh or unguarded 
expressions which might have occurred 
in the warmth of debate ; avowed his 
ambition and love of glory, as sentiments 
which he felt in common with the first 
lord of the treasury ; and finished by 
protesting that he would make every 
personal sacrifice at the shrine of his 
country. 

In farther corroboration of these conci- 
liating dispositions, Fox took occasion to 
declare, that he was ready to accommo- 
date and modify his obnoxious bill for 
the government of India, so as to meet 
the public wish, and to acquire the public 
confidence. He would abandon the pa- 
tronage which it conferred, and would 
submit every clause or regulation of the 



HISTORICALME MOIRS, 

— ^ — 



491 



measure ilsRlf, to the discussion of Par- 
liament. His noble friend, Lord North, 
would prove no obstacle to union be- 
tween the two parties. There remained 
only one siipulaiiun, from which he 
couid never recede ; namely, Mr. Pitt's 
virtual resiirnation ; as being indispensa- 
ble in iiself, and as an expiation to the 
violated Constitution of Great Britain. 
In reply to these alternate menaces and 
blandishments, the minister, on his part, 
affected and professed an equal desire of 
union, on bases of principle and honour ; 
disclaimed all personal views in the line 
of conduct which he had adopted, by his 
acceptance of office ; declared that he 
should ever think he had performed an 
essential service to his country, by de- 
feating a measure big with destruction to 
the Constitution ; expressed his consola- 
tion at finding that Fox was disposed to 
renounce any of its pernicious features ; 
protested that he and his colleagues were 
all ready to resign their employments, 
as soon as a prospect presented itself of 
forming an administration, by which the 
state might be effectually served ; but 
took care to conclude by declaring, that 
he could neither reconcile it to the duty 
which he owed his sovereign and the 
people of England, nor to his own 
honour, to lay down his office, before he 
beheld such a prospect. It was evident 
that, amidst these reciprocal professions 
and demonstrations, not the smallest 
advance was made on either side, towards 
real approximation. 

[20th February.] However decidedly 
the sentiments of the capital and of the 
nation, had been already pronounced in 
favour of the new ministers, yet Fox 
still retained firm possession of the House 
of Commons ; though he held that as- 
sembly, as he well knew, only by a frail 
and decaying tenure. Powis, who, not- 
withstanding his avowed disapprobation 
of the East India Bill, and his invinci- 
ble repugnance to the coalition, did not 
the less condemn and oppose the form- 
ation of the new adiHini.-^lration, as 
wholly subversive of the dignity and in- 
herent rights of the lower House of 
Parliament ; rising in his place, origi- 
nated another effort for compelling the 
king to dismiss the first lord of the 
treasury. A most animated, long, and 
acrimonious debate ensued, terminating 



in favour of opposition, at a very late 
hour of the morning, after two divisions, 
both which Fox carried ; the first, by a 
majority of twenty ; the last, by twenty- 
one. The address voted, was ordered 
to be presented by the whole house. 
But this triumph, however apparently 
srralifvinff, might be considered rather 
as nominal, than real ; not extending 
in fact beyond the threshold of the 
lobby, and being neither calculated 
to intimidate the sovereign, nor to acce- 
lerate the first minister's resignation. 

Lord Nugent, who might with even 
more propriety than Welbore Ellis, be 
denominated the Nestor of the House of 
Commons, at the period of which I am 
writing ; and who manifested all the 
garrulity of old age, sustained by a sort 
of unblushing facility of utterance, which 
might pass for eloquence ; — took a pro- 
minent, and an extraordinary part in the 
discussion. Though closely connected 
with Earl Temple, to whom he had 
married his daughter, the heiress of his 
fortune ; yet he professed ardently to 
wish a reconciliation and a union be- 
tween the two rival statesmen. As an 
encouragement to attempt so great a na- 
tional object, he stated that he had ac- 
complished, more than thirty years be- 
fore, a similar undertaking, by means of 
a personal interview between Lord Gran- 
ville and Mr. Pelham, which took place 
at his own residence. " These two 
candidates for power," said Lord Nu- 
gent, "came to the appointment, dis- 
guised. I introduced them to each other, 
and then left them alone. A good sup- 
per, and excellent wine, which I had 
provided, soon banished mutual reserve. 
They spoke freely, became friends, and 
so remained. Thus was this coalition 
effected in a single night. I am not 
much acquainted with the two gentle- 
men now sitting opposite each other ; 
but, if they will meet at my house, they 
shall have a delicate supper, with the 
finest wines. They may even, if they 
please, get gloriously drunk. And I 
will answer for it, over the bottle, their 
punctilios and distrust will vanish: while 
confidence will spring up, where diffi- 
dence previously existed." This pro- 
position, which seemed rather adapted^ 
to a private convivial party, than be- 
coming a legislative assembly, excited 



492 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



no remark from any quarter ; and was 
excused on account of the age, sustained 
by the bold peculiarities of the noble 
person with whom it originated. Pitt 
and Fox could not have been reconciled, 
or made to act together, like Mr. Peiham 
and Lord Granville. The men, and the 
limes, were, both, equally ditferent. 

I have never witnessed greater oratori- 
cal exertions made by Fox, than on that 
evening. In a speech of prodigious 
length, which might be said to try the 
patience of the house, he endeavoured to 
concentraie every argument, and to ex- 
haust every topic of declamation. But 
his antagonist, elevated by the victories 
obtained without doors, in various towns 
and counties ; as well as nearer home, 
at Hackney, where the freeholders of 
Middlesex had been convened; and 
above all, in Westminster itself, where 
Fox had just received the most un- 
equivocal marks of the disapprobation, 
or rather indignation, of his own con- 
stituents ; — elated by his consciousness 
of these advantages, Pitt, with far more 
brevity, but in a higher tone than he had 
ever yet assumed, retorted on his adver- 
sary with inconceivable severity. Afier 
exposing to derision the inconsistence 
of his present conduct in becoming the 
champion of a small majority of the 
House of Commons, instead of consti- 
tuting the distinguished organ of the 
popular voice, as he once was ; and 
complimenting him on the dexterity, 
wiili which he supported in turn the 
most opposite political characters ; Pitt 
justified himself from the charge of im- 
posture in representing to the nation the 
pernicious consequences to tlie British 
Constitution, that must have resulted 
from " the East India Bill." His ex- 
pressions, — I mean Pitt's, — were dipt 
in g;dl, tfiough arrayed in all the ele- 
gance of language. '• The right honor- 
able gentlemen." observed the minister, 
" has this evening appeared in a charac- 
ter entirely new ; but which he supports, 
as, indeed, he does all his parts — with 
wonderful ability. He is to-night ths 
champion of a small majority of this 
house against the loud and decided voice 
of the people. He has even endea- 
voured in this, his new character, to 
calumniate the English people. Impos- 
tl(rp. wns th? form n=P'l liv hi'^ Irnrned 



friend (Erskine) ; — for how should the 
people understand the India Bill ? Do 
they know all the abuses practised on 
the Ganges ? — Sir, they know that the 
loss, nay, the annihilation of India, could 
not compensate for the subversion of the 
Constitution. They could see that the 
Bill raised up a new power, stripping 
the crown of its prerogative, and the 
people of their chartered rights, in 
order to render its author a dictator 
over both his sovereign and his country." 
Then descending to personal objects, 
" the right honorable gentleman," said 
he, " calls me a mere nominal minister, 
the puppet of secret influence. It is 
because I disdain to become his puppet, 
by resigning my office, that he thus de- 
nominates me. But his contemptuous 
expressions shall never provoke me to 
resignation. My own honour and repu- 
tation I never will resign, to place my- 
self under his protection ; to accept a 
nomination from him, and thereby be- 
come a poor, powerless, self-condemned, 
unprofitable minister in his train: — a 
minister, serviceable to him perhaps, 
but altogether incapable of serving my 
king, or my country. If, indeed, I have, 
as he asserts, submitted to become the 
puppet and the minion of the crown, 
why will he condescend to admit me 
among his band?" — "Severe, there- 
fore, as the conflict is, my conscience, 
my duty, my attjchment to the Consti- 
tution, maintains me in my present 
arduous situation. It arises not from 
contempt or defiance of the constitutional 
resolutions of this assembly. Neither a 
point of honour nor the love of power 
impel me to cling to office. The nature 
of the time, and I will add, the voice of 
the country, call on me to defend this 
fortress, and nothing shall induce me 
to surrender it." He concluded by 
levelling the severest reproaches on 
Fox, for stopping, or as the opposition 
termed it, suspending and postponing 
the supplies ; thus sacrificing the public 
interests, to private animosity or ambi- 
tion. No reply was made to liiis elo- 
quent harangue, which seemed finally to 
extinguish all the fallacious hopes, so 
long nourished by s'ln^uine or credulous 
individuals, of beholding an administra- 
tion founded on a broad basis. It be- 
raine evident that no intonlions of s'.ich 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



493 



a nature, were seriously cherished or 
encouraged ; and it was equally pal- 
pable, that one of the two eonlentiiiig 
parlies must ultimately sink under the 
superiority of his opponent. 

[2 1st — 27th February.] Already 
Fox's majority, undermined by many 
causes, began to exhibit symptoms of 
rapid decay. While some members aban- 
doned the coalition, in deference to 
the public voice, or in obedience to the 
remonstrances of their immediate con- 
stituents ; others yielded to suggestions 
of a personal or interested nature, and 
withdrew from a sinking party, whose 
approaching extinction they anticipated. 
These latter individuals drew on them- 
selves the bitterest sarcasms for their de- 
sertion, not only from Fox, but at dif- 
ferent times, from various members of 
the opposition. The king's answer to 
the last address, drawn up with con- 
summate skill, gracious in its language, 
conciliating in its professions, declaring 
how anxiously his majesty desired to 
form " a firm, efficient, extended, and 
united administration;" but lamenting 
the inefficiency of his efforts for that 
purpose; denying that it would be ad- 
vanced or facilitated by the previous dis- 
mission of his ministers, against whom 
no charge or complaint was preferred ; 
observing that numbers of his subjects 
had expressed their satisfaction at the 
late cliange in his councils ; and finally 
declining to vacate the essential offices 
of executive government, till he should 
see a prospect of eff'ecting such a union 
as his faithful Commons recommended : 
— this reply augmented the embarrass- 
ments, while it added to the dismay, of 
the coalition leaders. 
\4;0n the question being agitated, of ad- 
journing its consideration for two or three 
days ; after a short debate. Fox found 
himself indeed still in a majority, but it 
consisted only of seven, though near 
three hundred and fifty members voted. 
He made, nevertheless, on the first day 
of the ensuing month, when the royal 
answer was read by the Speaker, another 
desperate attempt to carry the ministerial 
trenches by storm, and sustained it by 
his accustomed display of eloquence. 
The debates themselves had however 
ceased to excite the same interest, or to 
awaken the same attention, as they had 
42 



produced in earlier stages of the contest. 
Yet in a very full house, falling little 
short of four hundred, the opposition 
maintained their superiority, and even 
rose to twelve. Another address was 
voted ; but, though it still besought the 
sovereign " to lay the foundation of a 
strong and stable government, by the 
previous removal of his present minis- 
ters ;" it lamented "the failure of his 
endeavours for forming an united admin- 
istration ; and their concern, as well as 
disappointment, at his majesty's not 
having been advised to take any further 
steps for efi'ecting the object." It was 
impossible more clearly to admit their 
inability to dictate to the crovvn, and 
their desire, of dividing with Pitt the 
power, of which it had become evident- 
ly impracticable wholly to deprive him. 

The whole drift and object of Fox's 
speech were designed to prove, by refer- 
ence to the events of the two prece- 
ding reigns, that both George the First 
and Second had invariably complied with 
the expressed wishes of the House of 
Commons, in the choice or dismission 
of their ministers. No principle of the 
Constitution could indeed be more clearly 
recognized, or mare indisputable. Pitt 
himself admitted it. But, its practical 
application in the present instance, vio- 
lated common sense, because neithercause 
nor reason was assigned for compeling 
the king to dismiss his confidential ser- 
vants. " No man," observed the chan- 
cellor of the exchequer, in his reply to 
Fox, can more strongly maintain than 
myself, the right of this house to advise 
the sovereign, in the exercise of all his 
prerogatives. But that a declaration of 
this house, disapproving his majesty's 
ministers, should, ipso facto, compel 
him to dismiss them, or oblige them to 
resign, I never will allow." — " Does 
the history of this country affijrd any in- 
stance of an administration called ow to 
retire from office, without a cause?" — 
Fox's majority constituted the only re- 
futation of such reasoning. 

[4th and 5lh March.] In his answer 
to their address, the king nearly repeat- 
ed his preceding declaration ; only sub- 
joining, that he did not consider the 
failure of his recent endeavours to form 
an extended and united administration, 
as constituting a final bar to its accom- 



494 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



plishment, if it could have been obtain- 
ed on principles of fairness and equal- 
ity." Bui as though he had been desir- 
ous at the same time, of extinguishing 
any such expectations, he added, " I 
know of no farther steps that I can take, 
that are likely to remove the difficulties 
which obstruct that desirable end." Fox, 
who beheld as in a mirror, the sentence 
of his perpetual exclusion from office, 
conveyed under these expressions of the 
sovereign ; after first postponing the 
consideration of his majesty's reply, for 
four days, endeavoured to throw an in- 
surmountable barrier in the way of dis- 
solution, by delaying the progress of the 
mutiny bill through the house. An ani- 
mated debate ensued on the subject ; in 
which, while the two leaders took only 
a comparatively inferior share, Lord 
North spoke at considerable length, and 
with great ability. Under the possible 
anticipation that the majority might be 
able to prevent the mutiny bill from pass- 
ing, opinions had been hazarded from 
persons seated on the ministerial 
benches, that even though that annual 
act should be suffered to expire, yet the 
king might keep the army together; 
both the men, and the money for their 
payment being already voted. When 
therefore the consent of the House of 
Peers should be obtained, the crown, it 
was asserted, might have an army on 
foot, with the recognized approbation of 
Parliament. Sir Adam Ferguson, mem- 
ber for the county of Ayr in Scotland, a 
man of sound sense, himself bred to the 
Scotch bar, where he had attained to 
eminence, supported the proposition. 

This doctrine, which, it must be con- 
fessed, was not to be found in " the Bill 
of Rights;" and which might, in its 
effects, have proved subversive of the 
British Constitution ; received, it is true, 
no direct sanction from Pitt : but it did 
not the less provoke and produce from 
various quarters, the severest animadver- 
sion. Lord North observed, that "such 
a discovery, if founded in law, might 
well make every man tremble for his 
liberty. Those who maintained it, must 
however, likewise assert, that the army 
might be kept together without discipline, 
and without punishment; the first being 
only enforced, and the latter only in- 
flicted, under the mutiny act." He con- 



cluded by reminding ministers, " that 
notwithstanding the money had been 
voted for the payment of the army ; 
yet until the act specifically appropri- 
ating it to that branch of service, had 
passed ; no power or right existed in 
administration, to issue any sum, how- 
ever small, for the purpose." Finally, 
he warned them, that " as a prorogation 
or dissolution does away every vote of 
supply, not previously carried into an 
act of Parliament; if, therefore, the mi- 
nister should have recourse to such a 
measure, the votes of army, navy, ord- 
nance,* and supply of every kind, must 
instantly be destroyed and fall to the 
ground." No answer was made or at- 
tempted from the treasury bench, to 
these denunciations, which did not in- 
deed admit of any constitutional reply ; 
and only served to show the critical, as 
well as awful position of the country, 
left without an efficient government, and 
apparently on the verge of a suspension 
or extinction of all its establishments. 

Powis and Marsham, who commonly 
acted in concert, uniting their efforts on- 
this occasion, attacked the minister in 
language of equal energy and acrimony. 
The former, after expressing his amaze- 
ment at the king's answer, and wishing 
for time to shed a tear over the expiring 
dignity, and to regulate the funeral pro- 
cession of the House of Commons ; la- 
mented that administration appeared to 
be determined on prosecuting their mad 
career, and on elevating prerogative 
above privilege. Marsham reiterated 
the same sentiments, while he protested 
that no act could be more remote from 
his intention, than to delay the public 
business, or to plunge the country into 
confusion. Rigby, who had been called 
on by the attorney general, only a few 
days before, to pay into the exchequer, 
the large balances of public money re- 
maining in his hands; — a demand of 
which he loudly complained, as harsh 
and illiberal, though he could not venture 
directly to oppose or resist it ; — came 
forward once more very conspicuously 
in the course of the debate. With that 
blunt, bold, dictatorial, and coarse style 
of oratory, which always characterized 
him ; but of which, since the extinction 
of Lord North's government, he had ex- 
hibited comparatively few specimens; he 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



495 



reprobated the audacity of a minister j insult, and violation of the British Con 



who presumed to remain in ofRce, with 
a majority of the House of Commons 
against him : observing that it was re- 
served for the present days, to produce 
a chancellor of the exchequer, who said 
to Parliament, " I care not for your ma- 
jority* The king has appointed me, 
and you have nothing to do with the 
business." He finished by declaring 
that his blood boiled with indignation, at 
the bare mention of retaining an army 
without a mutiny bill. Pitt did not con- 
descend to notice these personal sarcasms 
or animadversions ; which he well knew, 
however they might operate within the 
walls of the assembly where they were 
pronounced, would produce no injurious 
consequenees to iiim among the people 
without doors. On the division for ad- 
journing the committee upon the mutiny 
bill, he was again left in a minority of 
nine; the numbers being 171 against 
162 ; Fox still retaining his slender pos- 
session of the house. 

[8ih March ] But the termination of 
this great conflict, on which, not only 
England, but all Europe had their eyes 
fixed, and which had already lasted near 
eleven weeks, to the suspension of every 
kind of public business, could not be 
longer protracted by any efforts of elo- 
quence, or any combinations of faction. 
The king in terms of gracious, yet firm 
determination, had twice refused to com- 
ply with the demand of a majority of the 
lower house ; and that majority was be- 
come not less odious to the people, than 
it had proved itself hostile to the crown 
or administration. So unnatural a state 
of things, carried in its essence the seeds 
of its spapdy extinction. Fox, though 
apparently master of the house, found 
himself unable to advance ; and he could 
not remain stationary, or recede, with- 
out exposing his party to ridicule, while 
they were silenUy undermined, and 
diminished in numbers from day to day. 
His embarrassments, which did not admit 
of concealment, necessarily augmented 
the confidence of his ministerial adver- 
saries. Nor did he attempt to disguise 
them, when the consideration of his ma- 
jesty's answer to the last address, came 
before the house. In terms of querulous 
indignation, he stigmatized the reply, as 
a compound of contradiction, duplicity. 



slitution. Having attempted to justify 
and defend the right of the Commons to 
demand the removal of ministers, with- 
out stating their reasons, or assigning 
any specific cause for such dismission ; 
he avowed that the only becoming mea- 
sure now left, was to move a resolution, 
that " whoever should advise his ma- 
jesty to continue his present administra- 
tion, was an enemy to his country." 
But however disposed and desirous he 
might be to proceed to this act, he was 
restrained by his consciousness that he 
could not carry with him even a majority 
of the most limited description, if he 
made the attempt. Many of his adhe- 
rents had already announced to him their 
determination to proceed no further, ac- 
companied with menaces of withdrawing 
their support, iThe tried so desperate an 
experiment. Thus situated. Fox stop- 
ped; and after loading ministers with 
the bitterest reproaches, for having, as 
he asserted, overset the country, in- 
volved the public credit in remediless 
confusion, suffered our foreign concerns 
to run to ruin, and incurred the guilt of 
leaving our East Indian possessions, a 
prey to every species of enormity, pecu- 
lation, and tyranny ; he declared that it 
was not his intention to stop the sup- 
plies. While he charged Pitt with in- 
ordinate ambition, as well as with having 
manifested a decided aversion to political 
union ; he finished by only moving, not 
an address, but a representation to the 
king. It was long, expostulatory, argu- 
mentative, if not criminating ; and reca- 
pitulated all the points, on which the 
crown and the commons had so obsti- 
nately contended: but it contained no 
new matter, except lamenting that " his 
majesty's advisers had not thought fit to 
suggest any farther steps, for removing 
the difficulties which impeded the forma- 
tion of an extended administration. 

The chancellor of the exchequer took 
little or no part in the debate which en- 
sued on that evening. Dundas, how- 
ever, supplied his place, with great 
acuteness, energy, and severity. Re- 
torting on the opposition, all the accusa 
lions brought forward by them, of pur- 
suing a mad and desperate career, to the 
subversion of the Constitution, whose 
true principles they outraged ; he en- 



496 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



^ 



deavoured to show that Fox's experience 
proved the incapacity of the House of 
Commons itself, however powerful a 
branch of the legislature it might be, to 
enforce its own unconstitutional resolu- 
tions. He treated the representation as 
a manifesto, calculated to delude the 
nation, by disguising the real intention 
of Fox ; which aimed at elevating the 
Speaker's mace above the royal sceptre, 
and giving virtually to the representa- 
tives of the people, the right of naming 
ministers. Towards the conclusion of 
this able harangue, after vindicating Pitt 
from the imputation of opposing a union 
of parlies, if it could have been effected 
on fair and honorable principles ; he 
alluded with great force, though guard- 
edly and hypothetically, to the well 
authenticated lists of peerages, offices, 
and emoluments, known to be promised 
to their adherents, by the opposition 
leaders, who thus condescended to avail 
themselves of every engine of seduction 
or corruption : — engines, by which, it 
was obvious, the country might be as 
completely enslaved, and the Constitu- 
tion subverted, as the worst minion of 
the most wicked, or arbitrary monarch I 
Seldom have I heard Dundas, during the 
course of his long and brilliant parlia- 
mentary career, display more ability or 
eloquence, than on that evening, which 
may in fact be regarded as having ter- 
minated the contest between Pitt and 
Fox ; between the crown and a majority 
in the House of Commons. " Why 
will not the right honorable gendeman," 
observed he, " insert in his manifesto, 
that this house claims a right of putting 
a negative on his majesty's appoint- 
ment of ministers, without assigning 
any reason? — Because he knows that 
such a pretension might alarm the coun- 
try, and then counter-declarations might 
appear against it." — " But let me sup- 
pose for a moment, that instead, as the 
Constitution directs, of the sovereign 
naming and protecting ministers, this 
assemhh' should assume both those 
privileges ; inthatcase, a combination of 
men might pay as servile court to indi- 
vidual members of Parliament, as ever 
minion did to a despotic prince. If the 
house exercise the right of nomination 
and of control, any abandoned faction, 
commanding a majority ; by artifice 



within doors, and by corruption without J 
by promises of peerages, places, and 
emoluments, may so entrench them- 
selves, that if they can likewise name 
themselves ministers, the country may 
be as completely subjected, and the 
Constitution as totally overturned, as by 
the most able or systematic tyrant," 

This mirror, though only held up as 
a fiction or hypothesis, reflected most 
distinctly to every beholder, the image 
of the coalition. Fox made no reply 
to Dundas ; but Burke, who, ever since 
the rejection of " the East India Bill," as 
if overcome by his second dismission 
from the pay-office, had scarcely once 
risen in the house, or taken his accus- 
tomed share in the discussions which 
arose within its walls ; made ample 
amends on that night, for his preceding 
silence. Though he spoke with great 
animation, and with equal eloquence, 
yet no exertions could sustain a declin- 
ing, us well as unpopular party, or in- 
fuse vigour into its component members. 
Even the subject of controversy itself, 
agitated and exhausted by so many 
repetitions, no longer inspired the 
same interest ; the greatest ingenuity 
being scarcely able to suggest any new 
ideas, or to strike out any fresh matter 
of argument. Uncommon anxiety was 
manifested, and impatience displayed, 
for the division, which took place about 
midnight ; when Fox's majority became 
reduced to one solitary vote, the num- 
bers on each side considerably exceed- 
ing those on the division of the 5th of 
March. Three hundred and eighty-five 
members were present, of whom 191 
divided with opposition, and 190 with 
administration. Great exultation was 
expressed by the ministerial side of the 
house, while corresponding depression 
appeared on the opposite benches, at so 
decisive a proof of the approaching fall 
of the coalition. 

[9ih March.] The political spell 
which had so long suspended and para- 
lysed all the functions of government, 
was now dissolved ; and on the ensuing 
day, the mutiny bill, no longer opposed, 
passed through the committee. Fox, 
divested of that control which he had 
exercised over the assembly ever since 
it met in November, appeared there in 
person ; but " shorn of his beams :" 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



497 



nor can we consider the discussions 
which subsequently arose on various 
points, as other than mere conversations, 
since no division was ever again attempt- 
ed by tiie opposition, down to the period 
of the prorogation and dissolution of 
Parliament. Yet scarcely any debate 
which took place during the interesting 
session under our review, opened more 
curious matter of speculation or of con- 
troversy, than the one that followed 
Fox's defeat. Powis and Marshara, 
who had taken so conspicuous a part 
throughout the whole contest, appeared 
for the last time on the tlieatre. The 
former, in a speech'replete with pointed 
animadversions, and conceived with 
great powers of mind, endeavoured, 
while he justified himself from the 
charge of inconsistency in his conduct, 
to throw on Pitt the accusation of du- 
plicity or insincerity, in his pretended 
negotiation for forming an extended ad- 
ministration. He admitted that the 
House of Commons and the minister 
having engaged in a constitutional con- 
test, the former was conquered ; " for 
though scarcely a century had elapsed, 
since a voice of the Commons could be- 
stow a crown, it could not in 1784, pro- 
cure the dismission of a minister." 
Having related, with apparent exacti- 
tude, the leading points on which had 
hinged the attempt to produce an inter- 
view between the Duke of Portland 
and the chancellor of the exchequer, as 
the first indispensable step towards a 
general union ; he hesitated not to de- 
clare, thai " all the concession was on 
one side, while the minister refused 
either explanation, or the smallest ad- 
vance leading to conciliation," Pitt 
made, it is true, a prompt, able, and 
animated reply to this imputation : but 
I will fairly own, that it impressed me 
as more rhetorical than solid, and car- 
ried with it no conviction ; thougli the 
reasons assigned by him for the rupture 
of the proposed conference, if not se- 
verely scrutinised, appeared specious 
and reasonable to the ear. 

I ought here to observe, that though 
Powis and Marsham seemed to perform 
equal parts in this portion of our his- 
tory, and might be considered as joint 
conductors of the St. Alban's tavern 
meeting, no comparison could be made 
42* 



between their respective talents. Mar- 
sham was an ordinary man, of good in- 
tentions, and plain sense, without orna- 
ment or decoration of any kind. But 
Powis possessed a classic and a culti- 
vated understanding, strong feelings, a 
natural, ardent, and winning command 
of words, with much discrimination of 
character, 'i'liough in my opinion, his 
reverence for the House of Coinmons 
blinded him to such a point as to pre- 
vent him from perceiving or recognizing 
how Fox had converted that assembly 
into a mere engine of his ambition, 
while Pitt really defended the Constitu- 
tion against the house ; yet I do not on 
that account consider Powis as entitled 
to less respect under every j)oint of 
view. Some parts of his speech on the 
present occasion were of uncommon 
beauty, warm colouring, and great truth. 
I allude particularly to his description 
of the /orccs led on by the minister, 
whom he divided into three squadrons, 
having each their appropriate character- 
istics. " The first" (whom I have 
mentioned already elsewhere), said 
Powis, " may be denominated his body- 
guard, composed of light, young troops, 
who discharge their little arrows with 
no ordinary dexterity, against all that 
refuse allegiance to their leader. The 
second is his corps of royal volunteers, 
the steady champions of prerogative, 
ever ready to attack those who presume 
to oppose privilege against royal author- 
ity. The last is his legion of deserters, 
attached to him by no other tie or prin- 
ciple than interest ; and who having 
deserted to him from that motive, will 
quit him as soon as fortune and favour 
abandon him. Such, Mr. Speaker, is 
the composition of the army which has 
vanquished this assembly, and con- 
quered tlie Constitution !" We must 
candidly admit that Powis wns no com- 
mon orator ; nor ought we to be sur- 
prised that such parliamentary talents 
raised him ultimately to the peerage. 

If, however, we admire his descrip- 
tion of the minisierial forces, which was 
the result of premeditation, and may be 
regarded only as a composition pro- 
nounced before the House of Commons, 
how much more admiration is excited 
by Pitt's reply made on the instant, 
and delivered as soon as Powis sat 



498 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



down ! After complimenting him on 
his versatile facility of displaying equal 
eloquence on whichever side he spoke, 
whether supporting or opposing adminis- 
tration, Pitt proceeded to comment on 
Powis's delineation of the army ranged 
under his own banner. Alluding to the 
first corps, " who threw their little 
arrows with so much dexterity," he ob- 
served : " Probably the honorable gen- 
tleman's armour has not been proof 
against the darts of these archers ; for 
those little weapons which he affects to 
despise, appear to have galled him very 
severely. As to the prerogative volun- 
teers, who form the second band, I am 
proud of their support, because preroga- 
tive forms a part of the Constitution, 
like the House of Commons, and is con- 
sequently an object of my veneration. 
But why should he denominate the third 
squadron deserters, I own myself at a 
loss to comprehend, merely because 
they may not think proper to advance 
through all the stages of faction, into 
which it is attempted to precipitate this 
house," Having thus encouraged his 
own troops, he retorted on.Powis, and 
endeavoured to show that no becoming 
testimonies of a sincere desire to unite 
with the Duke of Portland, and to form 
an united administration, had been 
omitted by him in his ministerial capa- 
city, during the course of the late nego- 
tiations. 

Those persons who best knew the 
secret springs of affairs, at the period 
under our review, have, however, I be- 
lieve, felt, and some of them have can- 
didly avowed to me, that the first minis- 
ter could not sincerely desire, or even 
mean, to form a coalition with Fox, 
Nor, if he had wished it, can we easily 
conceive on what basis it could have 
reposed, that offered a prospect of com- 
pletion, and still less of duration. We 
must suppose that Fox would have at 
least demanded the treasury for the Duke 
of Portland, the foreign office for him- 
self, and, probably, the admiralty lor 
Lord Keppel. Even though Lord North 
should have personally withdrawn his 
own pretensions, yet some of his con- 
nexions would necessarily have been 
admitted into the cabinet. Does any 
one imagine that Pitt, who had already 
attained in his own person to the head 



of the treasury and of the exchequer; 
an eminence on which, during seventeen 
years, he stood firm, and from which he 
at last may be said to have voluntarily 
descended, would have retreated into the 
latter of' those two employments merely 
to place the Duke of Portland in the 
former? His ambition was not made 
for such moderate limits. Still less can 
any person conceive that Fox would 
have consented to Pitt's continuing to 
occupy his double financial situation, and 
have taken office, as secretary of state, 
under him. How, then, was the equi- 
poise of power to have been adjusted on 
" fair and equal terms?" The cabinet 
must have preponderated in favour of one 
or of the other candidate for power. 
And which of them would have sub- 
mitted to become the subordinate? 
When Lord North struck his bargain 
with the Rockingham party, he con- 
sented to act under them a secondary 
part ; receiving in compensation, a share 
of the ministerial spoils, and obtaining 
from them protection against impeach- 
ment, for the errors or calamities of the 
American war. The motives, therefore, 
for his conduct, were obvious, natural, 
venial, perhaps justifiable in every 
sense. Lord North did not demand to 
be received among his new allies, " on 
fair and equal terms." He exacted only 
indemnity, oblivion, and a participation 
of offices. But Pitt must have begun, 
like Sylla in antiquity, or like Fairfax in 
our own history, by laying down his 
power, at a moment too when he had 
nearly consolidated its tenure. 

Other motives lor avoiding such a con- 
nexion with Fox, would unquestionably 
suggest themselves to his mind. The 
late secretary of stale no longer con- 
stituted an object, either of popular 
affection, or of royal apprehension. His 
own imprudence, ambition, and rapacious 
policy, had precipitated him from his 
elevation. Nor could the minister have 
formed a junction with the colleague of 
Lord North, the author in his own per- 
son of the " East India Bill," without 
perhaps incurring some degree of politi- 
cal condemnation, if not of moral con- 
tamination or censure. Fox, indeed, 
might and undoubtedly would, have con- 
sented to modify that obnoxious measure, 
in a way to render it harmless to the 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



499 



Constiuuion. But experience of the 
bitter friiitfl produced by the late coali- 
tion, held out no encouragement to Pitt, 
for concluding a second similar union. 
He stood moreover on far higher ground 
than his antagonist; combining at once 
the favour of the sovereign, the attach- 



sham ; *' and I make no scruple of de- 
claring my private opinion, that 1 did 
not perceive in the minister, the same 
conciliatory spirit which was manifested 
by the Duke of Portland." Powis en- 
tered into much more minute details on 
the subject, embracing the respective 



ment of the people, and the command of demands or preliminaries insisted on by 
the House of Peers. How is it to be i both parties, previous to actual negotia- 



supposed, that he would spontaneously 
descend from such a situation, and con- 
sent to mingle his future fortunes in some 
measure with a man, whose line of 
public action he had stigmatized with 
the severest epithets ; merely to conci- 
liate the suffrages of the gentlemen who 
met at the St. A.lban's tavern ? These 
reflections may probably induce us to 
believe, that neither George the Third, 



tion. Pitt exacted three conditions. 
Lord North's exclusion from the cabinet. 
A renunciation of the objectionable parts 
of the " India Bill ;" and an interview 
with the Duke of Portland, " on fair and 
equal terms." All these points were 
promptly conceded. The coalition, on 
their part, equally demanded three stipu- 
lations. First, Pitt's virtual, though not 
actual, resignation. Secondly, that the 



nor his minister, could really intend to ! duke might receive personally from his 
replace Fox in any degree, on the emi- 1 majesty, the message recommending an 
nence from which he had fallen ; though interview. Lastly, that the meaning of 
during the progress of a contest, in which the word "equal," might be defined or 
he remained, for many successive weeks, ( explained. But all these points Pitt re- 
master of a majority in the House oi^ fused. Nor would he listen to any ex- 
Commons, and before matters were ripe! planations on the subject, which might 
for their dissolution, deference towards! facilitate the accomplishment of the ob- 
that branch of the legislature, dictated an ject itself. Powis, after specifying every 
apparent compliance with their anxious} particular, subjoined, "Thus stood the 
wishes. balance between the two parties. One, 



Pitt, with great dexterity, in the course 
of his reply to Powis, probably con- 
scious that he could not altogether dis- 
prove, however he might deny or repel 



ready to make every concession : the 
other, none. But why should a triumph- 



ant minister make concessions 



Fox 



spoke with his usual ability, though not 



the charge of insincerity, contrived to! in the commanding tone that had charac 



bring forward a counteraccusation against 
him and Marsham. To both, he indi- 
rectly applied the appellation of " aspy," 
as having obtained by a pretended im- 
partiality, access to the secrets of the 
two contending parties, while they enjoy- 
ed the privileges and immunities of em- 
bassadors. They took fire at the term, 
as I doubt not, he intended they should ; 
and after respectively vindicating them- 
selves from so dishonorable an imputa- 
tion, Marsham read in his place, the let 



terized him, when conscious that he 
could dictate his pleasure to an obse- 
quious majority. With more bitterness 
than was natural to him, he felicitated 
his rival on " having attained to some- 
thing like a majority to support him ;" 
nor did he spare his severest animadver- 
sions on those individuals, who having 
hitherto voted with opposition, had re- 
cently changed sides, and joined the ad- 
ministration. Fox concluded by pointing 
out the delusion of Pitt's proposition, to 



ler addressed by the Duke of Portland to I treat on " equal terms," while he reject- 
ihe chancellor of the exchequer. It| ed the offer made by the Duke of Port- 



served fully to prove, that the chief of 
the opposition party, as anxiously desired 
to commence a negotiation with the first 
minister, as the latter dexterously eluded 
and avoided a conference. Marshaa 



land, that the ministerial arrangement 
should be conducted " with attention to 
" principles of equity and fairness." 
There could remain no doubt in the 
mind of any impartial person, that the 



professed his own perfect conviction of expressions "fair and equal," were in 
the fact. So did Powis. " I never acted themselves ambiguous, and understood 
as a spy," indignantly exclaimed Mar- j in different, or opposite senses, by the 



600 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



two contending parties. But these re- 
criminations, iiowever they might for a 
moment agitate the minds of men in 
private society, no longer impeded the 
progress of public business ; the House 
voting on the ensuing evening, the ex- 
traordinaries of the navy, without a 
division. 

[Uth March — 22d.] It became in- 
deed more and more apparent from day 
to day, that Pitt's machinery being now 
nearly complete, a dissolution of Parlia- 
ment would not be long delayed. Yet 
the opposition still fondly indulged a 
hope ; for it did not amount to a belief; 
that, as no act of appropriation had pass- 
ed, thougli the supplies were voted, 
ministers would not dare to apply the 
public money to specific purposes, con- 
trary to all precedent, if not to law ; and 
in direct violation of the prohibitions of 
the house. Various attempts were 
made to sound the minister on this deli- 
cate point, but without effect. Fox look 
however no personal part in them ; and 
though he occasionally attended in his 
place, I believe he hardly, if ever, spoke 
on any subject, during the last eleven or 
twelve days that Parliament continued 
in existence. Burke remained equally 
mute ; while Powis and Marsham, 
engaged in preparations for an approach- 
ing general election, disappeared alto- 
gether from a scene, where they had re- 
cently performed the principal characters. 
The lililedegreeofopposition experienced 
by the chancellor of the exchequer, arose 
from the adherents of Lord North, or 
was made by that nobleman himself. Sir 
Grey Cooper, when the order of the 
day was moved, for going into a com- 
mittee of supply, on the estimates for 
the extranrdinaries of the army; con- 
scious that it offered the last occasion 
which would present itself, for protest- 
ing against a dissolution ; expatiated 
with considerable energy, on the infrac- 
tion of the Constitution that would arise 
from such a measure. He at the same 
time warned the ministers, that " to 
issue money for the pay of the forces, 
contrary to a resolution of the house, 
declaring such a proceeding to be a high 
crime and misdemeanour, and without 
any appropriation act," was not only 
illegal, hut a subversion of the very 
tenure by which the king held his 



crown ; a vote of Parliament. No an- 
swer whatever was returned to these 
denunciations from the treasury bench ; 
but the supply being voted in the com- 
mittee, without any division taking 
place, the house adjourned to the follow- 
ing day. 

[23d March.] As the immediate dis- 
solution of Parliament had now become 
matter of universal notoriety, and pre- 
parations for carrying it into effect, were 
already making in the public offices ; a 
considerable attendance was produced in 
the lower house, by curiosity to witness 
its extinction, rather than by any other 
\ motive. The first minister appearing 
in his place, was assailed from various 
quarters, on the question being put by 
the Speaker, that " the report on the 
army extraordinaries should be read a 
first time." Mr. Eden led the way, 
and was followed by Lord North, as 
well as by General Conway. While 
each of them avowed that they consider- 
ed themselves as addressing for the last 
time, an assembly, which they knew 
was on the point of being dissolved ; 
they did not remonstrate or menace in 
less animated terms, on the supposition 
that such a measure should be actually 
carried into execution. Every argu- 
ment adduced in the preceding debate, 
was reiterated, pressed, and urged with 
augmented force of language. The 
chancellor of the exchequer remaining 
nevertheless contumeliously silent, the 
report was read : but on a motion being 
made'for the second reading, Lord North 
once more rose ; and after some expos- 
tulations relative to the contemptuous 
treatment experienced by the house 
upon the present occasion, demanded, 
" on what principle of law, on wliat 
doctrine respecting the Constiluiion, on 
what argument, or on what authority, 
when Parliament should be dissolved, 
would ministers presume to i^sue money 
for the subsistence of the army ?" 

Pitt had not however advanced so far, 
to be now deterred from consutnmating 
his triumph, by the impotent threats of 
a powerless and exhausted, as well as 
an unpopular faction. He cut the knot, 
which he was unable to untie ; and de- 
clining any discussions of those great 
constitutional points which he could not 
solve, and the infraction of which, he 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 
— • — 



501 



could not abstractedly justify; confi- 
dently trusted his cause to the universal 
sentiment of national approbation, for 
covering- any deviation from parliamen- 
tary usage. Like lago, who in reply to 
every inquiry, answers, 

" Ask me no questions : what you know, you 
know; 

he briefly observed, that " gentlemen 
might make whatever speeches they 
chose, and the house might act as it 
thought proper ; he would not say one 
word upon the subject." The report 
being then read a second time, the house 
adjourned, and was summoned on the 
following day, to attend the House of 
Peers ; where the king having prorogued 
the Parliament, after pronouncing a 
short, but judicious speech from the 
throne, well calculated for the emer- 
gency, slated it to be a " duty vvhich he 
owed to ihe Constitution and the coun- 
try, under its actual circumstances, to 
recur as speedily as possible, to the 
sense of his people, by convoking a new 
Parliament." A dissolution followed 
within twenty-four hours ; and the coa- 
lition confounded, as well as over- 
whelmed, amidst the storm which they 
had injudiciously excited, disappeared 
in an instant, leaving the fragments of 
their political greatness scattered in all 
directions. 

[25th March.] I have related these 
events, as they passed under my own 
eyes, with ilie most rigid imparlialitv. 
And if 1 have dwrlt minutely on the 
transactions or debates that took place in 
the House ol' ('omuions, during the 
contest between Fox and Pitt; it must 
be remembered that within the walls of 
that assembly, the history and the very 
existence of the country, were concen- 
tered during more than three months. 
We would vainly seek them elsewhere. 
All the functions of government stood 
still : while the sovereign, the peers, 
and the nation looked on, expecting the 
issue of so extraordinary a conflict, 
which must necessarily impress a 
new charar-ter on the opening year. 
Never did any King of Great Britain 
contend for so vast a stake, since 
Charles the First? In conlemplatinff 
the scene, Mr. Pitt arrests our first at- 
tention. 



Nothing in the annals of this country, 
subsequent to the accession of the 
House of Brunswic, bore any analogy 
to his position. When we consider that 
he struggled against a majority of the 
House of Commons, conducted by such 
talents as those of Fox, from the 19th 
of December, 1783, up to the 9th of 
March, 1784 ; on any day of which in- 
terval, he might possibly have been im- 
peached ; and if we reflect that he van- 
quished so vast a combination of party, 
without prematurely recurring to a dis- 
solution, till all his necessary arrange- 
ments of every kind were completed, 
and the whole nation had declared on his 
side ; we shall probably admit that, as 
no such instance occurs before him, no 
similar example will probably ever be 
again exhibited. If, in compliance 
with Lord 'I'emple's opinion, lie had 
began by dissolving the Parliament as 
soon as he was appointed first lord of 
the treasury and chancellor of the ex- 
chequer, in December, 1783; when the 
people at large, and when even the 
inhabitants of London, as well as of 
Westminster, were imperfectly informed 
on the nature and tendency of " the 
East India Bill ;" it is possible that 
a very diff'erent result might have been 
the consequence. 

Fox's defeat arose from one funda- 
mental error or miscalculation, into 
which he was nevertheless led by the 
experience of all parliamentary contest; 
namely, that a majority of the House of 
Commons, could compel the crown to 
dismiss its ministers, or could oblige tihe 
ministers themselves to give in their 
own resignation. In his hands, this 
constitutional weapon, hitherto irresisti- 
ble, lost its eilge, and became harmless. 
He affected to attribute its failure to a 
spirit of delusion, which, as he asserted, 
and as his adherents maintained, had 
incapacitated the British people to dis- 
tinguish truth from error, imposture from 
reality. There is, however, no sophis- 
try capable of binding completely a 
whole nation, upon points so level to 
every understanding; and if there exist- 
ed any delusion in the estimate formed 
by the country, respecting the nature 
and tendency of " the East India Bill," 
the delusion still survives at this day, in 
all its force. But there existed another 



502 



HISTCfRICAL MEMOIRS. 



1' 



delusion into which Fox himself fell, 
when he erroneously conceived, that a 
majority of the lower house, in what- 
ever manner required, and whatever 
measures or objects it might pursue, 
must necessarily dictate its pleasure to 
the sovereign, to the House of Peers, and 
to the public. The two former would, 
indeed, if unsupported by the body of 
the people of England, have been found 
only dust in the balance, when engaged 
in a struggle with the genuine represen- 
tatives of that people, the real organ of 
their will and opinion. Charles the 
First and James the Second, each made 
the experiment; by which the former 
Inst his head, and the latter, his crown. 
But George the Third, neither attempted 
to exercise oppressive and antiquated, if 
not illegal, prerogatives ; nor to impose 
on us a religion prohibited by law and 
odious to his subjects. And never did 
the British Constitution manifest its 
latent energies so strongly, as in the 
very act of arresting that assembly, 
which, calling itself the representatives 
of the nation, became in the instance 
before us, the instruments of the am- 
bition of a faction, or rather, of an indi- 
vidual. 

The steadiness, the principles, and the 
repugnance of the king towards the coa- 
lition, operated as powerful secondary 
agents ; but they were not primary 
causes. Fox, attentive only to the three 
branches of the Constitution, which he 
considered as omnipotent, regarded as 
null the nation itself. But when awaken- 
ed, roused, and informed, the people 
hurled him in an instant from his situa- 
tion. For it was not the dissolution of 
Parliament, which would have reduced 
him and his party to insignificance, if 
the public opinion and confidence had 
accompanied him._ Of this truth, a great 
example was exhibited in 1780, when 
Lord North dissolved the Parliament, 
The government was not idle on the 
occasion, and a large sum was believed 
to have been expended in endeavours to 
procure favourable returns to the new 
House of Commons. Yet so unpopular 
was the sovereign at that time, so weak 
the administration, and so odious the 
American war, that the first minister de- 
rived little permanent strength or advan- 
cage from the measure. He held out 



with difficulty for one session, and sur- 
rendered early in the next, on the 20th 
of March, 1783. Fox on the contrary, 
remained for several years, only an illus- 
trious victim of his inordinate ambition, 
seated on the opposition bench ; till the 
memorable malady of his majesty in 
1788, recalled him for a moment into 
day, only to plunge him deservedly 
anew into greater political depression. 

The obligations which the king owed 
to Pitt, for liberating him from the 
chains of the coalition., at the lime when 
they were about to have been rivetted, 
were certainly of the first magnitude. 
No other subject in his dominions, 
would probably have attempted, but 
assuredly no other individual would 
have successfully performed, so import- 
ant and arduous a service. After wit- 
nessing the formation and extinction of 
three administrations, within the space 
of little more than twenty months, 
George the Third beheld in prospect, 
domestic tranquillity, personal freedom, 
and national prosperity. Nor were 
these the only benefits that resulted to 
him, from the events that we have re- 
lated. All the errors and misfortunes of 
his reign, seemed to be swallowed up 
and forgotten in the grave of the coali- 
tion. The odium of Lord Bute's minis- 
try, and the peace of 1763, aggravated 
by the prosecution of Wilkes ; — the 
humiliating negotiation and compromise 
relative to the Falkland Islands, which 
Junius had consigned to perpetual re- 
probation ; lastly, the disgraces of the 
American war, followed by the loss of 
an empire beyond the Atlantic, for which 
national defalcation of power and terri- 
tory, the king was regarded by a large 
portion of his subjects as peculiarly re- 
sponsible; — the accumulated evils of 
three and twenty years, disappeared at 
once, and were obliterated. Only the 
virtues of the' sovereign seemed to sur- 
vive in the memory of his people. The 
same prince, who, in March, 1782, la- 
boured under a load of prejudice and 
unpopularity ; was considered in March, 
1784, as the guardian of the Constitu- 
tion, worthy the warmest testimonies or 
affection, gratitude, and respect. They 
poured in upon him from all quarters, 
acknowledging the blessings of his pater- 
nal government, and approving the re- 



HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. 



50S 



cent interference of his prerogative, for 
the destruclion of an unprincipled fac- 
tion. Wilkes, who had been among llie 
most ardent opposers of " the East India 
Bill," and amonij llie foremost support- 
ers of Pilt in Parliament, as member for 
JNliddlesex ; re-appeared at St. James's, 
where he met with a most gracious re- 
ception. A new order of events, and a 
new era, seemed to commence from this 
auspicious date. In fart, if we would 
point out the period of lime, from the 



commencement of this long, as well as 
eventful reign, during which the sove- 
reign and the country equally enjoyed 
most tranquillity, as well as felicity ; we 
should not hesitate to name the interval, 
comprising about four years and a half, 
that succeeded Pitt's triumph over Fox, 
in the spring of 1784, down to the King's 
severe seizure in the autumn of 1788. 
Here, therefore, as at a political landmark? 
I shall conclude ihe Third Partof the His- 
torical Memoirs of My Own Time. 



ADDENDA. 



MANUSCRIPT NOTES by Mrs. H. L. PIOZZI. 



Page 43, 1. 60. So different it is to paint 
mere manners, or to depict general nature; but 
Johnson said, that Fielding gave us the husk of 
life in his books, while Kichardson picked out 
"the kernel. 

Page 47, 1. 23. I wonder Wraxall, in aJJ this 
gossip, forbears to tell how Dr. Goldsnjith said 
once to Lord Shelburne, " Why do the people 
persist so in calling your lordship Malagrida? 
I am told Malagrida was a very honest 7nan/" 

Page 73, 1. 3. He [Johnson] has dined 
with him [Wilkes] very often ; and they used 
to laugh together at the Scotch. Johnson says, 
in some of his letters, that he " passed some 
evening, I forget when, crackingjokes with Jack 
Wilkes against the Scotch." It was at Dillj's: 
and Wilkes hearing our old phiioso|)her loud at 
the otiier end of the room. '• What is he talking 
there in praise of 1" said he. — " Uf liberty," 
one answered. — " Liberty I" replies VVilkes, 
" why the word sounds as ridiculous in /us 
moulh, as relii^ion would in mine." 

Page 108, I. 81. A\\ this is strange to ?;)e, 
who have seen letters from the Electress Sophia 
to my own great-grandfather. Sir Kobert Salus- 
bury Cotton, who was kept by King James the 
Second in the Tower, for having had corres- 
pondence with her serenity. He had my 
grandpapa with him there, a little boy — his 
portrait is at Streatham Park now ; and the last 
Baronet, Sir Hobert Salusbury Cotton, father of 
this Lord Combermere, burned the letters : of 
which I remember only that they were full of 
Latin quotations, and that she signed her name 
with a longf,fophia. This last Sir Robert S. 
Cotton was first cousin to her who writes these 
notes, July, 1815. 

H. L. Piozzr. 

Page 109, 1. 28. It was certainly very odd 
that the Princess never made George the First 
learn the English, when he was Duke of Cam- 
bridge, and I believe, prayed for as heir to the 
crown, — very surprising, sure ! 

Jbid. I. 40. The poor Pretender, when 1 
saw him at Florence, was under the care of a 
natural daughter of his, — not very young: 
who took the wine from him if he drank too 
much, and the words out of his mouth if he 
talked too much. It was melancholy to see the 
man. — La Duchesse D'Albani wore the garter 
43 



round her neck, a diamond George and cross 
pendant from it, I remember. 

Page 1 13, last line. Not meaning Miss Ashe, I 
should think. She must have been too old to 
be offspring of Kodney, sure ; yet I know no 
one else the writer can mean. Miss Ash was 
always supposed the princess's daughter, but I 
never heard by whom. 

Page 1 14, I. 38. Learned, as Lord Glenber- 
vie told me, by studying an old edition of Plu- 
tarch's Lives, wherein are delineated the orders 
of battle exhibited in the ancient contests at 
Leuctra and Maiitinea ; and now, they say, Bo- 
naparte wins all his battles by this manoeuvre. 

Page 115, 1. 12. So he [Lord Lyttleton] did; 
but the warning was given in London. He 
called on his uncle there, and told him of it. 
His uncle reproved him, and scouted the story — 
of a little bird — no dove — teazing him about 
his bed-curtains, and when he waked to drive it 
away, changing to a female figure, who said, 
" Prepare to die, my lord ! you'll soon be 
called I" — '■^ How soon?" cried he, "within 
three years 1 hah !" — " Three years !" repeat- 
ed the figure tauntingly, '• three </a_ys .'" and 
vanished. This tale he told Lord Sandys ; who 
said, " If you do really believe this strange 
thing, and would have me believe it, I counsel 
you to change your rakish life ; but I suppose it 
is one of your fine imaginative whims, told but 
to make us stare." Lyttleton was a fellow of 
no veracity ; his companions never credited any 
thing merely because he said it. 

Ibid. I. 20. So he [Lord Lyttelton] did; and 
the women, Mrs. Flood and two Miss .\mphlets 
at least, came to town at five in the morning, 
looking like ghosts themselves. 

Page 115, 1. 55. He [Lord Lyttelton] was 
not in bed ; he was reading at a table, and sil- 
ting on the bed, with books, preparing for his 
speech on the ne.\t day to be delivered in the 
House of Lords. He fell forward and tlie table 
gave way. Williams found all on the floor 
together. He cried, " Speak, my lord ! Speak, 
my dear lord !" but in vain. 

Page 115, 1. 82 — 85. That I did nut know. 
She [Miss Lyttelton] was daughter to Lord 
Westcote, an intimate of .Mr. Thrale's ; and wht> 
was no credulous man at all, scarcely a sound 
believer. He told my husband the story himself; 



506 



ADDENDA. 



his nephew told it him. All London heard the 
tale. He told it to everybody himself; most 
circumstantially, of course, to his valet, Williams. 
But a Welsh ladj, being at the play, heard Cap- 
tain Ayscough tell it in the box, two nights be- 
fore the death of my Lord Lyttcltnn. 

Page 142. He [George the Third] was deeply 
enamoured of Lady Sarah Lenox, who married 
Sir Charles Bunbury, and many, many years 
after, married Mr. Napier. The Duke of Rich- 
mond never forgave Lord Bute hindering his 
sister from being queen — of course; and said, 
that Wilkes ought to be encouraged, if it was 
only because he acted as a thorn in the king^s 
side. 

Page 145, 1. 48. [Lady Archibald Hamilton] 
mother of poor dear old Mr. Hamilton, who died 
here [Batb] in the circus a very few years ago. 
He was father to Lady Aldborough, yet living, 
and to Jane Holman, lately dead. Prince Fre- 
deric was his godfather. I loved Jane Holman 
sincerely. 

Page 147, 1. 6G. Her letters are proofs of 
her truth, her tenderness, her plain sense ; but 
wholly unadorned by literature. I mean Queen 
Mary's. 

Page 158, 1. 86. Hamilton had none [lineal 
representatives] that he owned. He once told me 
that he was the nineteenth child of his father 
and mother, and that neither he, nor any of his 
brothers and sisters, had living and legal issue : 
I mean legitimate. 

Page 165, 1. 103. His (Lord North's) odd 
revenge on Burke should have been mentioned. 
The orator was inveighing against him while he 
slept, or appeared to sleep, till one language 
being insufficient for his abuse of such a minis- 
ter, Burke, quoting Latin against him, pro- 
nounced the word " Vectlgal," as here accentu- 
ated. " Vectigal !" siid Lord North, and slept 
again. 

Page 185, I. 12. Thurlow, enraged one day 
at dinner with his butler, cried " Go to hell ! Go 
to the devil ; — to the devil, I say." — " Give me 
a character, my lord," replies the arch fellow ; 
" genllemen like to have a character from an 
acquaintance.^' 

Ibid. 1. 29. He (Lord Chancellor King) told 
my grandmother that they put him appren- 
tice to a grocer ; " but," says he, " my lady, I 
could never abide the shop after I had done eat- 
ing the plums." 

Page 187, I. 61. He (Mr. Jenkinson) was to 



me a very particularly agreeable man as a con- 
verser ; unaffectedly good-humoured, and plea- 
sant in his voice and manner — though emi- 
nently ugly, long and lean — with strange sort 
of eyes, oddly thrown up, or cast down ; but ne- 
ver looking like the eyes of any other man. 

Page 190. Wallace was a coarse man with 
a provincial dialect — his wife was amiable. — 
Wedderburn was charming; but then he was 
all over affectation, and had beautiful eyes ; and 
I liked Jenkinson better. 

Page 342, 1. 42. So he (Rumbold) was, and 
what is much more surprising, he had the air 
and look of a man of quality. Very strange, 
surely, in a black-shoe-boy, for such he was, « 
starting. 

Page 383, 1. 28. By no means disinterested : 
he (Dr. Moore) was sure to get a preferment 
from the duke, and only a life-annuity from the 
duchess, — to whom he probably preferred some 
other woman. It was prudent management of ^ 
good fortune, but by no means a proof of disin- 
terestedness. 

Page 384, 1. 33. The character of George 
the Third was uniformly moral, and uniformly 
discreet. He was what we call a steady boy in 
early youth. A confidential friend, and natural 
son, indeed, of one of my uncles, was about the 
court in Leicester Fields, when Prince Frederic 
of Wales died : he told my mother the following 
story : — " The princess was sitting one day of 
her early widowhood pensive and melancholy, 
her two eldest sons playing about the room. 
'Brother,' said the second boy, 'when you and 
I are men groivn, you shall be married, and I 
will keep a mistress.' — 'Be quiet, Eddy,' re- 
plies the present king 'we shall have anger.pre- 
sently for your nonsense. I'here must be no 
unstresses at all.' — ' What you say I' cries old 
Augusta; 'you more need learn your pronouns 
as the preceptor bid you do. Can you tell vat 



IS a pronoun 



T : 



Yes, very well,' replies 



Prince Edward : ' a pronoun is to a noun what 
a mistress is to a wife, — a substitute and a 
representative.' " 

Page 396. [Mr. Thomas Pitt.] A finical 
lady-like man. He married Miss Anne Wil- 
kinson, a rich merchant's daughter, and was 
father by her to the mad Lord Camelford. The 
other sister, poor soul ! married Lord George 
Sackville's Smith, as they called him, and was 
by hina mother to the hero, Sir Sydney 
Smith. 



INDEX. 



Abingdon, Willoughby Bertie, Fourth earl of, 
his reflections on Mr. Fox, 445. 

Acton, Glievalier, his improvements in the Nea- 
politan navy, 96. 

Adam, Mr., Treasurer of tlie Ordnance, his par- 
hamentary eloquence, 280 ; his attack upon 
Fox, ib. 

Aiguillon, Duke d', money entrusted to his 
care for the support of Madame du Barry, 58. 

Albany, Louisa Countess d', character of, 110; 
her marriage with the Pretender, ih. ; her re- 
ception in London, ib. 

Alcantara, royal carriages kept at, 35 ; aque- 
duct in, 46. 

Alfieri, Count, his attendance upon the Count- 
ess d' Albany, 108, 

Alphonso VI, King of Portugal, character of, 45 ; 
deposed, ib. ; imprisoned at Cintra, ib. ; his 
death, ib. 

Althorpe, George John liOrd, afterwards Earl 
Spencer, remarks respecting him, 333. 

America, attempt to tax the colonies of, 161 ; 
dissevered from England, 244 ; Congress of, 
refuses to negotiate with Great Britain, 
302 ; negotiations for peace between Great 
Britain and, 343 ; emancipated from Great 
Britain, 347. 

American Government, remarks respecting, 231. 

treaty, effects of, on Great Britain, 

364; character of, 371. 

war, remarks respecting, 161, 162, 

163, 230, 239, 243, 2.50, 268. 

Amherst, Jeffery first Lord, his character and 
personal appearance, 182; his victories in 
America, ib. ; bis reserved disposition, 183. 

Anson, Commodore, notice of his expedition 
round Cape Horn, 345. 

Aqueduct of Alcantara, constructed by John 
V.46. 

Aranda, Count d', Spanish ambassador at Paris, 
his instructions, 353. 

Arden, Mr., appointed solicitor-general, charac- 
ter of him, 451 ; his political talents, ib. 

Arnold, Gen. remarks on his appearance at 
Court. 272. 

Ashburiiham, John Earl of, groom of the stole, 
remarks respecting, 310. 

Ashburton, John Dunning first Lord, see Dun- 
ning. 

Atkinson, Mr. assertion respecting, 226, 228. 

Aubigne, M. d', anecdote in the "Memoirs of 
his own Life," 94. 

Augusta. Caroline, Princess of Brunswick Wolf- 



enbuttel, married to the Prince of Wirlem- 
berg, 85 ; her mysterious death, ib., 86, 87. 

Augusta Elizabeth. Princess of Tour and Taxis, 
her supposed execution, 100. 

Aveiro, Duke d', his conspiracy to assassinate 
King Joseph I. 35, execution, 36. 

Bahama Islands, Spanish expedition against, 344. 

Banbury, inhabitants of, their address to the 
king, 486. 

Bankes, Mr. member for Corfe Castle, his allu- 
sion to the proposed cession of Gibraltar to 
Spain, 352. 

Barbara, Princess, afterwards Queen of Spain, 
her marriage with Ferdinand Prince of Astu- 
rias, 48 ; her taste for music, ib. ; death, 49. 

Barre, Col. his charges against Lord North, 167; 
his talents as a speaker, 206; his '^pinion of 
Mr. iS'ecker, ib. ; moves to noaiinale commis- 
sioners of accounts for the House of Com- 
mons from its own members, 2o7 ; appointed 
treasurer of the navy, 296; pension granted 
to, 334; his speech respecting 335 ; appoint- 
ed clerk of the pells in the exchequer, 471. 

Barrington, Admiral, repulses d'Estai^n at St, 
Lucie, 129 

Barry, Countess du, her influence witli Louis 
XV., 57; provision for her, 58, 

Basset, Sir Francis, afterwards Lord Dunstan- 
ville, his exertions to increase the provision 
for Lord Rodney, 326. 

Bateman, Lord, character of, 301. 

Bathurst, Allen, raised to the peerage by Queen 
•Anne, 185; Pope's allusion to, ib. 

Henry second Karl, his character as 

Lord Chancellor, 185. 

Battistini, Mr. his theatrical talonfs, 32. 

Beauclerk, Mr. his remarks respecting Dr. John- 
son, 69; his intimacy with Mr. Fox, 200. 

Bedford, Francis Kussell eighth Duke of, Ju- 
niiis's accusations against. 149. 

Bembridge, Mr. accusations against, 400 ; re- 
stored to his situation in the Pay Office, ib.- 
his trial, 403 ; sentenced to a fine and impri. 
sonment, ib. 

Bengal, court of committee appointed to exa- 
mine the stale and abuses of, 232. 

Berkeley, Lady Betty, see Germain, Ladxj 
Betty. 

Berwick, Duke of, placed at the head of the 
French forces on the Ivhine, in 173!, 54. 

Beyra, Prince of, married to Donna Maria Bene- 
dicti, 39; his personal appearance, 40; death, 
ih. 



508 



INDEX. 



Bill — for reforming the civil list, brought for- 
ward l)y Mr Burlic, 201 ; — for the reform of 
the king's household, introduced by Burke, 
219; rejected, 220; — for the reduction of 
the civil list, introduced by Burke, 303; plan 
of, ib. ; remarks respecting, 305, 306 ; — for 
preventing contractors sitting in parliament, 
introduced by Mr. Jennings Gierke, 304 ; — 
for excluding officers of the excise and cus- 
toms from voting at elections, introduced by 
Mr. Crewe, ib. ; — for preventing bribery at 
elections, introduced by Lord Mahon, 327 ; — 
for the regulation of a[)poiiitinents in the 
M'^est Indies and America, 331; — for the 
regulation of the pay otfice, introduced by 
Burke, 404 ; — for establishing regulations in 
public offices, introduced by Pitt, 409. 

Bolton, Henry Paulct last Duke of, appointed 
governor of the Isle of Wight, 297. 

Bonaparte, J\a|)oleon, remarks respecting, 56; 
on his projected invasion of England, 215. 

Boothby, Mr. his opinion of Mr. Fox, 195. 

Boscawcn. Mrs. character of, 71 ; her account 
of Lord Bute's first introduction to Frederick 
Prince of Wales, 148. 

Brtufflers, Marchioness de, mistress of the Duke 
of Lorraine, 53. 

Bourbon, Duke of. his proposals for Louis XV.'s 
marriage, 50 ; demands an English princess, 
57 ; banished to Chanlilly, i/>. I 

B»yd, Hugh Macauley, supposed author of" Ju- I 
nius's Inciters, " 157. 

'^--i-Jdotk, Gen. defeated in Carolina, 147. ' 

jjnza, Duke, see John IV. \ 

■ family of, remarks respecting, 44. I 

Brazil, Princess of, character of, 38. 

Bristol, George fifth Earl of, anecdote respect- 
ing, 64. 

Brunswick family, singular circumstances re- 
specting, 87. 

Prince Ferdinand of, bis military 

talents, 77 ; his connexion with the Illumines, 
ib. 78 ; his accusation against Lord Georg<^ 
Germain, 178; his popularity, ib.\, charges 
against, ib. 

Prince Louis of, his popularity in 

Holland, 77; character, ib.\ notice of his 
death, ib. 

Brunswick Blanckenherg, Princess Charlotte 
Christina of, remarks respecting her death, 87. 

Lunenburgh, Princess Caroline 



Matilda of, see Caroline, Queen of Denmark. 
Wolfenbutlel, Princess Elizabeth 



notice of her imprisonment at 8tettin, 87. 
— Zell, Princess Sophia of, notice of 



her imprisonment, 87, 

Buckhurst, Lord Treasurer, remarks respecting 
him, 423, 

Lord, see Dorset. 

Burgovne, Gen. description of him, 208; asper- 
sions upon his charactt!r, 209 ; his interview 
with Fox, ib. ; his opinion of Lord George 
Germain, ib. ; iiis invectives against the cor- 
ruption of Parliament, 234 ; supports the mar- 
riage bill, 241; his animadversions on the 
king and liOrd George Germain, 253 ; his opi- 
nion of the American war, ib. ; sent as com- 



manderinchief in Ireland, 297 ; supports the 
East India Bill, 443. 
Burke, Mr., 71 ; his conduct on the riots of 1780, 
122; accuses government of neglect in not 
supplying the garrison of Gibraltar with gun- 
powder, 175; his extraordinary talents, 201 ; 
his exertions in bringing forward the bill for 
the reform of the civil list, ib ; his opinion of 
M. IVecker, 202; his condemnation of the 
American war, ib.; remarks on his parliamen- 
tary conduct, ib. ; his connexion with Earl' 
Verney, 203 ; his oratory, ib ; anecdotes of 
him, ib. ; his ridicule of Lord North, 204 ; his 
correspondence with Dr, Franklin, ib. ; his 
Irish accent, 205 ; his leivper. ib.; comparisons 
between him and Fox, ill.; his speech respect- 
ing 8ir H. Palliser's appointment as governor 
of Greenwich Hospital, 219 ; his bill for the 
reform of the king's houseiiold, ib. ; his opi- 
nion of Mr. William Pitt, 222 ; his compari- 
son between Lord JNorth and M. Necker, 227 ; 
anecdote of, 231 ; moves an inquiry into the 
treatment of the inhabitants of St. Eustatius, 
236 ; his opinion of the marriage bill, 241 ; 
his remarks on the state of the country, 248 ; 
on the folly of taxing America, ih.; his opi- 
nion of the proposed address to the king, 250 ; 
his comparison respecting Mr. Welbore Ellis, 
266 ; bis attack upon his speech, 267; his 
o[)inion of the loan proposed by Lord North, 
269 ; objects to the postponement of the taxes, 
277 ; his description of lbs state of the nation, 
lb. ; ridicules Lord North, ib. ; his attack upon 
Mr. Welbore Ellis, 279 ; his speech on Lord 
North's resignation, 290 ; appointed paymas- 
ter, 296 ; introduces his bill for the reduction 
of the civil list, 303 ; his plan for the proposed 
reduction, ib. ; remarks on his bill, 304, 305 ; 
his own opinion of it, ib. ; his remarks respect- 
ing Kodiiey, 322 ; his encomiums on the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham, 330 ; his regret on relin- 
quishing his office, 332 ; assertions respecting, 
ib ; his declamations against Ijord Shelburne, 
338; against Gen. Conway, 26. ; ridicules the 
king's speech, 348; reproved by Lord North, 
(550; his comparison resjiecting ministers, 
3.1 1 ; his opinion of the proposed cession of 
Gibraltar to Spain, 352 ; remarks on his 
sjieeches, 370 ; his reproof of .Mr. Duncombe, 
377 ; resumes his office of paymaster, and se- 
cretary of the treasury, 391 ; Goldsmith's as- 
sertion respecting, 393; remarks on his resto- 
ration of Powell and Bembridge to their situ- 
ations, 400 ; his defence, 401,402 ; his exer- 
tions in favour of Bembridge, 403; his bill 
for the regulation of the pay-office, 404; ac-. 
cusations against him, ib. ; his remarks on the 
king's speech, 410 ; his allusions to Pitt, ib. ; 
his views respecting India, 427 ; draws up a. 
bill resj)ecting, 428; his speeches on the East 
India bill, 435, 438, 439; his character of 
Fox, 439 ; bis remarks on the corruption of 
parliament, 466, 467 ; on Mr. Thomas Pitt's 
elevation to the peerage, 471 ; remarks on his 
dejection, 485. 
Bussy, M. commander of the French forces at Cu- 
dalore, proclaims the cessation of arms, 420. 



INDEX. 



509 



Bute, John Stuart first Marquis, Georg-e Ill.'s 
partiality for, 143; attacks upon him, 144; 
account of his first introduction to Frederick 
Prince of Wales. 148; his talents, //;.; his 
character, 149; his administration, /6. ; resigns, 
ib.\ accusations ayainst hiin, ib. 150; remarks 
on his relinquishment of office, 151 ; reports 
respecting, ib. ; his visits to the Princess Dow- 
ager of Wales, ib.\ his desire to resume poli- 
tical power, ib. ; remarks on his conclusion of 
the treaty of Fontainbleau. 153. 

Byng, Adniiral, notice of his execution, 147. 

George, member for Middlesex, his speech 

respecting the loan borrowed by l>ord North, 
226; his three motions respecting, 227; 
speech on thclistof subscribers to the loan, 229. 

Byron, Admiral, account of, 112; his action ofi" 
Grenada, 1 13 ; recalled to Kngland, ib. 

Calabria, Duke of, remarks respecting his imbe- 
cility, 93. 

Camden, Charles Pratt first. Lord, order of the 
Garter, conferred upon, 62 ; Junius's letter to, 
212; his parliamentary character, 213; as 
lord chief justice of common pleas, ib. 

Cambens, remarks respecting him, 42. 

Canterbury, Archbishops of, see Cornxvallis, 
Hon. Dr. Frederick, and Jlfoore, Dr. 

Carleton, 8ir Guy, sent to America, to declare 
the independence of the colonies, 302. 

Carmarthen, Francis (Jodolphin Osborne Mar- 
quis of, objects to Lord George Germain's ele- 
vation to the peerage, 262. 

Carnatic war, committee appointed to inquire 
into the causes of the, 142. 

Caroline, Queen .of JNaples, Archduchess of 
Austria, united to Ferdinand IV., King of 

■ Naples, 94 ; character of, 97. 

Matilda, Queen of Denmark, notice 

of her imprisonment and death at Zell, 88. 

Queen of England, character of, 147. 

Carvalho, Sebastian Joseph, Marquis de Pom- 
bal, his influence with King Joseph I, 34; 
account of him, 46 ; his unpopularity, 26. ; his 
improvements in Lisbon, 47. 

Catherine II, Empress of Russia, her friendship 
for Sir Thos. Wroughton, 79 ; her intrigue to 
entrap the supposed daughter of the Empress 
Elizabeth, /6., 81 ; extenuation of her conduct, 
82; injurious reports respecting, ib.; invites 
the Prince of Wirtemberg into her service, 
8^; her partiality for t'le princess, 86; lia- 
nishes her to the t.'astle of Lhode, ib. ; informs 
the prince of her death, ib. ; remarks on her 
conduct, ib. ; her alliance with Joseph II, 101 ; 
unites with the Baltic powers against Eng- 
land, 133; comiiarison between her reign and 
that of George HI, 199. 

Cavendish, Lord John, character of, 208 ; ap- 
pointed chancellor of the exchequer, 294 ; his 
resignation. 337, 338; moves an amendment 
on the subject of the American treaty, 360; 
encomiums on him, 373 ; justifies Fox's union 
with Lord North, /A. ; appointed chancellor of 
the exchequer, 390 ; Fox's influence with, ib.; 
his proposed loan, 394, 407 ; general esteem 
for, 407; his opinion of the Prince of Wales's 
proposed income, 412 ; Fox's reproof of, 415. 
43*^ 



Chandos, Duchess of, remark of, 135. 
Chantilly, Mademoiselle (Madame Favart), re- 
jects Marshal Saxe's overtures, 55. 
Charles Anselm, Pritice of Tour and Taxis, se- 
parated from his wife., 100. 
Chartres, Duke de, remarks respecting, 61 ; ac- 
cusations against him, 62. 
Charles Edward, Prince (the Pretender), re- 
marks respecting, 107; amount of his income, 
108; hi.s personal appearance, 109; his debi- 
litated state, ib. ; his inebriety, ib. ; seeks re- 
fuge at P'lorence, 110. 
Charles I, King of Kngland, comparison be- 
tween him and King George II [, 32 ; his 
insincerity, 33. 
Charles I II, King of Spain, his desire to re-annex 

(Gibraltar to Spain, 353. 
Chesterfield, I'hilip Stanhope fifth i'lar! of, anec- 
dote of, 137. 
Choiseul, Duke de, his proposal to attempt the 

restoration of the Stuart line, 109. 
Chudleigb, Miss, afterwards Duchess of Kings- 
ton, her repartee to the Princess Dowager of 
Wales, 151; her allusion to LordThurlow, 184, 
Churchill, John first Duke of Marlborough, 
created Prince of Mildenheim, 103. 

■ Lady .Mary, her intimacy with the 

Duke of Lorraine, 53 ; her account of his 
death, ib. 
the poet, his allusion to Lord Sand- 
wich in his jjoem of the Candidate, ISO ; his 
description of Wedderi-urn. 213. 
Clarendon, Edward Hyde first Earl of, accusa- 
tion against, 150. 
Clement XIV. Pope, refuses Prince Charles Ed- 
ward the public honours at Home, 108. 
Gierke, Sir Philip Jennings, his assertion re- 
specting Mr. Atkinson, 226; introduces the 
bill to prevent contractors sitting in parlia- 
ment, 230, 304. 
Clinton, Sir Henry, appointed to command the 

army in America, 163. 
Coke, Mr. Daniel Parker, member for Notting- 
ham, moves the thanks of the House to Lord 
Cornwallis and Sir Henry Clinton, 128; his 
attack upon ministers, 315; upon the pen- 
sion granted to Col. Barre, 334; his opinion 
of delegates, 369 ; moves to petition the king 
to form an administration, 384. 
Coligny, Henrietta, literary entertainments given 

by, 73. 
Commons, House of, remarks respecting the 
great change in. 298 ; comjiarison respecting, 
313; personality of debate in, 476 ; presents 
an address to the king, 490, 
Conway, Gen , character of, 208; introduces a 
motion to petition the king " to renounce any 
attempt to reduce America by force,'' 266 ; 
his address to Mr. Welbore Ellis, ib.; re- 
minds Dundas and Rigby of the declarations 
respecting the .'\merican vi'ar, 270 ; moves an 
address to the king to terminate the American 
war, 272 ; proposes a vote of thanks to the 
king, ib. ; his dsfence of Earl Shelburne, 
337. 
Coote, Sir Eyre, commander of the army on the 
Cororaandel coMSt, his death, 42S. 



510 



INDEX. 



Cooper, Sir Grey, his speech on tlie estimate for 
supplying the army, 500. 

Cornwall, Mr. chosen speaker of the House of 
Commons, 126; his talents, zi. ; allusion to 
in " the Rolliad," ib. 

Cornwnllis, Charles first Marquis, remarks re- 
specting, 128 ; his victory over the Americans 
at JN'orlh Carolinn,239, 2'J3; establishes him- 
self at York 'i'own, 244; his surrender, «A., 
247, 258. 

Hon. Dr. Frederick, Archbishop of 

Canterbury, his death, 382. 

Corsica, island of, annexed to France, 159. 

Courtenay, Mr. one of the members for Tarn- 
worth, character of, 224; his reply to Sheri- 
dan's reproof, 225; his speech respecting the 
marriage bill, 241 ; his opinion of the Ameri- 
can war, 250 ; liis speech on the resignation 
of ministers, 290; his remarks on Lord Shel- 
burne's selection of Pitt, 349. 

Cowper, George Nassau Clavering third Earl, 
created a prince of the German Empire, 103. 

("ountess, the Grand-duke Leopold's 

attachment to, 103. 

Cranston, Lord, his account of Rodney's en- 
gagement with Ue Grasse, 319 

Crewe, Mr. afterwards Lord, introduced a bill 
for excluding oflicers of the excise and cus- 
toms from voting at elections, 304. 

Crown jewels, anecdote respecting, 340. 

Cumberland, William Augustus third Uuke of, 
his conversation with George III, 31. 

Cunningham, Gen. James, governor of Barba- 
does, his account of the hurricane of 1780, 124. 

Cust, Sir John, his talents as Speaker, 126. 

iJalrymple, Sir John, his statement respecting 
the Princess Sophia, 1 10. 

Darby, Admiral, seni to relieve Gibraltar, 175; 
succeeds in his object, 244. 

Dartmouth, William Legge second Earl of, ap- 
yiointed Lord Steward, 390. 

Dasliv ood, Sir Francis, afterwards hmi\ le Dcs- 
penser, founds the Society of the Francis- 
cans, 198. 

Delaval, Sir John, afterwards Lord, his eulo- 
giumson Lord North, 290 ; his speech on the 
Prince of Wales's attendance in the House of 
Commons, 476. 

Derby, Edward 22d Earl of, his defence of, Fox, 
339. 

Devonshire, William Cavendish fifth Duke of, 
order of the Garter conferred u]Jon, 310. 

Duchess of, her partiality for Dr. 

Johnson's conversation, 72 ; her alarm on the 
slots in London in 1780, 1 18. 

Dick, Sir John, British consul at Leghorn, his 
account of the seizure of the supposed Prin- 
cess of Tarrakanofl", 80, 81 ; remarks respect- 
ing him, ib. 

Di^by, Admiral, Fent to America to declare the 
inde|>«ndcnce of the colonies, 302. 

Dodinglon, .Mr, his opinion of Prince Ferainand 
of Brunswick, 178. 

Dolbtn, .Sir 'vVilliam, his opinion of associations 
and delegates, 2;i(; ; refuses to support the 
^notion for the di.smnssion of Lord Sandwich, 
26C ; declares bis inleiition of supporting ad- 



ministration, 270; his opinion of Lord North. 
285 ; his remarks respecting him, 388. 
Dorset, Edward eighth Earl of remarks respect- 
ing him, 423. 

Charles tenth Earl of character of, 423 ; 



his marriages, ib. ; refuses a dukedom, 424 ; 
his inibecility. ib. 

Lionel Cranfield Sackville first Duke of 



(Lord Buckhurst), anecdotes of, 424,425; 
accompanies George 1. to England, ib.; in- 
forms the Prince of Wales of his death, ib., 
426. 

John Frederick Sackville third duke of, 



Marie Antoinette's observations to, 36 ; ap- 
pointed ambassador to Paris, 451 ; (;haracter 
of ib. ; Marie .Antoinette's esteem for, ib. 

Drnprr, Sir William, Junius's attack upon him 
156. 

Duncan, Admiral I^ord, notice of his victory off 
Camperdown, 319. 

Duncombe, Mr. one of the representatives for 
York ; his petition for more equal representa- 
tion in parliament, 377 ; refuses to support 
Lord North, ib. 

Dundas, Mr, Lord Advocate of Scotland, after- 
warils Lord .Melville, his opinion of Lord 
North, 165; character of, 190; his speeches, 
ib.; his intimacy with Rigby, 191 ; his opi- 
nion of Mr. Pitt, 252 ; his allusion to Lord 
George Germain, 256; imputations against 
him. 268 ; his retort upon Burke, 281 ; his 
inquiries of Fox, ib. ; his reply to Fox's ani- 
ujadvcrsi-ons upon J..ord North's adnn'nistra- 
tion, 302 ; his reports res{)ecting the East 
India Com[)any's affairs. 311; his remarks on 
the conduct of IMr. Hastings. ?7». ; supports 
Lord North's administration, 3IS; his politi- 
cal Cii[)acities, ib. ; disapproves of the proposed 
address to the king respectmg K'odney, 323, 
324; his encomiums on Air. Orde, 334 ; ap- 
pointed treasurer of the navy, ib.; his re- 
marks on Fox's coalition with Jyord North, 
361 ; remarks on his appointment as keeper 
of the signet in Scotland, 380 ; his reply, ib. ; 
approves of the profx>sed parliamentary re- 
form, 395 ; his speech respecting Mr. Wil- 
liam Pitt, 398; his encomiums on him, ib. ; 
his reply to Fox's imputations against admi- 
nistration, 401 ; his speech respecting the pro- 
posed address to the king, 408; his propo- 
sition respecting the land tax, 449; solicit* 
the place of lord warden of the Cinque Ports 
for Mr. William Pitt, 461; his accusations 
against opposition, 495 ; his vindication of 
Pitt, 496. 

Dunning, Mr. his personal defects, 206 ; his 
abilities, 207 ; his union with Barre, zZi. ; his 
opinioji of associations, 2oG ; remarks re- 
specting him, 271 ; created l<ord Ashburton, 
296; appeinted chancellor of the Duchy of 
l>ancaster, 29C ; his opinion of delegates, 
369 ; his proposition for diminishing the in- 
fluence of the crown, 370 ; his death, 421. 

Dutch war, debates respecting, 199. 

Eartiiquakes in Lisl)on,33, 42, 43. 

Fiast India Company, secret committee to en- 
quire into thcaliairs of the, 311. 



INDEX. 



511 



East India Bill introduced by Fox, 431 ; plan 
of, 432; debates on, ib-, 434,435; passes 
the (Jominons, 436; attacks upon it, 441 f 
the king's disapprobation of, 444 ; rejected 
by the Lords, ib , 447 ; alterations in, 478 ; 
introduced by Pitt, ib. 
Eden, Mr. Lord Sandwich's letter to, 179 ; his 
speech on the state of Ireland, 299 ; moves to 
bring in a bill rcspeclina;, ib. ; refuses to with- 
draw his request, 300 ; disap|)roves of the 
American treaty, 357 ; enters his protest re- 
specting, ib. 
Effingham, 'J'homas Howard third Earl of, ac- 
cused of favouring the rioters of 1780,123. 
Ellis, Mr. Welbore, anecdote respecting, 165; 
character of, 169 ; appointed to succeed Lord 
George Germain, as secretary of state, 260; 
remarks on his capabilities, 266 ; Burke's 
eomparison respecting, /6. ; difficulties of his 
situation, ib. ; his speech, 267 ; Powis's re- 
marks respecting him, 278 ; his reply, 279. 
Eliot, Dr. created a baronet, 175 ; his marriage I 
with Lady Harriet Pitt, 333 ; his elevation to 
the peerage, 471. 
Eliott, Gen. defeats the Spanish floating batte- 
ries, 346, 348 ; one of the commissioners ap- 
pointed to administer the East India Com- 
pany's art'airs, 433. 
Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, remarks respect- 
ing, 78. 
England, fakes possession of the Falkland Is- 
lands, 159; discontent in, 163. 

Princess royal of, married to the 

Prince of Wirtemberg, 85, 87. 
English ]\a"y in 1779, 113; party and faction 

in, 320 ; remarks respecting, 340. 
Erskinc, Mr. afterwards Lord, character of, 71 ; 
supports the East India Bill, 442 ; remarks 
on his speech, ib. 
Eustatius, St. debate respecting the capture of 

the island of, 175. 
Falkland Island, annexed to England, 159 : re- 
specting, 160. 
Falmouth, Hugh Boscawen third Viscount, his 

death, 260; anecdote of, 261. 
Farinelli, his influence with FerJinand VI, 48. 
Favart, Madame, see Chantillij. 
Fclkesheim, tJount de, character of, 88; story 

related by, ib. 
Ferdinand IV. King of Naples, his partiality for 
Sir William Hamilton, 91 ; determines to re- 
main at pea«e with England, 92; his per- 
sonal appearance, ib.; character of, ib.; his 
neglected education, ib. ; his grief fV)r the 
death of the Archduchess Josephs, his in- 
t"uije J wife, 93 ; his marriage with the Arch- 
duchess Caroline, 94; anecdotes respecting 
him, ib., 95 ; his partiality for wrestling, ib. ; 
for hunting, 96; his afleclion for his people, 
ib. ; for his queen, 97. 
Ferdinand VI. Prince of the Asturias, after- 
wards King of Spain, his marriage, 48 ; his 
taste for music, ib. ; his death, 49. 
F^ielding, Mr. his grave at Lisbon, 43 ; remarks 

on his productions,//!;. 
Fitzpatrick, Col. his opinion of the riots of 1780, 
226 ; negotiates the coalition between Fox 



and Lord North, 359 ; appointed secretary at 
war, 392; character of, ib. 
Fitzwilliam, William Wentworth, second Earl 
apppointed one of the com:nissioners for the 
administration of the Kast India Company's 
aflairs, 433 ; his character of Pitt, 489. 
Fletcher, Sir Henry, one of the representatives 
for Cumberlatid, appointed one of the com- 
missioners to administer the East India Com- 
pany's afiaifs, 433. 
Fleury, Bishop of Frejus, his influence with 
Louis XV., 49 ; remarks on his administra- 
tion, 51 ; his decease, 54. 
Flood, Mr. Henry, his speech on the East India 

Bill, 444. 
Florence, interesting antiquities in, 102 ; pros- 
perity of, uruler the government of the Grand 
Duke Leopold, 103. 
Fontainbleau, remarks respecting, 153. 
Fox, Chas. James, remarks respecting, 30, 105 ; 
his conduct respecting the riots in 1780, 122 ; 
his opinion of Sir Hugh Palliser's nomination 
to the governorship of Greenwich Hospital, 
127; his insinuations against Lord George 
Germain, ib. ; his remarks respecting Lord 
North, 166; respecting Lord George Ger- 
main, 175; respectiniT Lord Sandwich, 182; 
his opinion of Lord Thurlow, 184; notice of 
his union with Lord North, ib. ; his remarks 
respecting him, 180; his esteem for Mr. 
Kigby, 188; his personal appearance, 192; 
his neglect of dress, ib. ; his descent, ib. ; his 
travels, 193; Junius's remarks respecting 
him, ?6. ; his amusements, 194; his propen- 
sity for gaming, ib. ; opinions of him, ib. ; his 
historical productions, 195; his poverty ib.; 
196 ; Rigby's speech respecting him, ib. ; his 
excesses, 197; his rural amusements, iZ>. ; his 
friends, ib. ; his conduct to Mrs. Hobart, 198 ; 
his speech on the debate respecting the Dutch 
war, 199; his comparison between Henry 
Vr. and George HI., ib.\ his knowledge of 
the classics, 200 ; anecdote of him, ib. ; his 
poetic talents, ib. ; comparison between him 
and Burke, 206; his interview with General 
Burgoyne, 209; his reprobation of Wedder- 
burn, 213; censures administration for ap- 
pointing Sir Hugh Palliser governor of Green- 
wich Hospital, 216; his allusion to Admiral 
Keppel's election for Surrey, ib.; his asser- 
tion respecting Sir Hugh Palliser's resigna- 
tion of his employments, 217; Johnstone's 
charges against him, 218 ; his opinion of Mr. 
Pitt, 223; his popularity, 224 ; his speech re- 
specting the loan borrowed by Lord North,, 
226; respecting the right to act as delegates, 
236; advises peace with the American colo- 
nies, 238; his reproof of Kigby, 240; his 
opinion of Dundas,z6. ; of the first Earl of 
Chatham, ih.; his conversation with Dr, 
Franklin, 241; his opinion of the marriage 
act, ib. ; his comments upon Commodore John- 
stone, 242 ; his imputations against adminis- 
tration, 243 ; accuses ministers of being in tba 
pay of France, 247 ; objects to sending an ad- 
dress to the king, 248 ; his attempt to stop 
the supplies for the American war, 250 ; re- 



512 



INDEX. 



marks on his conduct, 2r)l ; his personal im- 
putations against George III. ib.; against 
Lord Sandwich, 257 ; moves an inquiry into 
his conduct, 259, 263, 205; his attack upon 
Jenkinson's speech, 267; remarks on his im- 
prudent expressions, 268 ; attempts to induce 
Dundas to vote for the termination of the 
American war, ih.; his opinion of Lord 
North's proposed loan, 269 ; disapproves of 
the king's reply to the address from the Com- 
mons, 273; his ridicule of Lord North's pro- 
testations,//;. ; his remarks on the termination 
of the American war, ib.\ his speech on the 
proposed truce with the American colonies, 
275 ; remarks on it, 276 ; Adam's attack upon 
him, 2S0 ; his political opinions, ib., 281; 
his reply to Dundas, ib. ; his apology to Lord 
North, 285; his speech on his resignation, 
289 ; remarks on his brilliant prospects, 293 ; 
named one of the secretaries of state, 294 ; 
his opinion of the public right to demand in- 
terest on the balances of money retained by 
the accountants, 296 ; reproves Mr. Eden for 
his motion respecting Ireland, 299 ; his speech 
on the afTairs of Ireland, 301; his corre- 
spondence with the Russian minister respect- 
ing Holland, 302 ; his declamations against 
Lord North's administration, ifj.\ his speech 
on the bill for reducing the civil list, 303 ; re- 
specting Lord North, 308, 311; his condem- 
nation of the preceding ministry, 312; his 
pecuniary embarrassments, 314 ; his reply to 
Mr. Daniel Parker Coke, 315 ; his speech re- 
specting Ireland, ib. ; moves to repeal the act 
declaring the dependence of Ireland on Great 
Britain, 316; his desire for pulilic approba- 
tion, 317 ; moves the thanks of the House to 
Sir George Rodney, 320, 323 ; accusations 
against him, 322 ; his speech respecting his 
recall, 324, 325 ; remarks on his selection of 
Pigot to replace 8ir Georga Rodney, 326 ; 
predicts a change of administration, 327; his 
speech respecting the bill for preventing bri- 
bery at elections, ib.\ respecting the inquiry 
into the balance of money in the hands of 
public accountants, 32S ; his conduct on the 
death of the Marquis of Rockingham, 329 ; 
his eulogium on him, 330 ; his speech on the 
bill for regulating appointments in America, 
331 ; his private circumstances, 331, 332 ; re- 
maiks On his resignation, ib.\ his reply to 
Bamber Gascoyne, 336 ; his accusations 
against Lord Shelburne, i7»., 337 ; his incon- 
sistent character, 336 ; his reason for resigning 
his secretaryship, ib.:, Pitt's accusations 
against him, 337 ; comparison between the 
conduct of him and Pitt, ib. ; insinuations 
against him. 339; convokes his constituents 
343; his remarks on Lord Shelburne's declara- 
tions, 349 ; on the proposed cession of Gibraltar 
to Spain, 352, 353 ; his attempt to compel the 
production of the provisional treaty with 
America, ib.; his opinion of the American 
treaty, 357 ; I^iord Shelburne's overtures to, 
358 ; his reply to them, ib. ; account of his co- 
alition with Lord North, 359 ; animadversions 
on his conduct, 361 ; his reply to them, 362 ; 



his speech respecting delegates, 369; respect- 
ing peace with America, 37) ; general opi- 
nions respecting his union with Lord North, 
372,373,389; his allusion to the coalition, 
373 ; Lord North's encomiums on him, 376; 
the king's opinion of him, 380 ; his remarks 
on Lord Thurlow, ib. ; on Mr. Townsend's 
elevation to the peerage, ib. ; his reply to Mr. 
Dundas, ib. ; his opinions on the state of the 
country, 385;- ofltjrs to receive Pitt into the 
coalition, /6.; his speech respecting .lenkinson's 
influence with the king, 387 ; his justification 
of his union with Lord JN'orth, 388 ; appoint- 
ed secretary for foreign affairs, 390 ; his influ- 
ence in the treasury, ib. ; with the ministers, 
ib. ; his opinion of Lord Cavendish's pro- 
posed loan, 391; his reply to Pitt's imputa- 
tions, ib., 395 ; remarks on his ministerial ca- 
reer, 398 ; his speech on the restoration of 
Powell and Bembridge to their situations, 
400, 401 ; his defence of Burke, 404 ; his ad- 
vice to him, ib. ; comparison between him and 
Pitt, 408 ; his opinion of the proposed in- 
come for the Prince of Wales, 412, 413 ; of 
the bill compelling- public accountants to deli- 
ver up their balances, 414; his accusations 
against Pitt, 415; his influence in govern- 
ment, 416; his political character, 417; at- 
tempts to ingratiate himself in the esteem of 
the king, ib. ; conversation respecting him, 
ib. ; his attention to his parliamentary duties, 
ib.; attempts to secure his tenure of office, 
426 ; comparisons respecting his popularity, 
ib., 427 ; respecting his coalition with Lord 
North, ib. ; his views in India, ib. ; his India 
Bill, 428, 431, 432 ; solicits the order of the 
Garter for Mr. Bielby Thompson, 428 ; his 
conversation with the king respecting, 429 ; 
his influence with the Prince of Wales, 430 ; 
his .speech on the treaties of peace, 431 ; on 
his India bill, 434, 435 ; carries the bill to the 
Lords, 436 ; comparisons respecting him, 
437, 438; Powis's reflections on him, ib.; 
Burke's character of, 439 ; his reply to Mr. 
Thomas Pitt, 439 ; allusions to Jeukmson, 
440 ; to Pitt, ib. ; Wilkes's reflections upon 
him, 441 ; Sir Richard Hill's comparison con- 
cerning, 442; his defence of the bill, 443 ; 
reflections upon him, 445; his accusations 
against the king, 447 ; his speech on the bill, 
448 ; delivers up the seals of his olfice, 449 ; 
his speech on the jiroposed dissolution, 453 ; 
Lord North's eulogiums on, 454 ; his unpo- 
pularity, 455; his classical knowledge, 459 ; 
couiparison between his oratory and Pitt's, ?6.; 
his conduct respecting the regency, 462; his 
attachment to .^jiss Pulteney,/6. ; his want of 
moral deportment, 463 ; caricatures respect- 
ing him, 471 : his influence in the Commons, 
472; his charges against Pitt, 473: his re- 
marks on the Prince of Wales's attendance in 
the Commons, 477; on Pitt's East India 
Bill, 478 ; moves for leave to re-introduce his 
East India Bill, ib. ; his alterations in it, ib. ; 
remarks on his conduct to Pitt, 480 ; plan to 
procure a reconciliation between him and Pitt, 
480,481;. his attachment to the opposition. 



INDEX. 



513 



bench, 481 ; charge's against him, 484 ; moves 
an adjournment, 486; conduct of the inhabi- 
tants of Westminster towards, 48S ; remarks 
on his declininn influence, 489 ; Pitt's reflec- 
tions on him, 492: delays the progress of the 
mutiny bill, 494; his eiubarrasseJ situation. 
495; his remarks on Pitt, 499 ; cause of his 
defeat, 501 ; his delusions, ib. 

Fox, Sir Stephen, reports respecting him, 192. 
See Holland, Lord. 

France, notice of the peace between England 
and, 136. 

Francis, Prince of Tuscany, afterwards Empe- 
ror of Austria, his marriage with the Princess 
Elizabeth of VVirtemberg, 85. 

Francis, Sir Philip, opinions respecting his being 
the author of " Junius's Letters." 159. 

Franciscans, society of, founded by Sir Francis 
Dashwood, 198. 

Franklin, Dr., Notice of his correspondence with 
Burke, 204; his conversation with Mr. Fo.x, 
240 ; his attempts to emancipate America 
from Great liritain, 347. 

Fraser, Mr., under secretary of state, his remarks 
on George II. 's blindness, 146. 

Frederick William I., King of Prussia, his re- 
ception of Paul, Grand-duke of Russia, 83; 
anecdote of, 84 ; his interview with the Em- 
peror Leopold at Piliiitz, 105 ; his negotia- 
tions, with the Eniperor Leopold, ib. ; his 
dislike of England, 133. 

Galloway, Lord, accusations against him, 476 ; 
anecdote of, 477. 

Gascoyne, Bamber, his attack upon the pension 
granted to Colr>iiel Barre, 335 ; his speech 
respecting associations, 368 ; confusion in 
consequence, 369. 

Gaston, John, remarks respecting, 102. 

George L, King of England, remaiks respecting, 
141; his partiality for Dr. Younger, 307; 
grief for his supposed death, ib. : his conver- 
sation with Lord Dorset, 425 ; his death, ib. 

€f€orge the II., King of England, his dislike of 
Lord Tem()le, 62 ; remarks respecting, 141, 
144, 146; character o\\ib.; his opinion re- 
specting Lord George Germain, 178 ; account 
of his accession, 425. 

George III., Sir Nathaniel Wraxall's opinion of, 
29 ; character of, 31 ; his objection to confer 
the Garter upon Lord Camden, 62 ; consents 
to his daughter's marriage with the Prince of 
Wirtemberg, 87 ; his unpopularity, 1 12, 142 ; 
his firmness during the riots in 1780, 119, 
121, 122 ; Junius's reflections upon him, ib ; 
refuses his permission for Sir Fletcher Nor- 
ton's re-election as Speaker, 126; his tem- 
perance, 133; remarks respecting, 134; his 
tendency to corpulency, /6. ; his levees, ii. ; 
remarks on his reign, 135 ; comparison be- 
tween him and Charles L. ib. ; his warrant to 
take Wilkes into custody, 136; his fidelity to 
his engagements, ib. ; his reception of Mr. 
Adams, the American envoy, ib. ; his conduct 
on the signing of the preliminaries of peace 
with France, ib. ; his attention to his corona- 
tion oath, 137; prepares for the installation 
of the knights of the Garter, ib. ; his eUilca- 



tion, 138 ; his taste for the arts and sciences, 
139; his personal courage, ib.\ attempt to 
assassinate him, 140; threatening letters sent 
to, ib. ; his attachment to Pitt, ib. ; remarks 
respecting him, ib. ; compared to George the 
First and Second, 141 ; his partiality for Lady 
Sarah Lennox, 142; his secluded life previ- 
ous to his accession, i6.; Junius's remarks 
respecting, 143; reports respecting him, t6. ; 
his attachment to Lord Bute, ib.\ his personal 
resemblance to Lord North, 145 ; his unpopu- 
larity through signing the treaty of Fontain- 
bleau, 152; his firmness during the riots of 
1769, 153; Junius's letter to, 154; his re- 
marks respecting him, 155 ; prejudices against 
him, 161 ; his opinion of the right to tax 
America, ib.\ his firmness during the Ameri- 
can war, 164; his personal dislike of Dr. 
Elliot, 175; comparisons between his reign 
and that of Catherine II. 199; between him 
and Henry VI., ib.\ remarks on his conduct 
towards Fox, 201 ; esteem of his subjects for 
him, 215; regrets the hosiiliiies with Hol- 
land, ib. ; bill for reforming his household, 
219, 221 ; visits Admiral Parker at the Nore, 
243; verses respecting him. 244; his letter 
respectinij the surrender of the British forces 
at York Town, 247 ; his firmness, /6. ; Fox's 
imputations against him, 251 ; raises Lord 
George Germain to the peerage, 261 ; his 
reply to the petition from the (/'ommons, 272; 
refuses to accept I^ord iVorth's resignation, 
287 ; regrets his retiremer;t from ofliice, 292 ; 
his conference with the Earl of Slielburne, 
2'93; with the Marquis of Rockingham-, 294; 
places him at the head of the ministry, ?6. ; 
his preference of Lurd Shelbume, ib. ; raises 
Dunning to the peerage, 295 ; creates Sir 
Fletcher Norton Lord Granlley, ib. ; his 
friendship for Lord Bateman, 301; confers 
the order of the Garter upi>n his third son. 
Prince William Henry, 310 ; petition to re- 
call Sir Elijah Im[)ey from Bengal, 311; 
prorogues the parliament, 340 ; his speech on 
the re-opening of the session, 348; Burkes 
ridicule of, ib- ; his conduct on Lord Shel- 
burne's resignation, 379; his opinion of Fox. 
380 ; his interview with the IJnke of Port- 
land and Lord North, 381 ; oilers the arch- 
bishopric of C^anterbury to Dr. Hurd, 382 ; 
to Dr. Louth, ib. ; his projected visit to his 
electoral dominions, 383 ; petiti<ined to form an 
administration, ib. 386 ; his reply, ib. ; sends 
for the Duke of Portland, 389; his contest 
against the coaHtiim, ib. ; his conversation 
with the Duke of Portland, ib. ; his esteem 
for General Sir John Irwine, 4(t6 ; his dona- 
tions to him, 407; his determination respect- 
ing the Prince of Wales's proposed income, 
412 ; his coolness to ministers, 416; conver- 
sation concerning Fox, 417; his dejection, 
418; his wish to visit Hanover, j6. ; refuses 
to create British Peers, 419; bill respecting 
India presented to, 428 ; refuses to confer the 
order of the Garter on Mr. Btelby Thompson, 
429 ; disapproves of the East India Bill, 444 ; 
ren),a,riis Qti his conduct, 4)4,6.;; his determina< 



514 



INDEX. 



1 



lion respecting the India Bill, 446 ; desires 
Lord JNortli and Fox to resign, 448 ; forms a 
new administration, 450 ; receives an ad- 
dress from the citizens of London, 478 ; re- 
fuses to dismiss ministers, 486 ; receives an 
address from the Commons, 490, 49 1, 493 ; 
his replies, 490, 493, 494; his opinion of 
Powis, 495; dissolves Parliament, 50 I ; his 
obligations to Mr. Pitt, 502 ; his popularity in 
1784, ib. 
Germain, Lord George, afterwards first Viscount 
Sackviile, barricades his residence in the riots 
of 1780, 119 ; his reply to Fox's insinuations 
against him, 127; supposed author of "Ju- 
nius's Letters," 155 ; his attachment to 
George III., 156 ; remarks on his abilities, 
173; his personal appearance, 174; his con- 
versation, ib.\ his education, ib.\ procures 
the rank of a baronet for Ur. Eliott, 175 ; at- 
tacks upoi» him, ih.\ his oratory, ib.; his 
illustrious extraction, ib. ; his conduct at the 
battle of Minden, 177, 179 ; tried by a court 
martial, 178 ; his duel with Governor John- 
stone, ib. ; General Burgoyne's opinion of, 
209; objects to an inquiry into the treatment 
of the inhabitants of St. Eustatius, 236 ; his 
uneasiness res|)ecling the American war, 245; 
informs Lord North of the surrender of the 
British at York Town, 246 ; his speech re- 
specting the American war, 254 ; his reply 
to Mr. Byng, ib. ; to Mr. Townsend's accusa- 
tions, 255 ; offers to resign, 257; account of 
his elevation to the peerage, 261 ; created 
Lord Sackviile, 262 ; debates respecting his 
admission to the House of Peers, ib., 263 ; I 
anecdote respecting, /6. ; his o[)inion of the i 
loss of America, 367 ; account of his succes- 
sion to the estate of Drayton, 421 ; his ac- 
count of the Sackvilles, 423; his birth, 425 ; ! 
Pitt's application to, 468 ; supports him dur- 
ing the East India Bill, 470. 

Sir John, account of him, 421. 

Lady Betty (Lady Betty Berkeley), 



her marriage with Sir John Germain, 422 
Sir John's advice to, ib. 

Gibbon, Mr., his '• Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire," 252; member for Ly- 
mington, 253 ; supports administration on 
the motion for terminating the American 
war, 286 ; notice of his retirement to Geneva, 
306. 

Gibraltar, besieged by the Spaniards, 175, 345, 
346 ; debates respecting the proposed cession 
of, to Spain, 353. 

" Glorieux," commamled by the -Hon. Capt. 
Cadogan, disappearance of, 345. 

Glover, .Mr., author of " Leonidas," assertions 
respecting him being the author cf •' Junius's 
Letters," 157 ; refuted, ib. ; remarks in his 
" Memoirs," 464. 

Goldsmith, Mr., his remarks concerning Burke, 
399. 

Gordon, Lord George, favours the riots of 
1780, 123 ; indignation against him, ib. ; 
attempts to disperse the rioters, 124 ; charac- 
ter of, ib. ; notice of his imprisonment in 
J^fewgate, ib. 



Gordon, Sir William, his mission to the French 

court, 160. 
Gower, Granville Leveson, second Earl, office 

of first lord of the treasury offt-reJ to, 381. 
Grafton, Augustus Henry, third Duke of, his 
treatment of Mr. Wilkes, 153 ; receives a let- 

I ter from him, 156; Junius's remarks respect- 
ing him, 154; their effect upon him, i^. ; his 
resignation, 155. 
Grantham, Thomas Robinson, second Lord, ap- 
pointed foreign secretary, 333; pension granted 
to, 380. 
Grantley, Lord, see J\:'ortun, Sir Fletcher. 
Gra.sse, Admiral De, his engagement with Ad- 
miral Rodney, 319; delivers his sword to 
Lord Cranston, ib. ; his complaints respecting 
his officers, 321 ; public indignation against, 
ib. 

Graves, Admiral, accusations against him, 345. 

Greatrakcs, Mr. William, private secretary to 
the Karl of Shelburne, accused of composing 
" Junius's Letters," 157. 

Grcijory, .Mr., his character, 233 ; his indepen- 
ilcnce, 234 ; appointed one of the commis- 
sioners to administer the East India Com- 
pany's ali'cHrs, 433. 

Grenada, surrendered to the French, 113. 

Grenville, George, his attempt to tax the Ameri- 
can colonies, 161. 

'J'homas, his mission to Paris, 302, 

William, his speech on the East In- 
dia Bill, 434. 

Gri'ville, Hon. Charles, resigns his office of 
treasurer of the household, 452. 

Grosvenor, Mr., his motion to unite administra- 
tion, 482. 

Guilford, Frederick, eighth Earl of, see jVorth, 
hord. 

Kadfield, attempts the life of George III., 140. 

Hamilton, Hon. William Gerard, supposed au- 
thor of "Junius's Letters," 158. 

Sir VVilliam, his remarks respecting 

Graiid-duke I'aul, of Russia, 84 ; his personal 
appearance, 90 ; character, ib. ; performs the 
tarantella, 91; the King of iN'aples's parti- 
ality for, ib.\ his remarks respecting him, 
92, 95 ; his opinion of the kingdom of 
Naples, 97. 

Lady, informed of Lord Nelson's vic- 
tory over the Danes, 91 ; perforins the taran- 
tella, ib. ; stories related by, 97, 98. 

. Lady Archibald, Frederick, Prince of 

Wales's attachment to, 145. 

Harley, Alderman, anecdote respecting, 203. 

Harrison, Mr., one of the members for Grimsby, 
his speech respecting the king s friends, 189. 

Hartley, ,Mr., member for Hull, signs a treaty 
with America, 419 ; length of his speeches, j'A. 

Hastings, Warren, Governor-general of Bengal, 
remarks on his conduct, 3i I ; his prompti- 
tude after Hyder Ally's invasion of the Car- 
natic, 366. 

Hawke, Sir Edward, his character as first lord 
of the admiralty, 181; remarks respecting 
him, ib. 

Hawkesbury, Lord, signs the preliminaries of 
peace with France, 136. SeeJenhinson. 



INDEX. 



515 



" Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers," 
remarks respecting Fox in, 194; respecting 
Lord NorlhVailiniiiistration, 231 ; verses re- 
specting George III. in, 244. 
Hertford, Francis Seymour Conway, seventeenth 
Earl of, remarks respecting, 301 ; appointed 
lord chamberlain, 390. 
Hill, Dr. Lord Bute's liberality to, 149. 

Sir Richard, member for Shropshire, his ! 

comparison respecting Fox's junction with 
Lord North, 377,442; his remarks on the 
Prince of Wales's attendance in the House of 
Commons, 475 ; character of, 476. 
■Hillsborough, Wills, first Earl of, character 

of, 173. 
Hinchinbroke, Lord, appointed master of the 

buck hounds, 391. 
Hippolito de Medicis, Cardinal, dispensatcd from 
his ecclesiastical vows, 102 ; his marriage, ib.; 
death, ib. 
Hobart, Mrs., afterwards Countess of Bucking- 
hamshire, Mr. P'ox's treatment of, 198. 
Hohen, Mr., his losses at the capture of St. 

Eustatius, 4G7. 
Holland, Stadtholders of, 75 ; war declared 
against, by the British, 130 ; remarks respect- 
ing, ib.; commencement of ho.stiliiies be- 
tween England and, 216; refuses the nego- 
tiations with Great Britain, 302. 

i^leplien Fox, second Lord, his 

talents, 193; his unpopularity, ib. ; his death, 

195. 

Holroyd, Col., created Lord Sheffield, his 

courageous conduct at the riots of 1780, 120. 

Home, John, Lord Bute's liberality to, 159. 

Hood, Sir vSamuel. captures two French line-of- 

hattle ships, 344. 
Howe, Admiral Sir William, afterwards Lord, 
recalled from the command in America, 163; 
character of, 207; his oratorical talents, 26. ; 
prevents a junction of the Dutch squadron 
with the French and 5<panish fleets, 312; re- 
lieves Gibraltar, 346, 348 ; appointed fir^^t 
lord of the admiralty, 355 ; restored to the 
head of the admiralty, 450. 
Howard, Sir George, his aniendment to the vote 

of thanks to Gen. Eliott, 353. 
Hubert, .Mr. Henry, afterwards Earl of Carnar- 
von, his indignation against Lord George Gor- 
don, 123. 
Hurd, Dr., Bishop of Worcester, refuses the 

archbishopric of Canterbury, 382. 
Hurricane in the West Indies, 124. 
Hussey, Mr., member for Salisbury, his opinion 
of the loan raised by Lord North, 227 ; his 
speech relative to public abuses, 411. 
Hyder Ally, his invasion of the Carnatic, 232; 
driven from Madras, 215; his death, 419; 
his successes, 420; anecdote of him, 421; 
his character, ib. ; cause of his death, ib. 
Illumines, society of the, 77 ; impression made 

by, in Dresden, 88. 
Inglefield, .Mr., his account of the fate of the 

Centaur, 345. 
Impey, Sir Elijah, remarks on his conduct as 

chief justice of Bengal, 31 1. 
Ireland, requires a renunciation of parliamentary 



supremacy on the pnrt of Great Britain, 
315. 
Irwine, Gen. Sir John, character of, 405 ; enter- 
tainment given by, to the lord lieutenant of Ire- 
land, 406; decorated with the order of the Bath, 
ib. ; anecdote of him, ib. ; his pecuniary diffi- 
culties, ib. ; receives donations from the king, 
407 ; his residence at Parma, ib. ; death, ih. 

Lady, pensioti granted to, 407. 

Jackson, Mr. Richard, his general information, 

333. 
James, Sir William, his death, 436 ; account of 

him, 437. 
Jenkinson, Charles, afterwards Lord Hawkes- 
bury and Earl of Liverpool, accusations 
against, 161, 186; his character as secretary 
at war, ib. ; his reported influence with George, 
III., ib. ; his personal appearance, 187 ; his 
education,!//.; his parliamentary talents, 26.; 
his speech respecting the American war, 267; 
Fox's attack upon it, ib. ; his justification of 
administration, 279 ; his speech on the East 
India Bill, 434; ?'ox's allu.sion to hiro, 440. 
See Haifkenbiiru. 
Jervis, ^ir John, raised to the dignity of Earl 

St. Vincent, 323. 
Jesuits, number of, imprisoned in the Castle of 

St. Julien, in 1772, 46. 
John IV., King of Portugal, remarks respecting, 
44. 

v.. King of Portugal, character of, 45 i 

erects a palace at Mafira, 46. 
Johnson, Dr., his opinion of the " Essay on 
Shakspeare," 67 ; remarks respecting him, 
68, 69 ; his compositions, 69 ; reason for not 
cultivating his {Kietical talents, 26.; opinions 
respecting him, ib. ; his talent as a biogra- 
pher, 70 ; his prejudices, 72 ; his opinion of 
George HI., 135; his de.sire to obtain a seat 
in parliament, 286. 
Johnstone, Capt. George, character of, 217; his 
remarks res])ecting Admiral Keppel, ib,, 218 ; 
respecting Fox, ib. ; comments upon his 
action at Praya Bay. 242 ; his speech respect- 
ing Sir George Kodney, 324; animosity be- 
tween him and Fox, 326 ; his attack upon 
him, 328; declaims against the American 
treaty, 361 ; his encomiums on Lord Thur- 
low, 384 ; his opinion of Lord North's union 
with Fox, 388 ; of Lord Cavendish's pro- 
posed loan, 394 ; of the grant to the Prince 
of Wales, 413 ; on Fox's proposed East In- 
dia Bill, 431,456, 473, 484. 
Jones, Sir William, remarks on his poetry, 231. 
Joseph I. King of Portugal, character of, 31 ; 
his taste for music, 32 ; his dread of earth- 
quakes, 33; his annual visit to the palace of 
Salva 'I'ierra, 34 ; his political capacity, 35; 
improvement of the Portuguese under his go- 
vertmient, ib. ; his revenues, 35 ; attempt to 
assassinate him, ib., 36, 37 : his partiality for 
bull feasts, 40 : his visits to the Italian Opera 
at Lisbon, 41 : his predilection for Count de 
Prado, 42 : remarks on his reign. 
Joseph II. Emperor of Austria, anecJote re- 
specting, 95; his conduct in Naples, 96 ; re- 
marks on his reign, 103; his military inca- 



5J6 



INDEX. 



pacity, 103; his alliance with Catherine II., 
ib. ; his imprudence, 104 ; his death, ib. 

Josepha, Archduchess, her death, 93. 

Junius, his reflections upon King George III., 
122; his opinion of King (.harles I., 136; 
his comparison respecting George III., 143; 
his " Letter to the King," ib. ; his accusations 
against the Lulie of Bedford, 149; his "Ad- 
dress to the Frinterof the Public Advertiser," 
154; his Letters to the King," zi. ; suppo- 
sitions respecting (he author, 155, 156, 157, 
158, 159: his attack upon Sir William Dra- 
per, 156: supposed reasons for his secrecy, 
158: his remarks respecting Lord jNorth, 
165: respecting the AV?(^'s/;«(?nf/s, 189 : his 
letter to the Duke of Gratton, 193: his de- 
scription of Gen. Burgoyne, 209 : his remarks 
respecting the Earl of Mansfield, 212: his 
parting letter to Lord Camden, ib. : his allu- 
sions to Lord Weymouth, 310 : his accusa- 
tion against the Duke of Grafton, 322; his 
opinion of the JWarquis of Rockingham, 
330. 

Kempenfeldt, Admiral, despatched to intercept 
the French fleet intended from the West 
Indies, 257. 

Kenyon, Mr. afterwards Lord, appointed attor- 
ney general, 296 : his character, ib. : his 
speech respecting the public right to demand 
interest on the balances of money retained by 
the accountants, ib.: his personal appearance, 
297: his inquiry into the balances of money 
in the hands of public accountants, 328 : his 
motion respecting Kigby and Welborc Ellis, 
ib'. his speech respecting Powell and Bein- 
bridge, 400: Pitt's defence of him, 4 14 : his 
speech on the land tax, 450. 

Ke.ipel, Admiral, his reply to Sir Hugh Palli- 
ser, 129 • character of, ib.: his oratorical ta- 
lents, 207: elected member for Surrey, ib.: 
iiis abilities, ib. : rejected as member for W'ind- 
sor, 216: notice of his election for Surrey, 
ib. '■ Capt. Jolinstone's remarks respecting, 
217: his defence of his coiuiuct, 218: his 
improvements in the British navy, 348: re- 
signs ihe situation of flrst lord of the admi- 
ralty, 355. 

Kerr, Lord Mark, anecdote of, 65. 

Kingston, Duchess of, see CkucUeigh. 

Kirkpatrick, Mr. his intimacy with Sir James 
Lowtlier, 223. 

Langdale, Mr. destructio.n of his residence and 
warehouses in the riots in London, in 1780, 
lie, 117. 

Land tax, debates respecting, 450. 

Landsilowne, William Petty first marquis, see 
Shelburne. 

Laurens, Ex-president of America, notice of his 
imprisonment in the tower, 204. 

Leczinsha, Maria de, married to Louis XV^., 
51 : anecdote of, 52, 

Lee, Mr. his accusations against Lord Sliel- 
burne, 338, 363: his opinion of the bill to 
compel public accountants to deliver up their 
balances, 414. 

Lemon, Sir William, disapproves of the proposed 
union between Pitt and Fox, 487. 



Lenox, Lord George, his high opinion of Lord 
Sackville, 263. 

Lady Sarah, George III.'s partiality for. 



142. 

Leopold, Grand-duke, afterwards Emperor of 
Germany, remarks on his government of Flo- 
rence, 103 : his amusements, ib. : his attach- 
ment to the Countess Cowper, ib. : succeeds 
to the Austrian throne, 104: determines to 
renounce the alliance with Russia, ib. ; con- 
cludes peace With the Turks at Sistova, ib. : 
sets on foot the interview of Pilnitz, 105: 
crowned Emperor of Germany, ib.: his 
doubts respecting the sincerity of the British 
government, 106 : anecdote of, ib. : his death, 
ib. ; supposed to have been poisoned, 107, 

" Letter to the Electors of Aylesbury," remarks 
on Lord Sandwich in, 180, 466. 

Lewisham, Viscount, one of the commissioners 
ajipointed to administer the East India Com- 
pany's affairs, 433. 

Ligne, Prince de, remarks in his " Memoirs of 
Prince Eugene of Savoy," 464. 

Lisbon, remarks on the court of, 33 : earth- 
quakes in, 42, 43, 44 : destruction of the pub- 
lic buildings in, 42 : improved appearance of, 
47. 

London, comparison between the society of, and 
that of Paris, 72; dissatisfaction in (1779), 
112: riots in (1780), 116: tumults in 
(1769), 153: exultation in, on the news of 
Rodney's victory over De Grasse, 318. 

citizens of, petition parliament to ter- 
minate the American war, 271 : present an 
address to the king, 478. 

Lorrain, annexed to France, 52. 
Duke of, see Stanislaus. 



Lorraine, Prince Charles, governor of the Aus- 
trian Netherlands, account of him, 111 : his 
death. 112. 

Louis XV., King of France, his marriage with 
Maria Leczinska, 52 : his acquisition of Lor- 
rain, ib. : his illness at Metz, 54 : his popu- 
larity, lb.: his conquests, 55: accused of 
poisoning his son, 56-. remarks on the latter 
years ol his reign, 57 : his provision for Ma- 
dame du Barry, 58: account of his death, ib. 

Louis XVI, King of France, character of, 58 : 
his talents, 59 : his selection of his ministry, 
ib. : remarks respecting him, ib. : his courage, 
60 : his execution, ih. : notice of his opinion 
of the American war, 162 : remarks respect- 
ing him, 244, 245: his reception of Pitt. 
418. 

Louis, Dauphin, son of Louis XV, his death, 
56 : his character, ib. : account of his conver- 
sation with David Hume, ib. 

Loughborough, Lord, supports Lord North, 
213 : his opinion of Rodney's victory over De 
Grasse, 319 : see fl'edderbnrn. 

Louisa, Madame, daughter of Louis XV, her in- 
terview with him, 58. 

Louth, Dr. Bishop of London, refuses the Arch- 
bishopric of Canterbury, 382. 

Lowther, Sir James, afterwaids Earl of Lons- 
diie, his parliamentary influence, 222: his 
character, ib.: his protection of Mr. Kiikpa- 



INDEX. 



517 



trick. 22.3; his motion respecting the Ame- 
rican war, 252; Junius's opinion of, .367. 

Luttrcll, Hon. Capt. John, his defence of Lord 
Sandwicli. 180. 

— (^ol. afterwards Earl of Carhampton, 

his remarks on the alfuirs of Ireland, 2'J'J. 

Lyttleton, 'J'homas second Lord, character of, 
114; his death, ib„ 115. 

Lady, her belief in supernatural facts, 

115. 

Mackay, John Koss, his account of the money 
distributed to members, 465. 

Macpherson, James, notice of his poems of 
Ossian, 149. 

Macpherson, Sir John, Governor-general of 
Bengal, his account of the projected attack 
on Lord North's house in the riots in 1780, 
118; sent to negotiate peace with the Mah- 
rattas, 3C5. 

Madre de Dios, church of, in Lisbon, 48. 

Madrid, Court of, their proceedings against 
England, 159. 

Mafl'ra, palace of, erected by John V., King of 
Portugal, 46. 

Mahon, Lord, his relation to Pitt, 327 ; intro- 
duces a bill for preventing bribery at elections, 
lb. ; his attack upon Lord North's financial 
plans, 407 : his eccentricity, 487 ; his reply 
to Lord North, 489. 

Maine, Duciiess de, literary entertainments 
given by, 74. 

Maitland, Viscount, afterwards Earl of Lauder- 
dale, remarks on his speeches, 221 ; his at- 
tachment lo George III., 222; his speech re- 
specting the public riglit to form associations, 
234. 

Malagrida, Gabriel, an It dian Jesuit, imprison- 
ed in the castle of ^?t. Jutien, 47 ; his execu- 
tion, ih. 

Manchester, George Montagu fourth Duke of, 
appointed ambassador at Paris, 392. 

Mann, Sir Horace, his predilection for the House 
of Medicis, 102 ; his remarks respecting John 
Gaston, ib. ; protests his detestation uf asso- 
ciations and committees, 235. 

Mansfield, William Murray first l^ord, chief 
justice, destruction of his residence in the 
riots of 1780, lib; remarks respecting, 122; 
character of him, 211 ; Wilkes's accusations 
against him, j6. ; Junius's, 212; disapproves 
of a dissolution, 490. 

Mansfield, Mr. solicitor general, his bill for the 
prevention of abuses of the Sabbath, 196 ; his 
remarks respecting Fox and Uurgoyne. 236; 
protests aganist the inquiry into Lord Sand- 
wich's conduct, 259. ] 

Margaret, Queen of Navarre, remarks on her 
"Tales," 101. 

Maria Anne, daughter of King Joseph L, cha- 
racter of, 39 

Maria, Benedicta, daughter of King Joseph 
L, character of, 39 ; married to the Prince of 
Beyra, ih. 

" Marriage Bill," debates respecting, 241. 

Marianna Victoria, Queen of Portugal, her jea- 
lousy of her husband, 33 ; her hunting dress, 
ib, ; account of her marriage with King Jo- 
44 



seph I., 37; her personal appearance, 38; 
her partiality for bull feasts, 40 ; attends tb.e 
Italian Opera at Lisbon, 41. 

Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohe- 
mia, her death, 131; her character, ib.i ac- 
count of her last moments, ib. : her resigna- 
tion, 132. 

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, her remarks 
to the Duke of Dorset, 36 ; remarks respect- 
ing, 61 ; birth of her son, 245; her reception 
of Pitt, 418: her esteem for the Duke of 
Dorset, 451 ; her influence in the cabinet. 
ib. 

Markham, Dr. Archbishop of York, votes against 
the East India bill, 444. 

Marlborough, Duke of, see Churchill. John. 

Duchess Dowager, her partiality for 



Dr. Moore, 383. 

Marsham, Hon. Charles, one of the committee 
to procure a coalition between Pitt and Fox, 
481 ; accused of being a spy, 499. 

Martin, Mr. member for Tewkesbury, his speech 
respecting gaming-houses, 196 : on the East 
Lidia bill, 442 : Lord North's allusion to, 
455. 

iVIawbey, Sir Joseph, remarks respecting, 128. 

'■ Memoirs of Prince Eugene of Savoy," re- 
marks in, 464. 

Millar, Mr. anecdote of, 43. 

Minchin, Mr. member for Oakhampton, his 
motion relative to the condition of the navy, 
368. 

Minorca, remarks on the capture of, 273. 

Milton, Joseph Damer first Lord, created Earl of 
Dorchester, account of him, 469. 

Montagu, Frederick, his eulogium on the Mar- 
quis of Rockingham, 330: character of, 333 : 
one of the commissioners for administering 
the East India (Jompany's affairs, 433. 

Mrs. parties given by, 67 : her pei-^ 

sonal appearance, ib. : her acquaintances, ib. 

Moore, Dr. John, Bishop of Bangor, appointed 
Archbishop of Canterbury, 382; account of 
him, ib,: votes against the East India bill, 
444 

.VIountmorres, Lord, his personal appearance, 
487 : character, 4S8 : Lord North's remarks 
respecting him, ib. 

Mulgrave, Constantine John Phipps, second 
Lord, his opinion of Sir Edward Ilawke, LSI : 
his defence of Lord Sandwich, 182: vindi- 
cates Admiral Kempenfeldt's expedition, 257: 
one of Lord Sandwich's defenders, 260 : 
anecdote of him, ib. : remarks on Lord North, 
450 : his charges against Fox, 484. 

.Murray, Gen. his indignation against Lord 
George Gordon, 123. 

Vlusgrave, Dr. his assertion respecting the Prin- 
cess Uowager of Wales and Lord Bute, 150. 

Mutiny bill, debates on, 493, 494. 

Naples, remarks respecting the kingdom of, 97. 

King of, see Ferdinand If. 

Queen of, see Caroline Archduchens of 

Austria. 
Neapolitan Kings, remarks on their limited au- 
thority, 97. 
• Navy, improvements in, 96. 



518 



INDEX. 



Neapolitans, their affection for Ferdinand IV. 
97. 

JVecker, M. remarks respecting, 202, 206, 219; 
comparison between Lord JVorth and him 
228. 

Nelson, Admiral Lord, notice of his victory be- 
fore Copenhagen, 91. 

-Newhaven, Lord, his indignation at Burke's 
correspondence with Dr. Franklin, 204 ; his 
motion respecting Powell and Bembridee, 
401. 

Kicholson, Margaret, her attempt to assassinate 
George III., 139. 

Nile, battle of the, notice of, 319. 

North, Frederick Lord, his conduct during the 
riots in 1780, 118; state of the country under 
his government, 132; his remark respecting 
'George III., 139; his personal resemblance 
to him, 145, 164; appointed first minister, 
155; his attempts to prevent a war with 
Spain, 160; his ministerial capacity, 165; 
anecdotes of him, ib. ; remarks on his talents 
for ridicule, 166 ; on his oratory, ib., 168 ; his 
conversation, j6. ; his administration, 169; 
his easy temper, ib. ; his ministerial firmness, 
170; notice of his resignation, i7».; his attach- 
ment to George J1I„ ib. ; his family, ib. ; Fox's 
remarks respecting him, 186 ; Burke's ridi- 
cule of, 204; remarks on his administration, 
215; announces the commencement of hos- 
tilities against Holland, 216; his reply to 
Buike, ib. ; to Fox's remarks on Keppel's re- 
jection for Windsor, ib. ; his reason for Sir 
Hugh Palliser's resignation of his employ- 
ments. 217; attack upon his financial mea- 
sures, 226; inquiry into the loan borrowed 
by him, ib. \ his defence of that measure, 228 ; 
coa'iparison between him and Necker, 227; 
Fox's invectives against, 230; his reply to 
them, ib. ; attempts to weaken his sui)port, 
ib. ; verses respecting his administration, 231 ; 
attempts to drive him from office, 234 ; Pitt's 
remarks on his character, 238; opposes the 
alteration of the marriage act. 242 ; his emo- 
tion on hearing of the surrender of the British 
forces at York 'I'own, 246; justifies the prin- 
ciples of the American war, 249 ; his speeches 
respecting it, 253, 255; Pitt's allusion to his 
conversation with Welhorc LUi.^ 255 ; his 
procrastination, 258; his unpopularity, 259; 
denies the imputations against Lord Sand- 
wich, ib. ; bis protection of his lordship. 264 ; 
proposes an address to the crown for his re- 
moval from office, 268 ; proposes a loan, 269 ; 
repels Fox's accusations against him, ib. ; 
declares that ministers had renounced all in- 
tention to carry on the American war, 270; 
his reply to Conway's reproach, ib.\ hi.s 
opinion of Conway's motion respecting the 
American war, 272; his speech in reply to 
Fox, 276; desires to postpone the taxes, 277; 
his speech respecting his administration, 283 ; 
remarks on the conduct of the American war, 
284; his allusion to Lord Sackville, z6,; his 
wish for peace, ib. ; comparison between him 
and Wolsey, 285; Fox's apology to, ib.; 
tenders his resignation, 287 ; his conversation 



with the king, 288 ; informs the house of his 
resignation, 289; testimonies to his talents, 
290; reasons for his resignation. 291; re- 
marks respecting, 292; defends the pension 
granted to Mr. Kobinson, 308; Fox's ani- 
madversions upon him, ib.; remarks on his 
retirement, 318; his speech respecting Rod- 
ney's victory, 323; his opinion of his'^super- 
sedure, 325 ; assertions respecting hisconduct 
during the American war, 340 ; his situation 
on the opening Parliament, in 1782,350; his 
speech, ib. ; reproves Burke for liis attack on 
the king's speech, ib. ; his remarks on the 
peace with America, ib. ; on Fox, ib. ; on the 
proposed cession of Gibraltar to Spain, 352 ; 
on the production of the provisional treaty 
with .America, 354; his popularity, 355; re- 
marks respecting him, 356 ; his instructions 
to .Mr. Macpherson, 3G5 ; his preservation of 
the British Constitution, 367 ; his reply to 
Sir Cecil Wray, ib. ; meetings and associa- 
tions during his administration, ib ; remarks 
on his union with Fox, 372 ; Pitt's observa- 
tions respecting him, 376; his reply, 376; 
his encomiums on Fox, 385 ; his defence of his 
coalition with him, ib. ; his declaration re- 
specting Jenkinson, ib. ; opinion.^ respecting 
his union with Fox, 388, 389 ; appointed se- 
cretary of state for the Home Uepaitment, 
390; comparisons respecting him, ib., 392; 
remarks on his proposed elevation to the peer- 
age, ,3-93; his reply to Pitt, ///. ; his speech on 
Parliamentary Reform, 397 ; his rojily to 
Pitt, 404 ; comparison between him and Lord 
Shelburne, 405 ; his reply to Lord Malion, 
408 ; to Pitt's censures. 411; his reply to the 
remarks on tlie alieiiatioiis of public money, 
412; .'iupports the East India Bill, 435; 
Wilkes's remarks on him, 441 ; deli rrs up 
the seals of his office, 44!); his eulogium.-i on 
Fox, 454; allusion to Mr. .Martin,"?/*. ; cor- 
ruption of Parliament during his administra- 
tion, 466; his support wtiile first minister, 
468; his reply to I'owis, 475 ; his desire for 
the general pulilic welfare, 485 ; hisreply to 
Pitt, z6.; his remarks on the inhabitants of 
Banbury's address to the king, 486 ; his de- 
scription of the meetings of the inbabilants of 
Vv'estminster, 488; his speech on the mu- 
tiny bill, 494. 

North, Col. son of tlie preceding, one of the 

, commissioners for administering the Last In- 
dia Company's affairs, 433. 

Hon. George Augustus, afterwards 

fourth Earl of Guilford, negotiates tlie coa- 
liiion between Lord North and Fox, 359. 

Nofthington, Robert Ileniey second Ear! of, 
his character as lord lieutenant of Ireland, 
392. 

Norton, Sir Fletcher, the king's refusal to per- 
mit his re-election as speaker, 125; character 
of 126; notice of his elevation to the peer- 
age, ib. ; created l^ord Grantley, 295. 

Nugent, Lord, created an Irish Earl, 63 ; cha- 
racter of, 64 ; anecdotes of, ib. ; his intimacy 
with Prince Frederick, 63 ; presents verses to 
Queen Charlotte, ib. ; his family, 64 ; opposes 



1 



INDEX. 



519 



the bill for the reform of the king's household, 
221 ; anecdote of, 299 ; his speech respecting 
the American loyaHsts, 357 ; account of the 
coalition between him and Fox, 359 ; his 
somnolency, 360; his speech on the Ameri- 
can Treaty, 361 ; his account of the reconcili- 
ation of Lord Granville and Mr. Pelhani, 491. 

Ogilvie, Mr. account of, 98. 

Onslow, George, one of the representatives of 
Guilford, accuses the opposition of favouring 
the insurrection of the American colonies, 
283. 

Orange. Prince of, see William V. Stadtholder 
of HijUand. 

Prince Frederick of, his death, 76 ; cha- 
racter, ib. 

Princess of, her reception in England, 



To ; her grief for the death of her son, ib 

Orde, Thomas, one of the secretaries of the trea- 
sury, Dundas's encomiums on, 334. 

Orleans, Philip, Duke of, regent of Pranc^, 
during Louis XV'. 's minority, 49 ; character of 
hirn, ib. \ his talents, ib. ; death, ib. ; remarks 
respecting him, 62 ; his detestation of Marie 
Antoinette, 36. 

Orloff, Alexis, afterwards Prince, his favour with 
the Empress Catherine, 79; account of his 
entrapping the supposed daughter of the Em- 
press Elizabeth, 80, 81. 

Orvilliers, M. d', commander of the French and 
Spanish fleets, 112. 

Osborn, Mr. English minister at Dresden, anec- 
dote of 78. 

Palliser, Sir Hugh, appointed governor of Green- 
wich Hospital, 127, 129; elected member for 
Huntingdon, ib.\ his reply to Fox's declama- 
tions against him, ib. ; remarks on his naval 
talents, ib. ; debates respecting his appoint- 
ment as governor of Greenwich Hospital. 
216; remarks on his resignation of his em- 
ployments, 217 ; his defence, 218 ; his justifi- 
cation of Lord Sandwich, 368. 

Paris, comparison between the society of, and 
that of London, 72 ; antiquity of literary 
meetings in, 73. 

Parker, Admiral, his engagement with Zout- 
man in the North Sea, 243; visited by King 
George HI, al the i\ore, ib. 

Parliament, prorogation of, 340 ; comparisons 
between the sessions of 1'781 and 1782, 348 ; 
re-opening of, ib. ; corruption of, 466, 467. 

Parliamentary reform, Pitt's proposition for, 
393, 396. 

Paul, Grand-duke of Russia, afterwards Em- 
peror, his marriage with the Princess of Hesse 
Darmstadt, 82 ; with the Princess Sophia of 
Wirtemberg, 83 ; proceeds to Berlin, ib. ; the 
King of Prussia's reception of, ib. ; anecdotes 
of his attachment to the Grand-duchess, 
84. 

Pedro, Don, character of, 40; notice of his 
death, ib. 

Pedro n, King of Portugal, character of, 45. 

Pelham, Mr. remarks on his administration, 
464. 

Perceval, Hon. Mr. Charles George, proposes an 
address to the king, 251. 



Percy, Lord Al'g-ernon, his bravery at the riots 
in 1780, 120. 

Pigot, Admiral, his reason for his irritation 
against Lord Sandwich, 265 ; sent to super- 
sede Admiral Rodney in the West Indies, 
322 ; remarlcs respecting him, 32G. . 

Pilnitz, Treaty of, 105 

Piozzi, .Mrs. see Tlirale. 

Pitt. Mr. afterwards Earl of Chatham, remarks 
on his talents, 147. 

Mr. 'i'homas, his speech on equality of re- 
presentation, 313; protests against Fox's doc- 
trines, 316; approves of the proposed parlia- 
mentary reform, 395 ; bis speech respecting. 
396; his relationship to Mr. William Pitt. 
ih. ; recommends an appeal to the electors 
throughout the kingdom, 406; his speech on 
the state of the country, 407; his speech re- 
specting Ijord Sandwich, 424 ; character of 
his oratory, 427; his opinion of the East 
India Bill, 440; created I^ord Camelford, 
471. 

Pitt, Right Hon. William, remarks respecting, 
105 ; approves of the Emperor Leopold's 
views, ib. ; the king's partiality for, 140 ; his 
speech on the bill for reforming the king's 
household, 219, 221 ; remarks on his first ap- 
pearance, 220, ?7». ; opinions respecting him, 
222 ; his reception at Brooke's club, ib.; re- 
presentative for Appleby, ih.\ his intimacy 
with the Duke of Rutland, 223; interest to 
procure his election for A[)plehy, zA. ; his ta- 
lents, ib. ; his popularity, 224 ; his remarks 
respecting the commi.-sioners of accounts for 
the House of Commons, 238 ; his speeches 
respecting the American war, 239, 249 ; his 
respect for the king shown in his speeches, 
252 ; character of his oratory, 268 ; his ele- 
vated views, 282 ; his reproaches on ministers, 
286; refuses any situation during the .Vfar- 
quis of Rockingliam's administration, 297; 
appoints George Selwyn surveyor-general of 
the crown lands, 308 ; his speech respecting 
elections, 313 ; proposes the appointment of a 
committee for inquiring into the state of na- 
tional representation, 314; remarks on his 
political opinions, 317 ; approves of the bill 
for preventing bribery al eie'-tions. 327; his 
admiration of Fox's eloquence, ib. ; character 
of his private life, 329; peers created by him, 
330 ; appointed chancellor of the exchequer, 
333; his accusations against Fox, 337 ; com- 
parison between Fox and him, 333 ; his de- 
fence of Lord Shelburne, 349; refuses to sit 
in the cabinet with Lord North, 356 ; his 
eminent talents, 357 ; altercation between hini 
and Sheridan, 362 ; bis institution of the 
sinking fund, 370 ; his speech respe<;ting 
Fox's union with Lord North, 374 ; elTect of 
his quotations, «6. ; his address to Fox, /A.; 
his comparison respecting the British empire 
in 1763 and 1783, 375; his remarks respect- 
ing the Earl of Shelburne, ib. ; concerning^ 
Lord North, 376 ; reinarks on his conduct to 
the Earl of Shelburne, 378 ; refuses to act 
with Lord North, j6.; Povois's encomiums o;i 
him, 379 ; ofier to receive him into the coaii. 



520 



INDEX. 



tion, 385 ; his reply, 386 ; resigns his office, 
387 ; his political opinions, ib. ; his projected 
motion for parliamentary reform, 393 ; his im- 
putations against Fox, 394, 39n ; his address 
on the subject of parliamentary reform, ib.; 
his relation to Mr. Thomas Pitt, 396 ; charac- 
ter of his parliamentary reform, ib. ; his re- 
marks on ministers, 4U4 ; on Lord North's 
taxes, 407 ; comparison between him and 
Fox, 408 ; his bill for regulating public offices, 
409, 410 ; his censures upon Lord North, ib- ; 
his remarks on the alienations of the public 
money, 412; on the proposed grant to the 
Prince of Wales, ib. ; his defence of Kenyon, 
415; his proposed address to the king, ib.; 
visits the continent, 418 ; presented to Louis 
XVI, ib. ; his opinion of the proposed address 
to the king, 431 ; speeches on the East India 
bill, 432, 436; his declaration concerning, 
440 ; appointed first lord of the treasury, 449 ; 
remarks on his appointment, ib. ; opposes a 
dissolution, ib., 456 ; his personal appearance, 
ib. ; his character, ib. ; his love of wine, 457 ; 
anecdote of him, ib. ; his acquaintances, 458 ; 
his classical knowledge, 459 ; his parliament- 
ary career, ib. ; comparison between his ora- 
tory and Fox's, ib. ; his want of economy, 
460 ; appointed Lord Warden of the Cinque 
Ports, 461 ; his debts, ib. ; his judgment, ib. ; 
his conduct respecting the regency, 462 ; re- 
gularity of his private life, ib. ; his attempt to 
reduce Fox's majority in the commons, 463; 
seeks the support of Lord Sackville, 468, 469 ; 
raises Mr. Thomas Pitt to the peerage, 471 ; 
appoints Col. Barre to the clerkship of the 
cells in the Exchequer, ib. ; his reply to the 
attacks upon him, 474; Sir Hichard Hill's 
••omparison concerning him, 477; his East 
India bill, 478 ; his secrecy respecting his par- 
liamentary intentions, 26. ; his personal dan- 
ger, 479; plan to reconcile him with Fox, 
480, 481 ; his opinion of it, ib. ; his speeches 
respecting, 482, 483, 484; his allusion to 
Lord North, 485 ; informs the house of the 
king's determination to retain ministers, 486; 
refuses to resign, 487; his allusions to Fox's 
declining popularity, 489; Fox's remarks on 
him. 490; his reply, 491 ; his reflections upon 
Fox, 492, 493; Powis's accusations against 
him, 497; description of his followers, ib.; 
his reply, ib. ; suppositions respecting him, 
498, 499 ; accuses Powis and Marsham of 
acting as spies, ib. ; reflections respecting 
him, 501 ; his services to the king, 502. 

Pitt, Lady Harriet, notice of her marriage with 
Mr. Eliot, 333,460. 

Podotski, Count, his danger in his journey from 
Vienna to Cracow, 101. 

Countess, her beauty, ib. 

Pope, Mr. his intimacy with Frederick Prince 
of Wales, 13.3. 

Pombal, Marquis de, see Carvalho Sebastian, 
Joseph. 

Portland, William Henry Cavendish Bentinck 
eighth Duke of, resigns the lord-lieutenancy 
of Ireland, 334 ; his interview with the king, 
381, 389 ; appointed first lord of the treasury, 



390 ; his opinion of Pitt's bill of regulation, 
410 ; his conversation with the king respect- 
ing Mr. Bielby Thompson, 429. 

Portsmouth, Duchess of, her account of Charles 
I.'s execution, 307. 

Portugal, kings of, see Mphonso VL John IV, 
John V, Joseph I, Pedro II, 
— state prisons in, 46. 



Portuguese, improvement of under King Joseph 
I. 34 ; their vindictive character, 47. 

Potempkin, his conquests over the Turks, 104 ; 
his conduct towards the Emperor Leopold, ib. 

Poulett, Hon. Mr. remarks respecting him in 
" The KoUiad," 304. 

Powell, Mr. accusations against him, 400 ; re- 
stored to his situation in the pay office, ib.: 
his resignation, 403 ; his suicide, ib. 

Powis, Mr. his accusations against Lord North, 
169 ; his opinion of Lord Stormont, 172; his 
citation from Gibbons's " Decline and Fall of 
the Roman Empire," 252 ; his speech re- 
specting Lord North, 278; his comparison 
between ministers and the principal members 
of opposition, ib. ; his speech on the bill for 
reducing the civil list, 303 ; his opinion of 
the American treaty, 366; his impartiality, 
ib. ; his declamations on Fox's union with 
Lord North, 372 ; his remarks concerning 
Earl Shelburne, 379; concerning Pitt, 26. ; his 
speech on parliamentary reform, 396 ; his 
speech on the East India Bill, 438 ; his re- 
marks on Fox, ib, ; his remarks on Pitt's ac- 
quaintances, 458 ; on Lord North, 475 ; his 
opinion of the proposed coalition of Pitt and 
Fox, 361, 480 ; one of the committee to pro- 
cure it, 481 ; approves of an adjournment, 
486 ; his reflections on Pitt, 487, 497 ; his de- 
scription of Pitt's followers, ib. 

Prado, Count de. King Joseph I.'s regard for, 42. 

Pre, Governor du, his interview with Hyder 
Ally, 420. 

Prie, Marchioness de, her interview with Ma- 
demoiselle de Sens. 50. 

Priestley, Dr., patronised by the Earl of Shel- 
burne, 214. 

Provence, Count de, character of, 61. 

Prussia, King of, see Frederick IVilliam. 

Pulteney, Mr., character of, 472 ; his speech on 
the proposed dissolution, 473. 

— — Miss, afterwards Countess of Bath, 

Fox's attachment to, 462. 

Queensbury, Charles, Duke of, one of the fa- 
vourites of Frederick, Prince of Wales, 145 ; 
his conversation with George HI., 417. 

Querouaille, Mademoiselle, remarks respecting 
her, 214. 

Rambouillet, .Marchioness of, literary societies at 
her residence, 73. 

Rawdon, Francis, Lord, afterwards Marquis of 
Hastings, demands satisfaction for the Duke 
of Richmond's imputations against him, 263. 

Raynal, Abbe, character of, 71. 

Richmond, Charles Lennox, seventh Duke of, 
his character, 213 ; his activity in parliament, 
214 ; his speech respecting Lord George 
Germain's conduct at JWinden, 263 ; his de- 
claration respecting Lord Rawdon, ib. ; order 



INDEX. 



521 



of the Garter conferred upon him» 310 ; his 
opinion of the right of voting, 313 ; his re- 
marks on Lord North's proposed elevation to 
the peerage, 393 ; his rejections upon Fox, 
445 ; his encomiums on Pitt, 489. 
Rigby, Mr. paymaster of the forces, supports ad- 
ministration, 188 : Sheridan's remarks respect- 
ing, ih. : his persona! appearance, ib. : his 
oratory, ib. : his complimentary speech to Mr. 
Fox, 196 : his ridicule of Sheridan, 211; his 
assertion respecting the American colonies, 
240: his testimony in favour of Powell and 
Bembridge, 244: opposes an appeal to the 
electors throughout the kingdom, 248 : his 
speech respecting Lord North and Lord George 
Germain, 2.56 : imputations against him, 268 : 
his opinion of the motion of " declaring ene- 
mies to their country all who should advise 
the king to continue the war with Anaerica," 
274 : remarks in his speech, ib. : Pitt's attack 
upon it, it) : his speech on Lord North's re- 
signation, 289 : ridicules the motion for short- 
ening the duration of parliament, 316; re- 
marks on his political talents, 318 : balance of 
public money in his possession, 328 : declared 
accountable for, ib. : his pecuniary embarrass- 
ments, 342 ; his connexion with Rumbold, 
ib. ; his speech on parliamentary reform, 399 : 
his speech relative to the proceedings against 
Kumbold, 408 : his reflections on Pitt, 495. 
Riots in London in 1780, account of, 116, 1 17 : 
computation of the killed and wounded, 119, 
120 : precautions to conceal the damages, 
120: consultations respecting, 121. 
Roberts, Mr. his remarks on Mr. Pelham's ad- 
ministration, 464. 
Robinson, Mr. one of the secretaries of the trea- 
sury, description of him, 191 : his employ- 
ments, ib. : his activity, ib. : censures upon the 
pension granted to, 308, 309 : joins Pitt, 464. 
Rockingham, Charles Watson Wentworth 
seventh Marquis of, reproaches ministers for 
their negligence in the riots of 1780, 121 : his 
conduct as first lord of the treasury, 213 : ap- 
pointed first minister, 293 : hurt by the king's 
preference of Lord Shelburne, 294: solicits a 
peerage for Sir Fletcher Norton, 295 : his 
illness, 329: death, 330: eulogiums on him, 
ib. : Junius's character of, ib- 
Rodney, Admiral Lord, remarks respecting, 
113: character of, i6. : his pecuniary embar- 
rassments, 114: appointed to command the 
expedition for the West Indies, ib. : his vic- 
tory over de Grasse, ib.: remarks on his 
treatment of the inhabitants of St. Eustatius, 
236, 237 : his victory over de Grasse, 29 1 : his 
reason for not pursuing the enemy, 320 : his 
remarks on the spirit of party and faction in 
his fleet, ib.: criticisms on his letter to the se- 
cretary of the admiralty, ib. ; assertions re- 
specting, 321 : his coolness during the action 
with de Grasse, ib. : superseded by Admiral 
Pigot, 322 ; created a baronet, ib. ; thanks of 
the House of Commons voted to, 323, 324, 
public dissatisfaction at his recall, 325 : re- 
turns home, 326, 
Rolle, Mr. his inquiries respecting Rodney's 



supersedure, 323 ; moves an address to the 
king respecting him, ib., 324 : his opinion of 
his supersedure, 325 : his motion respecting 
Powell and Bembridge, 402, 403. 

" Rolliad," allusion in to the speaker Corn- 
wall, 126 : to Sir Joseph Mawbey, 128 : to 
Mr. Poulett, 304. 

Hosenhagen, Rev. Philip, accused of being the 
author of "Junius's Letters," 157 : character 
of, ib. 

Ross, Gen. his accusations against the Earl of 
Galloway, 476. 

Rous, Sir John moves to declare that " the 
House has no further confidence in ministers,'' 
283. 

Royal George, account of the loss of, 344. 

Rumbold, Sir Thomas, late governor of Madras, 
accusations against, 311; his contrivance to 
elude punishment, 312 : accusations against 
him, 341 : bill for inflicting pains and penal- 
ties on him, ib. : his personal appearance, 342: 
his connexion with Rigby, ib. : remarks on 
his extrication from the proceedings against 
him, 343 ; proceedings against, 4o8 : his ad- 
dress to the house, 409: termination of the 
prosecution, ib. 

Russia, remarks on the imperial family of, 83. 

Grand-duke of, see Paul. 

Grand-duchesses of, see Wilhelmina 

Princess of Hesse Darmstadt ; and Wirtem- 
berg, Princess Sophia of. 

Rutland, Charles Manners fourth duke of, his 
intimacy with Mr. William Pitt, 223 : inte- 
rests himself to procure him a seat in parlia- 
ment, ib.: remarks respecting him, 313. 

Ryder, Sir Dudley, accusations against, 241. 

Sackville, George first Viscount, his intimacy 
with Lord Mark Kerr, 65 : see Germain, Lord 
George. 

Sackvilles, family of the, account of, 423. 

St. Christopher, attacked by the French, 291 ; 
surrender of, 312. 

St. Eustatius, capture of the island of, 236, 243. 

St. Julien, castle of, number of prisoners in 
(1772), 46. 

St. Kitts, island of, report respecting the capture 
of, 273. 

St. Vincent, Lord, notice of his victory at Cape 
St. Vincent, 319. 

Sandwich, John Montagu Earl of, character of, 
179 ; his conduct as first lord of the admiralty, 
181 ; accusations against him, 182; remarks 
respecting, 257 ; inquiry into his conduct as 
first lord of the a imiralty , 259, 263 ; his speech 
respecting Lord George Germain's court-mar- 
tial, 262 ; his unpopularity, 264 ; his im- 
provements in the navy, ib. ; reported offer 
made to him, ib. ; rejects it, 265 ; appointed 
ranger of the parks, 391. 

Savile, Sir George, his residence plundered in 
the riots of 1780, 118 ; representative for York, 
character of, 208 ; his speech respecting the 
loan borrowed by Lord North, 229 ; his ap- 
prehensions respecting America, 331 ; his lan- 
guage on presenting the York petition to the 
House of Commons, 368 ; his remarks on 
the corruption of Parliament, 467. 



522 



INDEX. 



Sawbridge, Alderman, his censure of the pension 
granted to Mr. Robinson, 308 ; his speech re- 
specting, 309 ; his motion for shortening the 
duration of parliaments, 316 ; his speech on 
the corruption of parliament, 467. 

Saxe, iMarslial, his military reputation, 54; his 
establishment at Chambord, ih.\ his overtures 
to Mademoiselle (3hantilly. 55; his death, ib. 

Sydney, Lord, see 'I'u-wrisend, Thomas. 

Scott, Mr. (afterwards Lor b^ldon), his speech 
on the hast India bill, 434 ; his comparison 
respecting Fox, 437. 

Sebastian, Prince, remarks respecting, 48. 

Selwyn, George, his opinion of the bill for the 
reduction of the civil list, 306 ; remarks re- 
specting him, ib. ; his wit, ib. ; his remarks 
respecting George I. and II., 307; anecdote of 
him, 308 ; appointed surveyor-general of the 
crown lands, ib. 

Sheffield, Lord, see Ihlroyd, Col. 

Shelburne, Earl of, his parliamentary capacity, 
214 ; political discussions at his residence, i6. ; 
his protection to Dr. Priestley, ib. ; his con- 
versation, 215 ; insinuations respecting him, 
ib. ; his abilities, 258 ; his conference with the 
king, 293; refuses the ministry, 294; the 
king's partiality for, ib. ; named a secretary of 
state, lb. ; solicits a barony for Dunning, 295 ; 
receives the order of the garter, 310 ; his let- 
ter addressed to the magistrates of the prin- 
cipal cities in the kingdom, 315 ; his advances 
to Mr. Pitt, 329 ; iniroduces a bill for regu- 
lating appointments in the West Indies and 
America, 331 ; first lord of the treasury, 332 ; 
Fox's imputations against, 336, 337 ; General 
Conway's defence of, ib. ; invectives against 
338, 339 ; imputes the pension granted to 
Barre to Lord Kockingham, ib. ; his insinua- 
tions against Fox, ib. ; notice of his courage, 
ib. ; caricatures respecting him, 340 ; his po- 
litical capabilities, 343; Fox's remarks re- 
specting him, 349 ; Pitt's defence of him, ib. ; 
accused of insincerity and duplicity, 351 ; ru- 
mours respecting, 352 ; overtures to Fox, 
358; regrets the loss of America, 366 ; Pitt's 
encomiums on him, 375 ; his resignation, 377 ; 
anecdote respecting him, 378 ; created Mar- 
quis of Lansdowne, ib. ; comparison between 
him and Lord North, 405. 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, his .speech respect- 
ing Kigby, 188, 189 ; his attack upon admin- 
istration, 1 96 ; complains of the bribery at 
elections, 210 ; account of his first reception 
in parliament, 224 ; reproves Courtenay for 
his mirth, 225 ; his speech respecting the in- 
terference of an armed force in suppressing 
the riots of 1780, /6.; his invocation to the 
. admirals in the House of Commons, 264 ; his 
speech respecting the secretary for Ireland, 
300 ; his exhortation to Pitt, 357; account of 
the altercation between him and Pitt, 362 ; 
appointed secretary to the treasury, 392 ; 
his reply to Scott's comparisons concern- 
ing Mr. Fox, 437 ; supports the East India 
Bill, 443 ; his retort upon Pitt, 458 ; his 
speech, on Fox's union with Lord North, 
484. 



Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, notice of his shipwreck 
on the Sicily Islands, 344. 

Sinking fund, instituted by Mr. William Pitt, 
370. 

Smith, Captain, his opinion of the charge against 
Lord George Germain, 177. 

- — — Gen Richard, appointed chairman of the 
committee to examine the state of the court 
of Bengal, 232. 

Sophia, Princess, statement respecting, 110; 
her letters to the court of St. Germain, 111 ; 
her relation to James II., ib. 

Stanhope, Mr. Walter, his remarks on Burke, 
377. 

Stanislaus, King of Poland, remarks respecting, 
50 ; marriage of his daughter w ith Louis 
XV., 51 ; his advice to her, 52 ; created Duke 
of Lorraine, ib- ; his attachment to the Mar- 
chioness de Boufflers, 53 ; account of his 
death, ib. 

State Prisons in Portugal, number of prisoners 
in (1772), 46. 

Stevens, Mr. secretary of the admiralty, Rodney's 
letter to, 320. 

Stewart, Hon. Keith, his defence of Lord Gal- 
loway, 476 ; censures on his conduct during 
the war with Holland, 477. 

Stormont, Lord, secretary of state, character of, 
172 ; appointed president of the council, 300 ; 
his reflections on Pitt, 490. 

Strasburgh, executioner of, story respecting, 99. 

Stuart family, misfortunes of, 107. 

Suffrein, Admiral, attempts to compel the Eng- 
lish squadron to abandon the coast of Coro- 
mandel, 347. * 

Surrey, Earl of, his remarks on Gen. Arnold's 
appearance at court, 272 ; seconds the pro- 
posed petition to the king to form an admi- 
nistration, 384. 

Taratella, an Apulian dance, 91 ; remarks re- 
specting, ib. 

Tarrakanoff, account of the seizure of the sup- 
posed princess of, 79,80, 81 ; supposition re- 
specting her, 82. 

Tavora, Marquis de, his conspiracy to assassi- 
nate King Joseph, I., 35 ; executed, 36. 

.Marchioness, conducts the conspiracy to 

assassinate King Joseph I., 36 ; her execution, 
ib. ; her revengeful character, ib. 

Temple, Lord, character of, 62 ; disliked by 
George II., ib. 

Earl, appointed lord-lieutenant of Ire- 



land, 334. 
Thompson, Mr. Beilby, proposal to confer the 

order of the garter upon him, 428; the king's 

refusal 429. 
Thrale, Mr. his remarkrespecting Dr. Johnson, 69. 
Mrs. (afterwards Mrs. Piozzi) her opi- 



nion of Dr. Johnston, 69 ; her talents, 70. 
Thurlow, Edward Lord, his parliamentary abili- 
ties, 133; personal appearance, /6. ; Fox's 
opinion of him, 184 ; his defects, ib. ; his con- 
versation, 185 ; remarks respecting him, 305, 
327; Fox's attack upon him, 379, 380 ; his 
advice to the king, 383 ; charges against him, 
384 ; his opinion of the East India bill, 428, 
445 ; appointed chancellor, 450. 



INDKX. 



523 



ToIIemache, Lady Bridget, George III.'s report- 
ed attachment to, 143. 

Tour and Taxis, Prince of, see Charles Anselm. 

• Princess of, see ^iugusta Eliza- 
beth. 

Townsend. George first Marquis, placed at the 
head of the ordnance, 390; anecdote of, 391. 

Charles, created Lord Bavning, 3'JL 

— John, afterwards liord, character of his 



speeches, 22 1 

'J'homas, moves a vote of thanks to Sir 



Fletcher Norton, 128; his remarks on l^ord 
North, 166 ; appointed a member of the privy 
council, 20S; his remarks respecting Mr. At- 
kinson, 228 ; his opinion respecting the Ame- 
rican war, 238 ; of the loan proposed by Lord 
North, 269 ; appointed secretary at war, 296 ; 
his defence of the American treaty, 360; his 
encomiums on Lord John Cavendish, 373 ; 
created Lord Sydney, 380. 

Trafalgar, notice of the battle of, 319. 

'J'rapaud, Gen. (3yrus, promoted by George IL, 
146. 

Tschisme, victory of, notice of, 83. 

Turner, Charles, accepts a baronetcy from the 
Marquis of Kockingham, 208 ; character of, 
ib. ; his comparison respecting the House of 
Commons, 3)3 ; his reply to Higby, 317 ; his 
remarks respecting Lord North, 372 ; his opi- 
nion of Fo.x's coalition with him, 377. 

Van Berkel, signs a treaty with the American 
insurgents. 131. 

Vanghan, General, remarks on his treatment 
of the island of St. Eustatius, 236. 237. 243. 

Verney, Earl, his connexion with Mr. Burke, 
203. 

Vescy, Mrs. entertainments given by, 68 ; ane 
dote ot, ib. 

Ville de Paris, loss of the, 345. 

Wales, George. Prince of, see George II. 

Frederick, Prince of, his death. 144 ; 

his favourites, \4b ; his attachment to Lady 
Archibald Hamilton, ib. ; his character, i6. 

George, Prince of, income bestowed on, 

412 ; character of, 430 ; his preference for 
Fox's party, ib ; remarks on Lord North, 
441 ; on Fox, ib. ; supports the East India 
bill, 44.5; remarks on his attendance in the 
House of Commons, 47.5, 476, 477. 

Princess, Dowager of, her precautions 



to prevent access to George HI., 142 ; accu- 
sations against, 150 ; remarks respecting her, 
151 ; her death, 160. 

Wallace, his death, 421. 

Walpole, Hon. Horace, votes for Mr. Fox at the 
Westminster election, 197. 

Sir Kobert, remarks on his administra- 
tion, 4t)4. 

Washington, General, remarks respecting, 162. 

Wedderburn, Mr. afterwards Lord Loughbo- 
rough and Earl of Rosslyn, his opinion of the 
power of the military to disperse rioters, 121 ; 
character of, 157 ; supposed author of " Ju- 
nius's Letters," ib. ; (Churchill's description 
of him in one of his "Satires," 213 ; Fox's 
•reprobations of his conduct, ib. ; his talents, 
ib. See Loughboroiigli. 



West Indies, hurricane in, in 1780, 124. 
Weymouth, Thomas 'I'hynne, third Viscount, 
appointed Groom of tiic Stole, 310 ; character 
of, //). ; Junius's allusions to, ib., 311 ; cre- 
ated a marquis, ib. 
Whitehead, .^/r., member for Bedford, his speech 

on the corruption of parliament, 466. 
Wilhelmina, Princess of Hesse Darmstadt, 
Grand-duchess of Russia, her marriage with 
the Grand-duke Paul, 82; her personal ap- 
pearance, ib. ; notice of her death, ib. 
Wilkes, Alderman, his conduct on the riots in 
1780, 122 ; his speech respecting the Ameri- 
can war, 128 ; his comparison between 
George HI. and Charles L, 135; warrant to 
take him into custody, 130, 153; his perse- 
cutions,/^.; elected member for Middlesex, 
ib.\ expelled from his seat, ;i. ; suppositions 
respecting his being the author of" Junius's 
Letters," 156; his talents, ?7). ; character of 
his speeches, 209 ; his powers of conversa- 
tion, 210; his loyalty, «Y/. ; his accusations 
against Lord Mansfield, 21 1 ; statement re- 
specting him in Home's Letter to Junius, 
411 ; his speech on the East hidia Bill, 441 ; 
extract from his Letter to Electors of Ayles- 
bury, 466 ; his reception at court, 502. 
William Henry, Duke of Clarence, order of the 

Garter conferred upon, 310. 
William V., Stadtholder of Holland, character 
of, 74, 75 ; his reception in England, 76. 

HI., anecdote of, 424. 

W irtemberg, Prince of, afterwards King, his 
marriage vvith Augusta Caroline of Bruns- 
wick Wolfenbuttle, .S4 ; account of him, 85 ; 
informed of the death of his wife, s'6 ; mar- 
ried to the Princess Koyal of England, 87. 

Princess of, see ^itigusta Caroline of 

Brnn.?\uick ff'olfenbuttle. 

Princess Elizabeth of, married to 

Francis, Prince of Tuscany, afterwards Em- 
peror of Austria, 85. 

Princess Sophia of, her marriage with 

Paul, Grand-duke of Russia, 83 ; character 
of, ib. ; Paul's attachment to, 84. 
Whaxall. Sir N.ithanikl, his opinion of 
George HI., 29 ; visits Portugal, 31 ; his ac- 
count of the royal carriages at Alcantara, 35 ; 
his opinion of the Portuguese bull-feast, 41 ; 
searches for the tomb of Cambens at the 
cathedral at Lisbon. 42 ; visits the tomb of 
Fielding in that city, 43; the college, 47 ; 
visits the church of the Madre de Dios, 48 ; 
his opinion of Louis XV., 48; visits Lord 
Nugent, 62 ; hisofiinion of Dr. Johnson, 70 ; 
his acquaintance with Sir William Pepys, 
71 ; his opinion of the coiriparative state of 
society in London and Paris, 72 ; presented 
to the Prince of Grange, 74 ; his conversation 
with Sir John Dick respecting the supposed 
Princess Tarrakanoff, 79 ; his own opinion 
respecting her, 81,82; his opinion of Wil- 
helmina, Grand-duchess of Russia, 82 ; of the 
Princess of Wirtemberg, 85 ; visits Dresden, 
88 ; his conversation with Count de Felkes- 
heim, ib.; his intimacy with Sir V/illiam 
Hamilton, 90 ; his remarks respecting the 



524 



INDEX. 



Duke of Calabria, 93 ; story related to, 98 ; 
dines with the Prince of Tour and Taxis, 
100; his opinion of the Emperor Leopold's 
death, 106, 107; obtains a lieutenant's com- 
mission, 108 ; his interview with the Pre- 
tender, 109; conversation with Sir John 
Dalrymple, 110 ; his opinion of Prince Charles 
of Lorraine, 111 ; returns to England, 112; 
his intimacy with Admiral Rodney, 114; pre- 
sent at the riots in London in 1 780, 116, 117; 
his intimacy with Lord George Gordon, 124 ; 
elected M.P. for Hindon, 125 ; his opinion of 
Sir Hugh Palliser, 129 ; of Admiral Keppel, 
ib.; respecting the author of " Junius's Let- 
ters," 157, 158, 159; his opinion of the 
y\merican war, 161 ; appointed to examine 
the names of the committee to inquire the 
causes of the war in the Carnatic, 168 ; his 
partiality to Lord Geprge Germain, 173 ; in- 
timacy with Lord Amherst, 182; opposes 
Burke's bill for reforming the king's house- 
hold, 220 ; hears of the surrender of the 
British forces at York Town, 246 ; dines with 
Lord Sackville, 263 ; votes in favour of Lord 
Sandwich on the inquiry into his conduct, 
264 ; his opinion of the parliamentary right 
of legislation over the American colonies, 
292 ; his intimacy with George Selwyn, 
3U6 ; votes against Pitt's proposition to in- 
quire into the state of national representation, 
314; his speech respecting Rodney's recall, 
325 ; his opinion of Lord North, 350 ; his 
remarks on his somnolency, SCO; on the 
American treaty, 364 ; his opinion of Colonel 
Fiizpatrick, 392 ; of Lord North's situation, 
ih.. 3it3 ; his opinion of Gen. t^ir John Irwine, 
405 ; of the abuses practised in official de- 
partments, 411; sends information of the 
o'Lueral peace with Europe to Madras, 420 ; 



visits Lord Sackville at Drayton, 421 ; bis 
comparison respecting the union of Lord 
North and Fox, 427 ; quits Lord North, 
436; his opinion of Burke's speech on the 
East India Bill, 438 ; of Mr. Irskine's, 442; 
votes against the bill, 444 ; his intimacy with 
the Duke of Dorset, 451; with the Hon. 
Charles Greville, 452 ; with Sir George 
Yonge, 453 ; his conversation with Pitt, 
45*9 ; delivers his register to George II., 465; 
his opinion of the corruption of parliament, 
467 ; his mission to Lord yackvilie, 469 ; his 
intimacy with Lord Delaval, 476 ; with Sir 
Richard Hill, ih. 

Wroughton, Mr., afterwards Sir Thomas, cha- 
racter of, 78; his opinion of Elizabeth, Em- 
press of Russia, ib. ; of the Empress Cathe- 
rine, 79 ; of the imprisonment of the supposed 
Princess Tarrakanoff, ib. 

Wray, Sir Cecil, his accusations against Lord 
North, 367 ; his remarks on Fox's union 
with him, 376 ; his remarks respecting 
Powell and Bembridge, 401 ; his opinion of 
the proposed union between Pitt and Fox, 
483. 

Yonge, Sir William, anecdote of, 4.'i3. 

Sir George, resumes his ofKce of secre- 
tary at war, 452; his intimacy with Sir N. 
Wraxail, 453 ; his talents, ih. 

Yorke, Sir Joseph, English ambassador at the 
Hague, 78 ; his attempts to avoid a war be- 
tween England and Holland, 131. 

York, Archbishop of, see JMarkham. 

York, Edward, Duke of, his excesses, 143. 

York Town, surrender of the British forces at, 
246. 

Younger, Dr., Dean of Salisbury, story respect- 
ing, 307. 



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A NEW WORK ON COURTS-MARTIAL. 

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AND THE 

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ELEMENTS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW. 

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HILL ON TRUSTEES. 

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE 

LAW RELATING TO TRUSTEES; THEIR POWERS, DUTIES, 

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BY JAMES HILL, 

OF THE INNER TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW. 

EDITED BY FRANCIS J. TROUBAT, 

OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR. 

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BY GEORGE SPENCE, Esq., one of her Majesty's counsel. 

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FRZIO'CZFZiSS OF GTil'Ml'SS ii.lt LAW. 

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TAYLOR'S JTJRISPiH^TJrEnaE. 
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8 LAW BOOKS PUBLISHED BY LEA AND BLANCHARD. 

MILLIARD ON REAL ESTATE, 

NOW READY. 

THE AMERICAN LAW OF HEAL PROPERTY, 

SECOND EDITION, REVISED, CORRECTED, AND ENLARGED. 

BY FRANCIS MILLIARD, Counsellor at Law. 
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extracts. 

Judge Story says: — "I think the work a very valuable addition to our present stock of 
juridical literature. It embraces all that part of Mr. Cruise's Digest which is most useful 
to American lawyers. But its higher value is, that it presents in a concise, but clear and 
exact form, the substance of American Law on the same subject. I know no work that we 
possess, whose practical utility is likely to be so extensively felt." " The wonder is, that the 
author has been able to bring so great a mass into so condensed a text, at once comprehen- 
sive and lucid." 

. Chancellor Kent says of the work (Commentaries, vol. ii., p. 635, note, 5th edition) : — " It 
is a work of great labor and intrinsic value." 

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and I think that Mr. Justice Story and Chancellor Kent express the general opinion of the 
Massachusetts Bar." 

Professor Greenleaf says : — " I had already found the first edition a very convenient book of 
reference, and do not doubt, from the appearance of the second, that it is greatly improved." 

Professor J. H. Townsend, of Yale College, says : — 

"I have been acquainted for several years with the first edition of Mr. Hilliard's Treatise, 
and have formed a very favorable opinion of it. I have no doubt the second edition will be 
found even more valuable than the first, and I shall be happy to recommend it as I may have 
opportunity. I know of no other work on the subject of Real Estate, so comprehensive and 
so well adapted to the state of the law in this country." 

The work before us supplies this deficiency in a highly satisfactory manner. It is beyond 
all question the best work of the kind that we now have, and although we doubt whether 
this or any other work will be hkely to supplant Cruise's Digest, we do not hesitate to say, 
that of the two, this is the more valuable to the American lawyer. We congratulate the 
author upon the successful accomplishment of the arduous task he undertook, in reducing 
the vast body of the American Law of Real Property to " portable size," and we do not 
doubt that his labors will be duly appreciated by the profession.— Lau; Reporter, Aug., 1846. 



I 



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THE TURKISH AND SPANISH EMPIRES, 

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TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST EDITION OF THE GERMAN, BY WALTER K. KELLT, ESQ. 

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A HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS; 

A NEW EDITION, CONTINUED TO THE PRESENT TIBIE, BY W. S. BROWNING. 

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Nisraes, on the restoration of the Bourbons in 1S15. 

MiiMoiiiiii ©IF 'nmm mmK(^'m ©if m-um^B ©ii®m©ii '^mm 'msm'mn)% 

BY HORACE WALPOLE, YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 

Now first published from the original manuscript, edited, with Notes, by Sir Denis le Maechant, Bart. 



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Bras, at 3 o'clock, P. M. 3. Field of Quatre-Bras, at 7 o'clock, P.M. 4. Field of Ligny, at a quarter past 2 
o'clock, P. M. 5. Field of Ligny, at half past 8 o'clock, P. M. 6. Field of Waterloo, at a quarter past 11 
o'clock, A. M. 7. Field of Waterloo, at a quarter before 8 o'clock, P. M. 8. Field of Waterloo, at 5 minutes 
past 8 o'clock, P. M. 9. Field of AVavre, at 4 o'clock, P. M., 18th June. 10. Field of Wavre, at 4 o'clock, 
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HAWKER ON SHOOTING. 

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INSTRUCTIONS jTO YOUNG SPORTSMEN IN ALL THAT RE- 
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BY LIEUT. COL. P. HAWKER. 

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THE HOMSE, 

BY WILLIAM YOUATT. 

A NEW EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. TOGETHER WITH A 

QEl^l^^L [Hl[]iT©^Y ©[F T[H1E G=!]©^illa 

A DISSERTATION ONTHE AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE; 

HOW TRAINED AND JOCKEYED. AN ACCOUNT OF HIS REMARKABLE PERFORMANCES ; 
AND AN ESSAY ON THE ASS AND THE MULE, 

BY J. S. SKINNER, 

ASSISTANT POST-MASTER GENERAL, AND EDITOR OF THE TtJRF REGISTER. 

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BY WILLIAM YOUATT; 

CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF THE DOG, HIS VARIETIES, QUALITIES, ANATOMY, DIS- 
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EDITED, WITH ADDITIONS, BY E. J. LEWIS, M. D. 

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STABLE TALK AND TABLE TALK, 

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EVERY MAN HIS OWN FARRIER; 

CONTAINING THE CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND MOST APPROVED METHODS OF CURE OF THE 

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BY FRANCIS CLATER, 

AUTHOR OF " EVERY MAN HIS OWN CATTLE DOCTOR." 

AND HIS SON JOHN CLATER. 
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EVERY MAN HIS OWN CATTLE DOCTOR. 

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GRAHAME'S COLOJJIAL HISTORY. 
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A HISTORY OF GREECE. 

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